September 26
It is up to you, Robbie

By Andy Hunter/Daily Post

Robbie Fowler has been told he is the master of his own Liverpool destiny as the striker stands at the crossroads of his Anfield career.

Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has yet to decide who will replace the injured Michael Owen in tonight's crucial Champions League clash against Dynamo Kiev.

But the Reds boss, who sees Owen's absence as the perfect opportunity for Fowler to stake his claim for a regular first-team place, believes his vice-captain is not fit enough for the task.

And he believes Fowler has to "push himself" if he is to regain the limelight for both club and country after slipping down the pecking order at Anfield.

The England striker would normally be favourite to partner Emile Heskey against the Ukrainians as Liverpool swap one natural goalscorer for another in the search for their first Group B victory.

But Houllier has indicated Fowler will have to wait until Sunday's game at Newcastle to force his way back into favour as he issued a warning that past reputations count for nothing.

The Liverpool boss said: "You saw Robbie against Spurs. We are all aware that he needs to play better football.

"It is not about anybody else other than himself and he is aware of that.

"You've got to be honest. Robbie is at a level where he needs to pick himself up and produce better football and we've got to help him do that. It will be a gradual process but he's got to help himself as well.

"In the Champions League you've got to be physically on top of your game because of the intensity of the competition.

"They are better players we are facing, the cream of Europe. Boavista were a good side and Dortmund were difficult to break down.

"We are playing teams who don't allow you to make mistakes. If you do you pay for them immediately.

"You've got to be on top of your game and strong physically, tactically and mentally. The dilemma is not that Robbie hasn't played enough, he has played three out of five league games for us so far.

"The dilemma is that Robbie is not fit enough."

Fowler could yet win selection ahead of Jari Litmanen for tonight's game, but Houllier indicated he first has to convince in training that he is ready to step into Owen's boots.

Houllier added: "I'm going to assess the situation in training first but I need 11 men who are extremely sharp and hungry for the result. First and foremost, I've got to keep the results going.

"I don't think the Robbie Fowler who played against Bolton, Aston Villa and Tottenham is at the level of last season. We've spoken about it. He knows.

"The door is more open than it was and now it's up to him. He's capable of it but it is down to him. Sometimes you have to work more behind the scenes. Every member of the staff is ready to help him to do more physically and to improve his mental edge, but he also has to help himself.

"I'm very confident that he will come back to his best sooner rather than later.

"You get indicators of performance from watching the game, from tackling, passing, headers, everything. I think he can improve."

Fowler has not had a run of games to improve his fitness or form and Houllier admitted: "It is a vicious circle."

But the Reds boss added: "Reputations to me don't mean anything. I'm a man of the present and the future.

"I want to keep Robbie at the club and I want him to perform, but this is about the present otherwise Roger Hunt or Ian Rush would be playing."

September 25
Liverpool legends unhappy
with Fowler treatment

Kop Talk

A number of former high profile and well respected Liverpool players believe that Robbie Fowler is a wasted talent at Anfield and this future lies away from the club.

Several top stars privately believe that the way Robbie Fowler has been treated at Anfield in recent times is disgraceful for such a talent - although they admit he is no angel.

One Liverpool great told us yesterday: "Robbie Fowler has been treated terribly by Gerard Houllier. It is well known that he is not wanted at the club and it would be in his interests to leave to re-ignite his career.

"We all know that Robbie doesn't help himself at times, he just needs an arm putting around him to make him feel wanted. Players need to be treated differently. 

"Everyone knows that Robbie would run in front of a bus for a laugh if it was suggested to him by an influential team-mate, hence the departure of Paul Ince who used to encourage him to do stupid things with the help of Macca (Steve McManaman). Robbie would then take the blame like a school-boy trying to impress his mates.

"He is one of the greatest strikers to ever play for Liverpool but he really needs to move on now if he wants to make a name for himself again. Liverpool won't tell him he's not wanted and the player is unlikely to ask for a move hence the stalemate. 

"I'm not convinced that there would be a pay-off of around £2million for the player if he was sold and he hadn't asked for a move but there would certainly have to be some negotiating over how much would be due to him under the remaining duration of the contract. 

"Obviously Gerard knows how much the fans love Robbie and I believe Gerard is worried about the kind of reaction that would come from the fans if he was sold.

"Some people say he's not the same player but I am convinced that a confident and secure Robbie Fowler would be the most dangerous striker in the country.

"Someone needs to sort the whole matter out once and for all."

A number of other former players share the same view that while Fowler hasn't helped himself in the past, he still doesn't deserve the treatment he continues to receive.

September 22
Fowler's men quit deal talks

By Paul Smith/icLiverpool

Robbie Fowler's advisers have pulled out of contract talks with Liverpool.

Contrary to reports from inside the club, Fowler has no intention of signing a new deal with the Merseyside giants with his future so uncertain.

The conflict between Fowler and the club shows no sign of subsiding following midweek reports of a further bust-up with manager Gerard Houllier.

The England striker feels he is being pushed towards the Anfield exit door.

But he refuses to hand in a transfer request to ease the way for a departure that would interest Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Houllier is aware of the trouble putting Fowler up for sale could stir up. The striker is an even bigger hero on Merseyside than the much-admired Frenchman.

September 18
Houllier denies new Fowler bust-up 

Ananova

Gerard Houllier has denied claims of another bust-up with Robbie Fowler on the eve of Liverpool's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.

Fowler's future at Anfield has been the subject of speculation for months.

Over the weekend Fowler was linked with a move to Blackburn and there were also reports that he had had a verbal spat with his manager.

Earlier in the season Fowler was involved in a bust-up with assistant boss Phil Thompson, only being allowed back into the squad after he apologised.

However, Houllier insists the rumours of a new row are "dishonest and totally untrue".

He said: "When I first saw the story, I felt it was initially a big laugh, but I now understand what happens here, there's a big game so there's a big story.

"There is absolutely nothing in it. Robbie has been working extremely well and waiting for his chance. It will come and he's part of my plans.

"He is a high-profile player, but I have three England strikers and I can only play two most of the time."

Houllier added: "These things don't drive me mad, I just laugh. This is so dishonest, so untrue that I just feel pity for those who claim them."

September 5
Houllier: Fowler still has role at Liverpool 

Ananova 

Gerard Houllier has confirmed that Robbie Fowler still has a big role to play at Liverpool.

And the Anfield boss says the one-time tearaway striker has put his "daft years behind him".

Houllier dropped Fowler for his side's opening Premiership matches after the 26-year-old's much-publicised training ground bust-up with assistant coach Phil Thompson.

It was the latest in a long line of misdemeanours that appeared to signal the end for Fowler at his home-town club, with golden boy Michael Owen forging a potent strikeforce with England team-mate Emile Heskey.

"Robbie has matured a lot and has now married and has two children," Houllier told BBC News 24.

"He's a great guy and has probably put some daft years behind him. The game has changed and you need to keep extremely fit. You need to do things off the field as well as on it.

"He knows he's got to eat carefully. It's not just drinking, players need to eat the right things, for example.

"But at 26 he has got a lot more to deliver at Liverpool Football Club."

Houllier said that not many managers would have been so patient with the controversial forward, but he stressed it was not pay-back time for the local hero.

"I don't think many managers would have stood by him. I would not say he owes me, but if he needs me I'm there to help him."

August 31
Barnes peace plea to Fowler

By Mike Sinclair/PA Sport 

Former Liverpool star John Barnes is urging his old team-mate Robbie Fowler to make his long-term peace with the Anfield club.

Fowler's recent bust-up with assistant boss Phil Thompson cost him his place for the FA Cup winners in the Charity Shield match against champions Manchester United and put his future with the club in jeopardy.

Former England winger Barnes said: "I don't know if Robbie is happy there and I'm not party to his recent problems, but I do know that's where he belongs. He has an affection for the club."

In a bid to foster harmony with manager Gerard Houllier, Barnes advised: "Robbie needs to be loved, you just put your arm around him."

Barnes believes the frustrations of the rotation system employed by all the top clubs have contributed to Fowler's troubles but acknowledges that top strikers everywhere will have to come to terms with an aspect of modern football which is here to stay.

He said: "I think it's difficult for him to handle not being the number one striker every week. Robbie considers himself to be the number one and so do Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.

"Strikers want to play all the time and score as many goals as possible, but that's not how it is in modern football and it's particularly difficult for goalscorers.

"Top clubs will always get world-class strikers and it becomes difficult for them not to be playing every week. They also have to become more adjustable, playing out wide or dropping back to midfield. The days of the old-style centre forward playing up front, just looking for goals, have gone."

Barnes added: "The strikers Manchester United have brought in do seem to have come to terms with it more than those at Liverpool and Arsenal.

"There is not a better finisher in the country than Fowler," said Barnes but he believes England should go for his team-mates Owen and Heskey to provide the strike force to shoot down Germany in Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Munich.

August 24
Fowler's script alters 

By Paul Ridley/The Times 

Who needs Brookside on Merseyside when the Toxteth Terror gets his gander up? 
The former sports editor of The Sun, says there is a lot more mileage in the plot at Anfield as the battle of wills with Gerard Houllier continues 

They may have kissed and made up and decided to get on with their lives for the good of the club, but the soccer soap starring Robbie Fowler and Grard Houllier has a fair number of episodes left. 

The two will never understand each other. They will never get on. They command enormous respect from the only people who matter to them, the Liverpool fans, and it will fall to the Kop to decide who wins this battle of wills. 

Anfields Brookside In Boots was back in the news when Fowler was dumped by Houllier before the Charity Shield. He did not even make the bench. 

This humbling followed a training-ground row between the striker and Houlliers assistant, Phil Thompson. It was a petty, something-and-nothing squabble, but Fowler refused to apologise and was promptly sent to stand in the corner and play no further part in Liverpools start to the season. The Mirror quickly had him finished at Liverpool. 

Paul Joyce in the Daily Express warned Youll Be Sorry as Fowler stood his ground, hurt by Thompson's gibe that hed been at the club too long. 

But the wider picture is well worth a viewing. Fowler has been the rebel, without a pause, since he was thrown into the first team by Graeme Souness as a 17-year-old goalscoring sensation nine years ago. 

He was the streetwise scally from the citys downtown district of Toxteth. And he was making it to the top of the heap. The great Ian Rush took him under his wing and Fowler flourished. 

With Rushy as his mentor, the goals were flowing, there were nights on the lash to remember, and he was Number One. But things could only get better. 

Two more years in tandem with Stan Collymore and still the goals came. Then the scally teamed up with Steve McManaman, Paul Ince and David James to become part of the notorious Spice Boys, who wrote their own rules. 

Macca, the self-styled thinking mans footballer, took over the Rushy role in Fowlers life and he was at 40,000 feet and climbing. 

The trouble with zero-to-hero soap storylines is that they cannot last. Enter Houllier. The new manager orders a radical rewrite of the script. Suddenly we are talking discipline. Dedication. 

Nights confined to hotel rooms. No booze. The lifestyle of a monk looks a lively and attractive alternative. 

Houllier makes it clear that nightclubs are fine only as players come to the end of their careers when they can buy one. Three of the Spice Boys move on. The rebel is now flying solo at Anfield. It is the club he loves. It is the club where he is loved. 

Enter goal-bagger Michael Owen. This is a young man much more up Houlliers boulevard. Quiet, clean-cut, studious. And free-scoring. Fowler is not knocking in as many, he is hit by injuries and is missing too many matches. 

There are a couple of nights out that end in tears. Houllier is more annoyed about Fowler clubbing it at three in the morning than the trouble he walks into. Enter another goal-bagger, Emile Heskey. 

Where does that now leave the Toxteth Terror in the pecking order? It is all getting a bit crowded up front. Who is Number One around here? He is not a fool. 

He might appear surly, his body language might make you think he doesnt give a toss about Liverpool, but he does. And some. But he has his pride. 

The pay talks are not going well. Fowlers adviser, George Scott, knows who is picking up what. The big earners are slipping 60,000 a week into their wallets. His man is not being offered anything like that. 

The slanging match with Thompson a Liverpool legend has not helped. Then Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson confirms that their 15 million bid for Fowler in the summer was accepted by Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry. 

This is a bit disconcerting for the Fowler camp. There are quotes from Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri in a Martin Laptop Lipton story in the Daily Mail. Ranieri says: If Fowler wanted to come here I would take him. 

In the Sunday Express, John Richardson has Newcastle boss Bobby Robson hot to give Robbie a jobbie. A tabloid feeding frenzy links him with Middlesbrough, Tottenham, West Ham, Villa, Rangers and Juventus. 

Paul Smith in the Sunday Mirror says the Italian club sees Fowler as the perfect partner for Marcelo Salas. This welter of interest brings some comfort, but there is none from previous suitors Alex Ferguson, David OLeary and Arsne Wenger, who have all been shopping elsewhere. 

Mike Ellis, in The Sun, moves the story on with a back-page I Want To Stay lead majoring on the humiliating news that Fowler has climbed down and apologised to Thompson. Houllier, ever the diplomat, explains: Both men regret the incident, but it is finished now. Robbie has put the good of the club and the team first. 

In true soap tradition, Fowler turns out and scores against the Finns of FC Haka and Liverpool reach the Champions League group stages. 

So its happy ever after? Not a bit of it. The plot is even more edge-of-the-sofa. Will Fowler push for 60k, the money he believes he deserves? If he gets knocked back, will he be big enough to ask for a transfer? 

If his request is granted, is he really the sort of bloke who can enjoy life away from his beloved Liverpool? 

Some players just do not travel well. He knows Houllier will stick by the squad-rotation system he hates. Can he roll with it? Will he consult Macca the Oracle? Has he still got Rushys number? 

Will the rebel resurface and break a curfew or two in pursuit of a few late ones? Will the responsibility he feels towards his wife and two young children prove decisive? Did Houllier engineer the whole thing? Is Bill Shankly spinning in his grave? 

Houllier has brought the fans hope with three pieces of silverware last season and a European campaign to savour. If Fowler plays up again, will the massive loyalty the faithful feel towards their fellow Scouser see him triumph over the Frenchman? To be continued. Roll the credits.

Thor Zakariassen ©