There is no sentiment in football as any manager will tell you.
Jurgen Klopp’s status as the longest-serving boss in the Premier League after only seven years at Liverpool indicates how high turnover is in the modern game and the ruthless nature of the industry informs many managers’ mentalities when they have to take tough decisions like dropping and selling players.
“There are only two types of manager”, former title-winning Leeds boss Howard Wilkinson once said. “Those who’ve been sacked and those who will be sacked in the future” and virtually all have to learn to live with the knowledge the metaphorical axe above their head can fall at any moment.
Getting fired is generally something players do not have to worry about so much about - for on-field matters, anyway - although Loris Karius, jettisoned almost immediately after his Champions League final nightmare in Kyiv in 2017, would no doubt disagree as would one of his predecessors between the sticks at Anfield who was effectively sacked after one mistake too many just a few short months after helping the Reds to an unprecedented treble of cup triumphs and only weeks after being told by the man who ended his Anfield dream that he rated him as one of the best in his position in the world.
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Dutch goalkeeper Sander Westerveld began to build a reputation as one of the finest young stoppers in Europe after moving from his hometown club of Twente Enschede in the Netherlands to Vitesse Arnhem, becoming initially particularly well-known for his ability to kick the ball long distances from his hands. Nicknamed ‘The Bomb’, he would sometimes entertain teammates at training and fans in pre-match warm-ups by launching the ball from his penalty area into the stands behind the opposite goal but of course there was plenty more to his game than that and, having helped Arnhem qualify for Europe, he was awarded his full international debut for Holland against Brazil in May 1999.
Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier was nearing the end of his first part-season in charge at Anfield having originally arrived the previous summer as part of the ill-fated joint-manager experiment with Roy Evans and, after only being able to steer the side to a seventh place finish at the end of a league campaign which saw the Reds win only one more game (15) than they lost (14), knew a significant rebuilding job was necessary, with the Treble triumph of bitter rivals Manchester United only throwing Anfield’s decline into starker contrast. Dissatisfied with the goalkeepers he inherited in David James and Brad Friedel, the Frenchman’s number one target was Ajax’s Edwin van der Sar who did travel to Merseyside for talks and a look around Anfield before deciding to join Juventus.
Attention turned elsewhere in the Netherlands and, once a £4m fee - a British record at the time for a goalkeeper - was agreed with Arnhem, Westerveld was on his way to Merseyside. He was part of a major summer influx which also saw defenders Sami Hyypia and Stephane Henchoz, midfielders Dietmar Hamann and Vladimir Smicer as well as forwards Titi Camara and Erik Meijer brought in and for the 24-year-old Dutchman it was a dream come true having followed the Reds from afar as a youngster in Holland.
“It was all going great for me and the cherry on the cake was Liverpool”, Westerveld recalled. “English football is very popular in Holland and when I was growing up it was Liverpool who were winning everything. My dream was always to play in England and Liverpool was my club. Edwin did play a part in my transfer because Liverpool had a few goalkeepers in mind to replace David James in 1999, and Edwin was their first choice. They came to Amsterdam to watch him play for Ajax against my team, Vitesse. We beat Ajax 1-0 and I had a good game. Liverpool still enquired about Van der Sar but he chose Juventus so Gerard Houllier came to my apartment in Arnhem and asked if I wanted to play for Liverpool. I said yes immediately and signed my contract at the airport in Amsterdam. The next morning, I went with the Dutch national team to Brazil and made my international debut against the Selecao. It was the perfect week for me. Van der Sar made a joke while we were with the national team that I had him to thank for my move to Liverpool.”
Westerveld and his new team-mates got their season off to a winning start on the opening weekend with victory against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough but defeats in their next two matches at home to newly-promoted Watford and at Middlesbrough showed it would inevitably take some time for them all to gel and was an indicator of the inconsistencies which would mark the early months of a campaign not aided by a challenging set of fixtures. An impressive away triumph against David O’Leary’s talented young Leeds United side (who would lead the Premier League for much of the first half of the campaign) was followed with victory over Arsenal at Anfield, the Reds new goalkeeper sealing his first clean sheet for his new employers by saving Davor Suker’s late penalty.
But after home defeat to reigning domestic and European champions Manchester United in a bizarre match marked by by two Jamie Carragher own goals, another loss on home soil a fortnight later - this time to Merseyside rivals, Everton - in a fractious encounter which saw three sendings-off left Liverpool languishing in 12th with only three wins from their opening eight league fixtures. “We lost the plot”, bemoaned Houllier afterwards publicly and Westerveld - as one of the trio to receive their marching orders for fighting with Toffees’ striker Francis Jeffers who was dismissed as well, young midfielder Steven Gerrard also seeing red for a late lunge on Kevin Campbell - was expecting to receive the Frenchman’s wrath in private but instead got a welcome vote of confidence.
“It was a frustrating game and we were 1-0 down”, the Dutchman recalled. “I’d already had words with Jeffers earlier in the game - I called him a German after he'd dived. In the second half we ended up in a handbags fight and each got a red card. We reminisced about that game not long ago and he said he was happy the referee sent him off first because feared I'd fly into him, and quickly locked his changing room door! We could laugh about it then. The day after Houllier called me in his office. I was like, ‘Oh, here we go’. He said, ‘Obviously I never like players to get red cards, but you showed character and you need to hold onto it. You showed you had the determination and will to win. You could see how important the derby was for you, and I need players with this mentality’. I walked out with a huge smile.”
Houllier’s hopes of a fast start to his first full season in charge had been hampered by a litany of injury problems with teenage striking sensation Michael Owen’s hamstring problems which had ruled him out of the previous campaign’s run-in keeping him out of action until late September, Dietmar Hamann injuring an ankle only 24 minutes into his debut at Sheffield Wednesday and Stephane Henchoz unable to begin what would become a robust centre-half partnership with Sami Hyypia until early October. A gritty 1-0 Anfield triumph over a Chelsea side who had hammered Manchester United 5-0 in their previous game sparked a run of eight wins and only one defeat in the next eleven league matches as the Reds rose to fifth and entered the new millennium with cause for optimism, Westerveld become increasingly impressed with the young native talent he and the other overseas imports were gradually integrating effectively with.
“When I came in for training on my first day, I shook everyone’s hand”, he remembered. “Michael Owen was in the gym and, from the very first minute, it struck me that this guy, who was one of the most famous players in England, was so normal. He wasn’t arrogant or anything. He was just the nicest guy you could ever meet. Just one of the boys. He didn’t come across as a big star or a big-time Charlie. The way he dealt with all the pressure and the media attention was a great example. Steven Gerrard already played with so much confidence and I remember how surprised I was that he was so young. When he was on the pitch, he already looked like he was a leader. He never showed any nervousness and he was so mature in the games. He did everything right. You could see he was a special player, but when they’re so young, so many things can happen. Robbie Fowler was unstoppable inside the penalty area. He was always cool and clinical with finishing inside the box, mostly shooting using the inside of his foot. Training wasn’t always so much fun for me!”
Liverpool began the 21st century with defeat at Tottenham and crashed out of the FA Cup at home to second-tier Blackburn Rovers the following week but recovered from their new year wobble to underline the progress being made when they took on the country’s leading sides in quick succession in February and early March. A league double over Leeds - rapidly emerging as the Reds’ main rivals for the third place and a Champions League qualification spot - was achieved when the Yorkshiremen were sunk by long-range efforts from Hamann, Patrik Berger and Danny Murphy in a resounding 3-1 Anfield victory, Titi Camara’s strike beat Arsenal at Highbury and a long-range Berger free-kick secured a respectable point at Old Trafford against a Manchester United already cruising to another league title.
Houllier’s forward options were boosted further when 22-year-old Leicester City striker Emile Heskey arrived for a club record £11m and, when his brace at Wimbledon in mid-April secured a fifth consecutive victory, Liverpool in second had opened up a five-point lead over fourth placed Leeds and had Champions League qualification firmly in their own hands with five matches left to play. The first of them was the return Merseyside derby at Goodison Park and, with the Reds seconds away from the goalless draw which brought what should have been a useful point, Westerveld was guilty of a moment which could have been considerably more embarrassing than his sending-off earlier in the season. In the final minute of stoppage time, the Dutch goalkeeper prepared to launch a free-kick from just outside his own penalty area upfield in what was likely to be the game’s last action but struck it against the back of retreating midfielder Don Hutchison and could only watch in horror as the ball looped off the former Liverpool man, over his head and into the net.
However referee Graham Poll claimed he had blown for full-time before the ball crossed the line and, despite furious Everton protests, the goal did not stand and the Dutchman’s blushes were spared, particularly when Poll later admitted he was wrong and should have allowed it. "I jogged back to the centre circle, checked my watch which showed that time had elapsed and blew my whistle as I thought Westerveld had booted the ball upfield”, he wrote in his Daily Mail column ten years later. "Unfortunately, he had kicked it into Don Hutchinson and the ball was on its way into the Liverpool goal. I stood firm and the 'goal' did not count. I was wrong back in April 2000 and have to apologise to any Everton fans that I meet even now – they never forget! I never repeated the act of blowing at an inappropriate time."
Leeds were initially unable to make up ground that weekend, drawing at Newcastle, but Houllier’s side choked with the finishing line in sight, losing at Chelsea and at home to Leicester, only being able to manage a goalless draw against Southampton in their final home game and then being beaten by a Bradford City side who needed to win to avoid relegation on the final day of the season to finish fourth behind Leeds after not managing a single goal or victory in their final five matches. It was a desperately disappointing end to a largely encouraging campaign which had promised much and highlighted to the Frenchman the work which still lay ahead in his rebuilding process.
Feeling his side needed more experience, Houllier brought in German international Markus Babbel on a free transfer from Bayern Munich as well as compatriot Christian Ziege in a contentious £5m deal from Middlesbrough, an even more controversial transfer seeing midfielder Nick Barmby cross Stanley Park in a £6m deal from Everton with French midfielder Bernard Diomende and Leicester goalkeeper Pegguy Arphexad arriving as cover for Westerveld. Eyebrows were most raised by the acquisition of 35-year-old Scottish midfielder Gary McAllister on a free transfer from Coventry City although by the following May it had proven to be an absolute masterstroke.
One of the most exhilarating seasons in Liverpool history began patchily with a revenge victory over Bradford at Anfield, defeat at Arsenal in a match which saw both Hamann and McAllister sent off and an infuriating draw at Southampton after Houllier’s men had been three goals ahead but by the autumn, with Owen and Heskey continuing to develop their burgeoning partnership up front, the Reds settled in the top four just behind the leading pack to bolster hopes they would be able to go at least one better than the year before and qualify for the first time for the Champions League.
Victories on consecutive weekends just before Christmas over Manchester United - the first of Houllier’s reign - at Old Trafford and Arsenal - hammered 4-0 at Anfield - illustrated Liverpool were now able to compete with and beat the best in the land on their day but Boxing Day defeat at second-from-bottom Middlesbrough, already the Reds’ seventh of the Premier League campaign, demonstrated the fragilities which remained. Westerveld had already come in for criticism after prompting a 3-0 defeat at Chelsea in late September with an own goal he punched into his own net under pressure from 5 foot 6 inch Dennis Wise who he tried to claim afterwards had fouled him and the Dutchman was responsible for the single-goal defeat on Teeside, spilling Curtis Fleming’s shot for Frenchman Christian Karembeu to score the only goal and then afterwards bizarrely blaming the wintry weather conditions and indirectly one of his own team-mates.
"The Riverside pitch had a lot of ice on it. My feet and gloves were soaking and it was unbelievably cold”, he told reporters. "It doesn't seem that Middlesbrough have undersoil heating, which is a pity because sometimes the ball had ice stuck to it. I had had only one save to make before they scored their goal. Unfortunately, when that happened Jamie Carragher blocked my view of the ball and I saw it only when it bounced just in front of me. I tried to push it away but the ball took a nasty bounce off my hand then my face, allowing Karembeu to score. It was a horrible goal to concede."
The Dutchmen’s tendency to deflect criticism did not go down well in the dressing room with Danny Murphy later saying of his former team-mate, “It wasn’t the mistakes he made as Liverpool goalkeeper, it was his attitude to the mistakes” and early in 2001 Coventry’s talented young goalkeeper Chris Kirkland began to be linked with a move to Anfield although Westerveld claimed Houllier had assured him there had been no bid, saying, "I believe what the gaffer has told me and I was pleased to hear it. But as long as we don't buy Edwin van der Saar or Peter Schmeichel I won't be worried because I don't mind who sits on the bench. I've got a lot of confidence in myself and will not allow anyone to take my place at Liverpool for as long as I am under contract here."
Liverpool’s steady league form continued into the new year as a two-month unbeaten run after the defeat at Middlesborough cemented them in third place while attention turned to the cup competitions as Houllier’s men sought to end a six-year Anfield trophy drought. Victories over Chelsea, Stoke City, Fulham and Crystal Palace in the two-legged semi-final took the Reds to the League Cup final, the first showpiece occasion to be played at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium with Wembley out of action and being redeveloped. Big favourites against second tier Birmingham City, Robbie Fowler opened the scoring with a looping volley after Emile Heskey had flicked on one of Westerveld’s booming goal kicks but a last minute Darren Purse penalty forced extra time and in the resultant penalty shoot-out the Dutchman was the hero, saving twice from Martin Grainger and Andy Johnson to help secure the maiden trophy of Houllier’s reign and the first of a potential cup treble.
“It's fantastic to distinguish yourself as a goalkeeper during a penalty shoot-out,” he later said. “I remember how nervous Andy Johnson was before that decisive kick; I knew his favourite angle and he stuck to it. I went crazy after saving the penalty. We won five trophies that year and laid the foundation in Cardiff. It gave us a lot of confidence, and obviously winning the first one in February gave us the experience of winning and the hunger to win more. We really focused on those games. You only needed to beat one team and then progress to the next phase.”
With Liverpool also reaching the business end of the UEFA and FA Cups, league form dropped off a little and home defeat to Champions League rivals Leeds on Good Friday looked like it could prove decisive in the battle for third place. But Gary McAllister’s 94th-minute 44-yard free-kick secured a morale-boosting victory at Goodison Park and sparked a five-game winning run which put the Reds’ destiny back in their own hands ahead of a tumultuous final week. First stop was a return to South Wales and an FA Cup final against an Arsenal side who had been unable to prevent Manchester United winning a hat-trick of league titles since the Gunners’ 1998 Double triumph and were in danger of finishing up empty-handed for a third year in a row.
Arsene Wenger’s Gunners dominated the game from the off in sweltering conditions with Houllier’s men, playing their 61st game of the season, seemingly feeling the strain of their marathon campaign and when Freddie Ljungberg finally put them in front with only 18 minutes remaining, Liverpool’s goose looked cooked. But two goals in the last seven minutes from Michael Owen produced an astonishing turnaround and brought the cup back to Anfield for the sixth time after an unforgettable fightback against the odds.
“We were a little lucky, as we were against Birmingham”, Westerveld admitted. “We were overpowered really from minutes 1 to 85 then Owen scored twice out of nowhere in the final moments. We were almost embarrassed when we passed the Arsenal players with the trophy in our hands but undeserved victories are often the best.”
There was little time to celebrate as just four days later Liverpool faced their third cup final of the season and the chance to win a never-before-achieved Treble. Having seen off Catalan giants Barcelona by a single Gary McAllister over two tight semi-final legs, their La Liga counterparts CD Alaves were the unfancied side standing in the way of Houllier’s side and the Basques initially looked as though they would pose few problems as goals from Babbel and Gerrard inside the opening quarter of an hour gave the Reds a healthy advantage. They fought back however, aided by a nervy defensive performance with Westerveld’s positioning questioned over a number of goals, most notably when he flapped at an 89th minute corner to allow Jordi Cruyff to make it 4-4 and force extra-time.
Delfi Geli’s 117th minute ‘Golden Goal’, headed into his own net from Gary McAllister’s free-kick, spared Liverpool’s blushes and secured the club’s first European success since 1984 while completing an unprecedented Treble of cup triumphs even if Westerveld, like some of his team-mates, was initially unaware the match was over. “Alaves was the most bizarre final I ever played in”, he recalled. “We should have been 5-0 up at half-time but had to play extra time after they got back to 4-4. When they scored an own goal in extra time to put is 5-4 in front, I turned to the Liverpool fans behind me and thought ‘I’m going to do everything it takes to keep the lead until the final whistle’. Then I turned around again and my team-mates were already celebrating together! I’d forgotten it was a Golden Goal!”
Again celebrations had to be muted because there was still one final hurdle for Houllier’s exhausted side to negotiate. Victory in the final Premier League match of the season three days later at Charlton Athletic would secure the season’s main objective before it began of Champions League qualification. The Addicks, who were enjoying their best season in 47 years and had only been beaten twice at the Valley, tore into their visitors in the first half with only a string of Westerveld saves ensuring Liverpool went into the break on level terms. It was a different story after the interval as Robbie Fowler’s deft overhead kick eased the tension and the Reds eased to a 4-0 victory which secured third spot and a return to the top table of European competition for the first time since 1985.
Close to a million people took the streets of Liverpool the following day as finally the momentous achievements of the past nine months could be celebrated in earnest, Houllier’s men adding the Charity Shield with victory over Manchester United in Cardiff and the UEFA Super Cup after beating Bayern Munich in Monaco the following August. Yet despite Westerveld playing in both early-season showpieces to pick up his fourth and fifth medals of the year, his first Premier League appearance of the campaign at the end of the month would be his last for the club.
With the match level at 1-1 and heading into stoppage time, substitute Dean Holdsworth’s drive from the edge of the box looked to be heading straight into the Dutchman’s arms but somehow squirmed beneath him and into the net to hand Sam Allardyce’s newly-promoted side a third straight win and put them top of the league while condemning Liverpool to a first loss and Westerveld ultimately to the Anfield exit door.
“It was so unfair on the players that the blunder let us down”, Houllier said after the match. “It was a huge error; in the future, Sander may save us games as he has before so there’s no point going on about it and adding to his sadness. It was a one-off”.
Yet privately it was the final straw for the Frenchman because by the end of the week he had signed not just one but two new goalkeepers. Liverpool had been in talks with Feyenoord over a £4m deal for their Polish stopper Jerzy Dudek but potential issues over a knee problem saw them agree a British record transfer fee for a goalkeeper of around £7m with Coventry for Chris Kirkland, only for the Dudek issues to be resolved and with Feyenoord holding the Reds to their agreement, both keepers signed.
"Houllier is just dropping Sander like a brick”, Westerveld’s agent Ton van Dalen said and the devastated Dutchman demanded showdown talks with the manager, saying, "I am very upset by what has happened. Houllier promised I would be his number one keeper, whatever happened. But when you buy someone for such an amount of money, you cannot believe they will be a substitute.”
"I have read about these promises I was supposed to have made”, an unrepentant Houllier retorted. “I can tell you I have never made any promises to any player. It is not the manager's job to promise a player he will always be in the team. Nobody has been more supportive of Sander Westerveld than me. He has been criticised by the press, but I have always stood by him. Even after the Bolton game, I defended him. But a manager has to look at all parts of his team. I told Sander that I was considering signing a new goalkeeper, and that I said that either he succeeds himself and becomes a better goalkeeper or I would buy a new one, because I want to win the title. If you want to win titles you have to have someone who is good and consistent. Goalkeepers are not assessed on the number of saves they make, but on how few mistakes they make and the points they win for you. I wanted to improve an area which I think needed improving.”
The Frenchman’s double swoop may have come as a huge shock to the Dutchman - and indeed many Liverpool supporters - but it was not so much of a surprise within the Anfield dressing room. Steven Gerrard admitted in his autobiography he was never completely convinced by Westerveld, writing “We noticed certain shots or headers went past Sander a bit too easily. He was fortunate that he was protected by a brilliant defence” while fellow Scouser Jamie Carragher went further in his book, saying he had never rated the Dutchman and referencing his unwillingness to accept responsibility for errors.
“I thought he was an average goalkeeper who seemed to think he was Gordon Banks”, Carragher wrote. “A lot of Dutch players have a reputation for fancying themselves and he lived up to it. Whenever he made a howler- and they became more frequent the longer he was at the club - he’d provide a strange excuse. One mistake at Middlesbrough was put down to ice on the ball but his worst indiscretion was being out-jumped and out-muscled at a corner by little Dennis Wise at Chelsea. He claimed he was fouled. None of us was appealing for a free-kick.
“Westerveld’s missus wasn’t shy to express her opinions when they weren’t wanted either. Shortly after my two own-goals against Man United, the players and our wives and girlfriends organised a meal at the Blue Bar on Liverpool’s Albert Dock. Westerveld’s wife suddenly decided she was some kind of spokesman for the Kop. ‘You’re a disgrace’, she said to me. ‘The way you’re playing I’m surprised you’re happy to be seen out in public. You shouldn’t be in the team’. I gave her my sternest Bootle boy scowl and snarled, ‘F*** off back to Holland’. If she thought I was bad, she and her husband must have been arguing constantly when he started throwing them in.
“Westerveld played his part in the treble season but our defence was so good it wasn’t difficult for him to look decent. There were games when he had nothing to do. It was no surprise to me when he was unceremoniously dumped by Houllier a couple of months after we won the cup treble. Many fans sympathised with him. I couldn’t see why. A weak link had gone but not quietly”.
Westerveld went public after discussions with Houllier, saying he was ‘absolutely disgusted’ at his treatment and was now looking for a new club as there was no point in having talks now it had been made clear to him he was third choice, and he joined Real Sociedad for £3.4m three months later.
“I just couldn't believe it”, he later reflected. “We'd just won the Charity Shield and the Super Cup when Houllier told me, 'Sander, you're going to be one of the three best goalkeepers in the world, but a young goalie or experienced back-up will be joining us'. Then in the dressing room after my error at Bolton he said, 'I don't want anyone to blame Sander for this. He has already won many points for us and will continue to do so'. I went on international duty and heard Liverpool had bought Chris Kirkland and Jerzy Dudek and Marc Overmars and Van der Sar joked to me about it, saying, 'Now, don't get nervous, Sander...'
“When I got back, I went to see Houllier. He said Dudek would be his first-choice, Kirkland second and me third. I said I'd played more than a hundred games for Liverpool and won five trophies in a year. Houllier said he wanted a keeper who made no mistakes. 'You'll never find one', I said. I know what happened, but I still don’t understand it. In the first year, we had the best defence in the Premier League, and in the second year, we won the treble. I was just improving, but already, from the very first day of pre-season, I heard rumours about Liverpool bringing in a new goalkeeper. That’s normal. I wasn’t nervous, or afraid of losing my place, because I felt I was doing good things. Still, I don't understand why I didn't get the opportunity to fight for my position. Instead, Houllier ruthlessly kicked me out. That period was the darkest of my career. The transfer window had just closed, too. That was just a nightmare. There was nothing for me to do. I didn’t have any chance to come back and they made it very clear. I thought it was very harsh, but what can you do? I was in the stands for home games and not allowed to travel to Champions League games. I thought about quitting football.”
Westerveld established himself in San Sebastián, helping Sociedad to a La Liga runners-up spot in 2003 and playing for them in the Champions League the following season. After a loan spell with Mallorca, he returned to the Premier League with Portsmouth in 2005 and soon afterwards was offered the chance of a surprise return to Merseyside.
“I was on the way to a Chelsea-Barcelona game because a friend of mine had tickets. David Moyes phoned me in the car. He said, ‘I need a goalkeeper. Can you help me?’ I was just thinking, ‘I need to play, and show myself again for my next step.’ It’s just deadly for a goalkeeper if you sit on the bench. I was only thinking about the opportunity. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ I put down the phone and then it hit me. ‘Oh s***, it’s Everton.’ I didn’t know what reception I would get from the fans and the people at Everton, but from day one they were all positive and happy to see me. Nobody ever gave me any grief. I didn’t have any problems with the Liverpool fans either as they knew I hadn’t left voluntarily.”
Two games during his loan spell at Goodison enabled him to become the first - and, to date, only - goalkeeper to play for both Liverpool and Everton and, after returning to Spain to play for Almeria, he finished his career with spells at Sparta Rotterdam, Monza in Italy and Ajax Cape Town in South Africa. He has gone on to feature in Liverpool Legends matches, one of which enabled to him to bury the hatchet with Houllier before the Frenchman’s passing in December 2020 as he gradually came to terms with the help of his wife over the brutal end to his Reds career.
“I ran into Houllier several years later at a charity game with Liverpool Legends. He hugged me deeply and kissed my cheek, as if nothing had ever happened. I really disliked him for a long period, but my wife said, 'Be grateful to him for bringing you to your dream club - you were at Liverpool thanks to him'. I just hold on to that thought.
“At least I can say that Liverpool was my team for a couple of years. And I'm satisfied that I always gave my best, that we won five trophies in six months and that I played my part. When Alan Hansen praised me after the FA Cup final, that was a huge compliment for me. And I was young enough to be improving all the time - it's just such a shame Houllier didn't see it that way."
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