I always thought Jeff Winter, below, was a plonker.

And that opinion has been confirmed today.

In a newspaper interview, the plump former Premiership ref said: "I thought that Meier had a tremendous game and he ranks alongside Pierluigi Collina".

The goatee-bearded Winter claimed: "John Terry's arm prevented the Portugese keeper getting off the ground. It was a foul and Urs Meier was 100% right to disallow Campbell's goal."

Winter is wrong. WE WOZ ROBBED!

I agree with others on here who, as well as blaming the Swiss ref, have also blamed Sven's tactics and substitutions as being a contributory factor in our defeat.

As Franz Beckenbauer said: "After Michael Owen's early goal, England made the same mistake they made against France. They pushed back too deep on the pitch and it was only a matter of time before Portugal got the equaliser."

We lost control of the ball in midfield. We allowed the Portugese to dominate in the middle of the pitch by defending too deep and by sloppily giving the ball away too often.

Gordon Strachan, who took over the Guardian's football column after the paper sacked Big-ot Ron, today has given six reasons why England lost the quarter-final.

Without copying the whole of the column, the six reasons that wee Gord gave were briefly as follows:

1) Campbell's goal should not have been disallowed. In any other situation that incident wouldn't have been a foul.

2) England played with strikers who were too similar after Rooney went off. Without someone like Rooney dropping deep to get the ball off the midfield it was harder for England to retain possession, says Gordon

3)There were tired England bodies as the game went on, especially in midfield. Gordon felt the whole competition caught up with a few - The fact that England had a day less than Portugal to recover from their previous match could have made a big difference.

4) England were too deep when Postiga scored the equaliser. For Portugal's first goal Campbell, Terry and Ashley Cole could have been braver and pushed up a couple of yards. That would have brought them level with the player putting pressure on the ball - Gary Neville - and left three Portugal players with a problem. Either they readjust, in which case the cross is less dangerous, or they're offside and Postiga's header doesn't count.

5) Portugal made a lot of positive changes. Scolari ended up with Rui Costa, Postiga, Gomes, Sabrosa, Ronaldo and Deco on. This paid off. Portugal's substitutes gave them more players who could beat people, something England lacked. It made them more dangerous and that's where English football falls down.

6) Gordon says: "I wonder whether Phil Neville was the type of player England needed when he came on. You can't say for sure that other options would have worked but maybe Dyer coming in on the left of midfield with Steven Gerrard staying in the middle would have been a better option."

A single stab wound to the heart tragically killed Stephen Smith in Lisbon, Portugese police have said.

According to reports, the Ukranian man had tried to steal Stephen's wallet, who pushed him away. Minutes later he returned and stabbed Stephen through the heart.

It was reported in today's Daily Telegraph that some England fans had earlier complained to police about the attacker, but officers had dismissed their concerns.

Devastated parents Diane and John Smith said in a statement: "Stephen, or Ste, as everyone knew him, was a hard working young man who would help anyone. He was living his dream when this tragedy happened."

Wolves Chairman Rick Hayward has spoken of his deep sadness and shock: "To hear this news is very distressing and shocking. I'm sure that I speak on behalf of everyone connected with Wolverhampton Wanderers when I offer our sincerest condolences to Stephen's family and friends."

Vadym Abromov, a 31 year old immigrant from the Ukraine has appeared in court charged with the killing. His case has been adjourned to a later date.

It's quite apparent that Kenyon is running Chelsea! 

I think you're right there Gord.

Ranieri hinted last season that he didn't have anything to do with the Robben signing. The Italian said that he knew that he would defintely be going - because players were being signed over his head.

The Robben transfer had all the murky fingerprints of the Prince of Darkness Peter Kenyon, who of course knew all about the player's credentials when Fergie had been interested in him - back in the days when Kenyon called himself a "Lifelong Red" and said that Chelsea were going to come unstuck because money doesn't guarantee success!

In the last couple of days the odious Kenyon - who has been busy enjoying the lavish hospitality aboard Roman's yacht in Portugal - has publicly praised both Gerrard and Rooney as being two players he's interested in.

The subsequent transfer speculation suits Kenyon, as the more the deal is talked about in the press and in public, the more Gerrard and his agent will start to get twitchy feet thinking about the massive signing-on fees and wages available.

It makes you wonder if Kenyon was also guilty last season of leaking the news in the press about certain players being unhappy with Ranieri - in order to further damage the Italian, making his removal easier.

Before giving Ranieri his pay-off, Kenyon insisted that Claudio signed a confidentiality clause which now bans the Italian from speaking about his time in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Clearly Kenyon doesn't want the truth to come out. What a way to run a football club...

Below is the link in today's Daily Telegraph about the Gerrard story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...24/sfnliv24.xml

Some previous gems from Lofty....

I think thats a real shame for Stan Turnent he has done a blooming good job at Burnley with limited resources they are making a huge mistake in sacking him.

Fred Walker the Rover is a bigger roverite than Jack Walker so to set the record straight I dont think u have been talking to annie walker too busy on skytv

You people talk some utter crap

shut up mouth because you have nothing contructive to say.

tugay for england stop acting like a little kid

I am sick to death of you whining bunch of Blackburn Rovers supporters.

FourLaneBlue when was the last time you went to see a Blackburn Rovers game and tell the truth u part timer.

excuse me but who asked for you to dismiss my comments get stuffed

I have been ashamed of my football team

cocker more like little pecker for you

why has it gone

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Simon Garner

The same Simon Garner that you slaughtered when the site did an interview with him....?

Utterly utterly fantastic without a bad track on it.

I thought "Come Back To Camden" was terrible but other than that Jason, I agree that it marks a welcome return to form from Mozzer.

'The first of the gang to die' and 'I have forgiven Jesus' are truly superb.

I like the verses a lot in "The First Of The Gang To Die" - just thought that the chorus could have been done a bit better.

"I Have Forgiven Jesus" is a great track.

After being so disappointed with a few of Morrissey's previous solo albums, it's pleasing that he's come up with some excellent songs this time around.

Mozzer's concert at Lancashire County Cricket Ground on 11th July hasn't quite sold out yet. There are still some tickets available.

I'm fully expecting England to get at least a draw tonight against the Croats to ensure qualification for the quarter-final.

The current Croatia side is not in the same class as the one which reached the World Cup semi-final in 1998, with players like Suker, Jarni and Boksic in the team at their peak.

The Croats, with a population of only 5 million, struggled to qualify for Euro 2004 - finishing below Bulgaria in their group before sneaking past Slovenia in the play-offs.

Although they did well against the French on Thursday, I'd be surprised if they beat us tonight.

If England finish runners up in Group B, we'll face Portugal in the quarter-final - who won Group A last night by beating Spain.

You actually have to go back to our 1966 World Cup semi-final win over the Portugese for our last win in a competitive match against them.

Our only victory in the last 30 years against Portugal was in a friendly in 1998, when Shearer scored twice.

Both ourselves and Portugal have reached the semi-final twice in the European Championships - England in 1968 and 1996, Portugal in 1984 and 2000.

There's much to look forward to this week....

I just wanted to say, having had lots and lots to drink tonight with the lads, that I love England, I like each and every one of you on the M/B - especially my good friend blue phil.

England are going to qualify for the quarter-finals. Who knows what might happen then? It's just unfortunate that we've got such a knob as our England captain.

An easy win in the end against ###### poor opponents.

Yes, you are right SG, that the Swiss were complete crap in defence, stretched all over the place. I could have played better myself after 8 pints.

Good night everyone...

The England manager has indicated that John Terry will return to the centre of defence on Thursday.

Eriksson said: "There is no reason to keep Terry out if he is fit. It is a good problem to have, but Ledley will not be that disappointed."

This will be our first competitive match against the Swiss since the 1-1 draw in Euro 96, when Shearer scored his first international goal for 18 months, having gone on a barren run of 12 England games without scoring. Prior to that, our last competitive game against Switzerland was a 2-1 defeat in the 1982 World Cup Qualifiers.

In 1963, an England team including Rovers' Bryan Douglas, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves hammered the Swiss 8-1.

On a different note, Italy have come up with a good excuse for their disappointing 0-0 draw against Denmark on Monday.

Remember when Fergie tried to blame United's grey shirts for a poor performance against Southampton?

The Italians have gone one better - blaming the wrong type of shoes and socks. I kid you not.

Link below:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/euro2004/st...1239841,00.html

Clive Tyldesley: "How's the heart condition, Robert?"

Bobby Robson: "It's alright because I think we'll win. We'll see off this dangerous free-kick and play out the last two minutes"

10 secs later : France 1 v 1 England

Tyldesley and Sir Bobby - a match made in heaven.....well maybe not quite!

When Neville squared the ball to Scholes, who then switched play to Beckham on the right, Tyldesley nearly had an orgasm, shouting: "The Manchester United player to another Manchester United player to the former Manchester United player."

Old Clive can't resist mentioning the Reds can he?

Meanwhile Robson was halfway through a eulogy to a player he called Leslie King when England nearly scored.

Ledley or Leslie? Never mind, I don't suppose this will be the last time that Robson gets a name wrong in his commentaries - for years he used to refer to Mark Hateley as Tony Hateley.

Bobby's a lovely guy, but it must be odds on that before the tournament ends, a goal will go in while the Newcastle manager is still describing an incident that took place a minute earlier.

And can ITV please stop treating us like children by continually plugging its ridiculously easy competitions? Showing us a clip of the blonde haired Paul Gascoigne scoring his famous goal against Scotland in Euro 96, and then asking us who scored is an insult to our intelligence.

The only difficult part about it for those who enter is paying the phone bill afterwards. You have to ring ITV's exorbitant premium rate phone line to enter. No wonder they want as many people as possible to get the right answer...

Poor show from ITV. They might as well bring back Big-ot Ron!

Remember that article six weeks or so ago from Alan Nixon in the Independent saying that we had £10m to spend this summer?

I thought back then that it was a load of bull - the sad fact is that we don't have anywhere near that amount to spend.

Any shopping we do this summer will be firmly in the bargain bucket - cheap damaged goods from Woolworths rather than anything classy from the high street stores.

It's disappointing for Rovers fans, but I guess we've just got to do the best we can with the limited resources we've got.

There was one very strange quote from JW last season. Williams reportedly said: "It won't be the end of the world if we are relegated."

Christ, if we've got no money to spend in the Premiership, what the hell would things have been like in Division One?

If we'd been relegated, there would have been more departures than at Gatwick Airport. It would have been the biggest mass culling since the Night of the Long Knives.

But there's no need to worry, because according to Lofty:

I have heard out and about that Fred Walker is going to heavily invest in transfers next season for Rovers.

Alan Nixon's reports should be treated with similar reverence....

As well as in Croydon where four hundred people were involved in a serious incident - slinging missiles and bottles at police and attacking a tram, in the centre of Birmingham a giant TV screen was smashed by yobs hurling bottles and even their shoes.

There were reported disturbances in Watford, Stevenage, Wakefield and Bromley.

In Liverpool (surprise surprise) , yobs smashed car windows and threw tables and chairs at each other after the match.

The important point as far as I'm concerned is that this is a society problem rather than a football one. If the game of football had never been invented, we would still have these thugs about causing a menace in society. The beautiful game itself shouldn't get the blame for our unfortunate social ills.

It's also important to remember that this is far from just being an "English" problem - there are similar yobs in many other countries abroad.

In simplistic terms, four individual mistakes have cost us the match tonight.

1) Eriksson's decision to take off Rooney, who was causing the French problems, replacing him with the error-prone Heskey. One of the most dodgy substitutions from an England manager since Alf Ramsey took off Bobby Charlton against Germany in Mexico 1970.

2) Heskey's own stupidity in making such a rash challenge in a dangerous area in front of the box.

3) Gerrard's moment of carelessness when he launched his crazy back pass. I'm a big admirer of Gerrard's midfield abilities, but I can't understand what he was doing. Whether it was partly down to tiredness and a subsequent lack of concentration, I don't know. But it was a foolishly dangerous thing to do. David James obviously couldn't have picked the ball up with his hands anyway. He would have had to kick it away from danger - which is what Gerrard should have done himself.

4) The fairly mediocre penalty by the number 7. It was the right height for Barthez, and he was able to read the direction reasonably easily.

Despite the disappointment of tonight, I still feel we can qualify from the group stages, as Switzerland and Croatia both looked very poor in their match.

Lofty.. multiple ids are not allowed.

He's becoming quite a serial rule breaker isn't he?

I'd suggest M'Lord Ste B, that he's been guilty of the following offences....

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England will come either third or fourth in the qualifying group.

A nation which has been hanging onto the coat-tails of a World Cup victory some thirty eight years ago (the only competition it has ever won,) will go back into its shell, sulk, and not bother about the rest of the results.

I can understand your views Colin.

On the other hand though, it's also true to say that we did come very close to reaching the World Cup Final in Italia 90. Prior to the missed penalties from Messrs Waddle and Pearce, we struck the crossbar in the 90 minutes of normal time, and should have won the match.

In Euro 96 it was a similar story, going out in the semi-final on penalties to the Gerrys again. Before Southgate's missed pen we should have had the match wrapped up - Gascoigne's outstretched boot coming an inch away from scoring.

It's all "ifs and butts" of course, but I do think if we had got past the Germans in 96, we would have beaten the Czechs in the Wembley final.

As far as Euro 2004 is concerned, I think we'll qualify from the group stages along with France, but I doubt we'll win the tournament.

On the plus side for us, Steven Gerrard has been in fantastic form for Liverpool recently and is starting to develop into one of Europe's best midfielders.

On the negative side, we've still got the perennial problem of a lack of natural width on the left hand side. Gerrard could end up having to play on the left of midfield, which would be a waste of his talents.

Also on the negative side, any injuries to key players such as Owen or Campbell would really hit us hard because we don't have a great deal of strength in depth.

Would anyone for example be confident about having Ledley King in defence against some of Europe's top strikers?

I know you're not a betting man Colin, but for anyone else like Tom Pringle who doesn't fancy our chances of progressing beyond the first stage, I think you can get odds of 2/1 from William Hills that England will fail to qualify from their group.

It's going to be an interesting tournament.

And as Ruud Gullit once said, hopefully we'll see some sexy football....

why does kennysuperbuyer post continuousluy during the bad patches the team has to stir things up yet disappears from the board when we are doing well?

KSB did make a positive post on May 2nd this year, when he wrote:

The latest run of good results have gone some way in changing my opinion on Souness. He now deserves to be still in charge for next season

Just Champagned Mozzer's album sorry BOUGHT IT AT ASDA. Had it on in the car, haven't made my mind up yet.

There are four tracks on the album Nick that personally I've grown to like a lot - namely: "I'm Not Sorry", "I Have Forgiven Jesus", "How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?" and "America Is Not The World".

The rest of the album is a bit mixed, but I've got no regrets about paying a tenner for it - because those four songs mentioned are very good IMO.

I guess Nick, that you didn't like the track where Mozzer laments policemen....

That particular song, entitled "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" is a fairly average track, but there's a nice line about "Lock-jawed pop stars, Nothing to convey, They're so scared to show intelligence. It might smear their lovely career."

One such lock jawed pop star (that most people have probably long forgotten about) is the ex-Brother Beyond singer Nathan Moore.

Brother Beyond were a cheesy pop band in the late 80's, briefly competing with Bros for the affections of teenage girls. Their best-selling hit "The Harder I Try" reached number 2 in 1989.

Nathan's been a busy lad recently. He's been caught scouring the back streets of Kings Cross for lewd acts with prostitutes. Shocking.

He's been fined £250 with £50 costs.

Further details below:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004260447,00.html

why does everyone feel sorry for ranieri?

he gets paid 2 million quid a year to deal with the speculation that goes with being one of the highest profile managers in the world.

he will walk into another job

I can understand your viewpoint Andy. Certainly Ranieri will be well remunerated and won't be short of a few quid after his contract is paid up.

However, I just think that the way Chelsea handled the sacking could have been done better.

For a long time, Chelsea have kept up a distasteful charade. Last week, the Prince of Darkness Peter Kenyon met Ranieri at his home, and among other things, discussed new signings with him.

It seems to me that the odious Kenyon has been playing a game with both Ranieri and the media, hoping that the Italian would quit, thereby not having to pay up the remaining money on his contract. Fortunately, Ranieri dug his heels in and refused to quit.

The way in which the Italian was finally given his marching orders left something to be desired. It was reportedly left to Eugene Tenenbaaum, an obscure Chelsea director, to phone Ranieri with the news that he his services were no longer required at he club.

Kenyon and Abramovich, despite having had meetings with Ranieri recently, let someone else do their dirty work for them. The Tinkerman deserved better than the humiliating way in which he was given the boot.

We all know that getting the sack is part and parcel of football management. But it should be done, if possible, with a bit of dignity.

On Thursday of last week, Ranieri was asked to fly to Milan for further discussions with Kenyon and Abramovich about possible transfer targets - shortly after the earlier meeting a few days before that the Italian had with Kenyon.

On Monday this week, Ranieri was sacked over the phone while at home in Rome. The whole thing could have been handled better, but perhaps now that Chelsea have such vast sums of money, they have simply become ingrained in their own arrogance.

Pictured below - the smiling assassin Kenyon - who once said that he was a "lifelong Red" dedicated to staying at Old Trafford for the rest of his career.

I hope he doesn't start preaching loyalty to any players he signs for Chelsea.....

Yep, a good line American.

Apparently, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard are both having a full say on who the next Liverpool Manager will be. "Player Power" seems to be getting out of control these days.

Whatever next - Ballot papers dished out to all the squad for them to decide who the next boss will be?

BTW American - quoting a full length post from yours truly tends to take up a lot of board space!

Alan Smith has hired a bodyguard to protect him. Not such a hardman after all is he?

He can run, but he can't hide away from me forever.

One day I'll catch up with him.

There's a good article in today's Times about football's nauseating bunch of badge kissers.

Apparently, ITV pundit Andy Townsend was one of the first to start the trend of badge kissing when he was a midfield player at Chelsea.

Shortly afterwards he moved clubs to Aston Villa....

Linke to that article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8304-1126713,00.html

Just been browsing through the Leeds messageboard.

Understandably, they're not too happy with Smith's Red Scum betrayal.

But they're not quite as vitriolic as I'd imagined them to be. Personally if I was a Leeds fan I'd be spitting blood.

Anyway, here's a selection of views from some of the Leeds supporters....

* This is just the final kick in the teeth for me after the worst season a fan could have expected. Smith to manu??? Some of the others that have made the journey across the Pennines have the excuse of not really knowing what it means. I think Smiths career could go backwards with this choice (but probably not his bank balance).

* How sickening would it be if the first goal he scored for Man U he then kissed the shirt. Alan Smith can never come back, once he puts that scum shirt on he will never , ever be involved in any capacity whatsoever at leeds.. Alan Smith will never be welcomed back. The lad will be forever sullied and will become a scum player in the eyes of the majority of Leeds Fans at Elland Road for years to come. As Billy Bremner's memory is idolised Smith will be proportionately villified.

* He was quoted in the past as saying the one club he could never play for was manu. He was quoted a few months back as saying he would play for leeds even if they were in the first division. He has always been styalized in the past as "the leeds fan on the pitch". HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO US???????

* Just another kick in the teeth for Leeds fans. I am gutted and extremely dissapointed that he could commit the ultimate betrayal. You were such an idol that the fans were prepared to forgive you leaving, and wished you luck in whatever you did next. EXCEPT THIS. You could have been a legend. Instead, it will be a footnote.

* Now excuse me for a minute, Isnt this the same Alan Smith who has always been a leeds fan and always will be??? Smith is a liar. Football is a game of two halves, money and greed.

Smithy has Leeds in his blood

...That's what he's been trying to tell us for years.

But forget all the rubbish from Smith about being a lifelong Leeds supporter, who only bleeds white blood.

The reality is he's quite content to spit in the face of the Leeds fans who carried him on their shoulders. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever that my earlier criticisms of Smith have been vindicated after his treacherous move to Old Trafford.

I'd like to think of myself as (usually being) a pretty good judge of character, especially when it comes to spotting scumbags.

His move across the Pennines to the Red Scum is far, far worse than Rio Ferdinand's transfer. Smithy has betrayed the Elland Road faithful in the most sickening way imaginable by deceiving them that he was Leeds through and through.

This odious badge slag cares only about himself.

He couldn't give a stuff about anyone else.

On the pitch, Smith has been a nasty thuggish little yob. But off the pitch he's far worse - a dirty, deceitful, two-faced disgrace to mankind. And that's putting it mildly!

"Is there any club that you could never join?" asked the presenter of Soccer AM a year ago.

"Manchester United," was Smith's immediate reply back then.

In July 2003, he said: "If Leeds were ever relegated it would take a better type of person to stay and say we're all going to stick together and make sure the club gets back to where it belongs."

A few weeks ago, he changed his tune slightly, saying: "It's always been an ambition of mine to move abroad and play in one of the other top leagues in Europe. This could also make it easier for me to return to Leeds one day."

It was only the day after Leeds' final match at Elland Road, that Smith finally came clean - "There's no reason why I can't join Man United," he said.

I bet his agent has been busy telling him how much he could earn from off-the-field activities at Old Trafford. No doubt Smith would have been lapping this up like a cat to a bowl of cream. You can just imagine him saying: "Yeah, I know Liverpool and Newcastle would be less controversial, but hey, I can earn myself a packet here going to Man U."

"Yeah, definitely," replies Mr Agent. "I'll make sure you get your hands on a nice share of the merchandising income there."

I'm just grateful that this dirty scumbag wasn't picked for Euro 2004. I would have been sickened this summer to see him in an England shirt.

Smith spoke of how "fantastic" it was to join Man United today.

He's been guilty of the ultimate act of betrayal.

I hope next season that supporters of other clubs let him know just what they think of him.

But then again, as I said, Smith probably wouldn't be too bothered by that. He doesn't feel any guilt at all in moving to Man United, because he couldn't give a flying toss what anyone else thinks. And why should he when he's probably concluded that the money he can earn in off-the-field endorsements at Man United far outweighs any negatives that are involved in moving to the club...

Look at the arrogant posing barsteward on one of his photo shoots HERE

He'll be rubbing his hands with glee at how much he can earn from similar activities at Old Trafford....

The thing that got on my nerves about Houllier was that he always insinuated anyone who criticised his record was in some ways a traitor and not a true supporter of the club.

Yes, I think that was part of Houllier's problem Rev.

The Frenchman was convinced that he was always right and everyone else was wrong.

When fans or media pundits made (perfectly legitimate) criticism of his style of play or transfer signings, Houllier would get on his high horse.

I don't like to kick a man when he's down....but

In my view, Houllier only has himself to blame for some of the shocking signings he made in the transfer market.

The millions that were blown on the likes of Diouf, Barmby, Biscan and Diao probably convinced the Liverpool hierachy that old Gerard simply couldn't be trusted with a further injection of money that may come about this summer.

The Frenchman was a man of frequent excuses, continuously blaming injuries, while forgetting that most other sides have to deal with the same problem. One thing that he refused to acknowledge was his own inadeqaucies.

When he took over at Anfield he said: "Give me 5 years and I'll bring back the title back."

The reality this season has been a massive 30 point gap between Arsenal and themselves, and they've never in a million years looked like title contenders.

RFW yesterday came out in support of Gerard, ridiculously suggesting that Houllier has been as successful a manager as Arsene Wenger in terms of winning trophies. Fergie is placing the Charity Shield on the same level as the Premiership!

In the last couple of seasons, Liverpool fans have been disgusted with the style of play adopted. The sterile tactics from Houllier of getting men behind the ball and launching the odd counter-attack have often been the norm. As Ian St John said, Liverpool fans were turning into zombies having to put up with such a lack of entertainment.

The club has two world class players in Steven Gerard and Michael Owen, who've been let down by their team-mates and the manager's tactics.

At Cardiff on Saturday, Owen was asked on the BBC by Gary Lineker about the possibility of Houllier going. The smiles and grins from the tanned Liverpool striker said it all. Clearly, Michael wasn't too upset at the prospect of the Frenchman leaving, and who could blame him?

For years, Owen has had to put up with Emile Heskey as a patently inadequate strike partner, and although the big striker has now left for Birmingham, some of the other players that remain at Anfield are simply not of sufficient quality to challenge for the Championship. £115 million has been blown by Houllier, and apart from a small handful of quality players, the vast majority of them have been disappointments.

For me, the Frenchman's arrogance was best summed up when George Burley was given the 'Manager of the Year' award in 2001, after the ex-Ipswich boss achieved a highly commendable 5th place in the Premiership with the Suffolk side.

Instead of congratulating Burley, Houllier threw a big hissy fit, complaining that he himself should have been named 'Manager of the Year'. He went on to claim that the only reason he wasn't given the award was that he was French.

His comments, which you can see in the link below, have been rightly condemned by journalist Alex Montgomery as being "breathtakingly arrogant".

http://www.4thegame.com/features/feature/80172/.html

Along with all his various excuses, Houllier has been quick to play the race card - saying that he hasn't been accepted by many Liverpool fans purely because he's French. He conveniently forgets that Wenger is loved by the Arsenal supporters, irrespective of his French nationality. The prime problem that Houllier had was the arrogance and large chip on his Gallic shoulders.

For Fergie to claim that Gerard's been just as successful a Premiership manager as Wenger is ludicrous. While Arsene was out spending £10m in the transfer market on Thierry Henry, Monsieur Houllier preferred at the time to splash out £11m on Heskey.

I'm sure most of the good folk in Liverpool have breathed a collective sigh of relief that both Houllier and the lumbering Heskey have now departed and will thankfully never darken the shores of the River Mersey again.

Just before Emile moved to St Andrews, he was pictured on the Liverpool training ground - collapsing to his knees after again missing the barn door from a few yards out....

Gerard Houlllier said at the weekend that he was "100 per cent certain" that he would remain in charge at Anfield.

The Frenchman's optimism looks decidedly misplaced!

Candidates to replace Houllier are Alan Curbishley, Martin O'Neill, Rafael Benitez, or Jose Mourinho (if he has second thoughts about going to Chelsea.)

Below:

Houllier Left Out In The Cold