See: Paul Ince.
You can have your little pop at Houllier but the fact is Ince had written us off to the dogs when he left, "dragging the club down" was his quote. Even the most Stevie Wonder-esque of people can see in the time after Ince said this Houllier took us to domestic success with 2 league cup wins, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, and had us finishing 2nd - with a points total that would have won the league in almost every other Premier League season, as well as having the guts to come back from major surgery instead of just retire, and on a huge night.
They'll be pissing themselves because what they achieved in their short period of success Ince can only dream of achieving as a boss. He's waited all his life to get to this point and is staring down the barrel of going back to a huge club like the MK Dons.
Hold on Ince took over a blackburn side who had (and still only have) one real outstanding player after the summer. The rest of the squad are a bunch of averages, could be's or has been's where was he going to take them when he didnt have serious money to spend(considering summer business getting them £19m odd in and spending on just robinson and that lad from the Dons as far as i can remember.
Houllier took over a team that included players like James, Friedel, Carragher, Berger, Mcmanaman, Murphy, Redknapp, Fowler and Owen.
I think thats a huge gulf in class in where each manager started and the resources available
I'm not saying Ince did a good job - he didn't. but i don't believe that thommo and houllier have any right to be chuckling at him for what they did in their time here - wasnt our best days even if 2000-01 was a good season.
