Houllier on His Way to Newcastle?

By: Inara | May 10th, 2007

Gerard Houllier has been subject to a lot of rumors recently, more so than even Franck Ribery.

Despite winning Lyon another title, his failures in the cup competitions, his handling of certain players and staff, and his constant battle with Bernard Lacombe, have left Houllier - and the fans - unhappy in the past few months. People wonder if he’s the right man to take Lyon to the next level. Consequently, Houllier has been linked with several posts, most persistently with the DTN.

houllier

Back to England?

But the latest is Houllier possibly being a candidate for the Newcastle job. Their manager was fired four days ago because of the dismal way their campaign has been going. It’s the only club in the EPL capable of challenging the Big Four in terms of resources and still manage to significantly under perform. And their fans continue to believe the club is entitled to recognition and honor.

Call them the English Marseille.

owen The current front-runner is Sam Allardyce, who left Bolton only last week. But two days ago, a new rumor started floating around, that both Sven-Goran Eriksson and Gerard Houllier had expressed interest for the Newcastle job - though Houllier has half-heartedly denied it.

Houllier managed Liverpool for six years, brought them out of their decline, turned them back into a competitive team, and won a bunch of silverware (though he also made a mess out of their signings). But he had his heart attack, things went downhill, and unable to handle the stress of the job, Houllier resigned. Since then, he’s done a great job at Lyon, and despite the CL exits, he’s enhanced the club’s image across Europe.

So it’s no surprise that some people think he’s ready to take on the challenge of revamping Newcastle. And make no mistake, he would do a good job too. For all my criticisms of Houllier, I respect the fact that he disciplined the players and tightened the team defensively (something that Newcastle desperately need to do). And Houllier is always saying that he has unfinished business in England and would like to return one day. Oh, and he would be reunited with BFF Michael Owen, an ex-Liverpool striker now at Newcastle.

No disrespect to Newcastle or anything, but why leave Lyon for them? Unless Houllier wants a challenge - and Newcastle would be a huge challenge - he has a lot more to look forward to in France. And if he and Lyon do part ways, he has more tempting job offers waiting for him. A man like Gerard Houllier doesn’t remain unemployed for long.

He’s also said that the reason he took the Lyon job was because he wouldn’t have to start from scratch, which is what he had to do at Liverpool.

“But now I must say I would not have the strength to rebuild a club again. That is why (Lyon president Jean-Michel) Aulas’ comparison of his club with a Formula one car suited me. The club is already on the right track, there is a quality team. The key is to jump into the car and drive it fast.”

It’s probably not in his best interests to go to Newcastle. I don’t want him to have another heart attack or anything, and that club causes heart attacks on a weekly basis.

I doubt that Houllier will be taking over Toontown, even if that might possibly pave the way for the arrival of Didier Deschamps.

After all, Lyon is not Marseille. Even when they don’t get the results they want, the manpower mostly stays the same. It’s why they’ve been dominant for so long - the structure of the club has always been constant.

So even though Aulas isn’t a big fan of Houllier and probably won’t extend his contract after 2008 (unless Lyon win the CL), he won’t fire Houllier for two reasons. First, the club would then have to give him over two million euros in severance pay, and second, Aulas doesn’t like firing people because it destabilizes the club. And Aulas hates instability.

But what I can tell you is that Houllier is not in the long term future plans of Lyon. So nothing will be based structurally within the club according to him. Who knows, if Big Sam messes up at Newcastle next year, perhaps Houllier will take over then. But not before.