Before the start of the 2003/4 season Houllier completed the signing of Harry Kewell from Leeds; hailed as ‘the final piece in the jigsaw’ by pundits and supporters alike, Houllier’s Liverpool were tipped for greatness .. Liverpool scraped into fourth place finishing thirty points behind unbeaten champions Arsenal.

The end of the season saw Houllier sacked on May 24 2004, ironically just five days after finally losing patience with one of his most costly flops; Emile Heskey — sold to Birmingham City for a fraction of what we had paid for him just four years previously. Rafael Benitez was installed as Liverpool manager on June 16 2004, Liverpool cannot afford to make any more mistakes in the transfer market, hopefully ‘Beni’ will prove a more shrewd operator in the transfer market than the last four managers at Anfield have been.