Fowler lays into Liverpool boss

By European Football
August 22 2005

Robbie Fowler has spoken of an underhand campaign waged by former boss Gerard Houllier, that ultimately forced him from the club he loved. He left Liverpool in 2001 after nine seasons with the club, and speaking to The Mail on Sunday, he said why: "For all the decent people I've met at Leeds and Manchester City, for all the wonderful fans at those two clubs, I know I should still be at Liverpool now."

"It's easy for me to blame Gerard Houllier for what happened, easy for me to say that I made a huge mistake in allowing his underhand campaign to force me out.

"Houllier did what he had to do, I guess he did what he thought was in the best interests of the club.

"I could be bitter towards Houllier and Phil Thompson, his assistant, but on a personal level I'm not.

"Away from his job Thompson is fine and I'm sure Houllier is the same.

"However, I still wish he hadn't walked in that door at the start of the 1998 season.

"Houllier never gave me any respect.

"At Anfield we had a fantastic young squad that needed guiding through and I was told that the clear instruction to Houllier was to make that happen," Fowler continued.

"Instead he spent well over a hundred million on bringing in foreign players and sold off nearly all the young internationals and prospects that he had inherited."

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