3 Mar 2001: Robbie Fowler of Liverpool talks tactics with his manager Gerard Houllier during the FA Carling Premiership match against Leicester Ci...

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Robbie Fowler names the Liverpool manager he used to fall out with ‘every single day’

Charles Jones

Thu 6 February 2025 16:45, UK

Robbie Fowler is a bona fide Liverpool legend.

You don’t earn the nickname ‘God’ on Merseyside unless you’re something special, and it’s fair to say that Fowler was adored by the Anfield faithful during his time at the club.

Fowler actually rejected Everton before he moved to Liverpool, to make his career that much sweeter.

Unfortunately though, all good things have to come to an end, and in 2001, Fowler left Liverpool for Leeds United.

Fowler left his boyhood club in his prime to join Leeds, and speaking on The Lineup, the former striker spoke about the end of his time at Liverpool, stating that he didn’t have the best of relationships with Gerard Houllier during his time at Anfield.

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Robbie Fowler fell out with Gerard Houllier

Fowler spoke about his time working under Houllier.

The former striker says he used to fall out with the manager all the time, claiming that he was fed up when he wasn’t playing.

“I mean when I’m not playing I’m not the nicest man in the world when I think I should be playing,’ Fowler said.

“I’m one of those who will ask questions, so when you’re not playing I won’t be sat there with a big smile on my face. I was distraught. Gerard Houllier came to Liverpool with a plan to bring them back to where they were. He did it, but in the era I was playing, a lot of players had been sold or ostracized. He wanted to bring in his own method and his own way of playing.

“I fell out with him every single day. I’ll be honest with you, I did and I will never apologise for that, but that doesn’t mean I disliked Gerard Houllier.

“I regret not playing as much as I did. I’m ninth on the all-time scorers list, and I should be higher. I scored lots of goals at the start of my career.”

“I didn’t want to leave Liverpool, but I’m glad I did because I got to appreciate Liverpool a bit more.”

Robbie Fowler stats under Gerard Houllier

Fowler clearly wasn’t so keen on Houllier during his time at Liverpool, and the numbers potentially show why.

Heading into the late 1990s, Fowler was the man at Liverpool, but under Gerard Houllier, he was more of a bench player as Michael Owen burst onto the scene.

Fowler recently said Sadio Mane was better than Owen, but Owen still got the nod over Fowler for a lot of his time at Liverpool under Houllier.

Fowler was still scoring plenty of goals under Houllier, averaging one every 179 minutes, but he was featuring on the bench quite a lot during this time as well.

Sometimes, a player and a manager just don’t click, and that would appear to be the case here.

Fowler would eventually leave for Leeds United before returning to Liverpool in 2006 under Rafa Benitez for one last hurrah at Anfield.