might have done with another player. It was not my fault Macca left. You never want your top players to leave the club. He went on a free under a new rule at the time and you have to live with that sometimes. I would have tried hard to sign him before he was able to leave, that's why I was fair to him. I wasn't going to prejudice the matter by not playing him; he played until the end of the season and I asked the fans to give him a great send off in the final game against Wimbledon." McManaman himself also credited Houllier for his kindness during what ultimately was a difficult period, adding: "...it was a difficult situation for the pair of us, so I've got nothing but respect for the way he acted." The Guardian reported on how divided the Liverpool fans were about McManaman's departure: "At the age of 27 McManaman is articulate enough to appeal to his public's elders, pretty enough to disrupt the thought patterns of the girls and good enough at his job to be regarded as a role model for the lads...on the face of it his crime is simply to be young, successful, in demand and wise enough to have surrounded himself with advisers who fully appreciate his true value. Before and during Saturday's game at Anfield he was subjected to some frightful abuse, accused by supporters of both teams of being a "greedy bastard"...It is wholly dependent upon your standpoint as to whether McManaman is a sporting trail-blazer enjoying the benefits of a free market or the very personification of the greed which many would argue has devalued football in recent times." McManaman told the media after one such game where he became a victim of the "boo boys", saying, "That's understandable, when I came off the other day I knew the reaction there was going to be. But I think if they put themselves in the same predicament, and the fact that I have been at Liverpool for 12 years and that I would like to test myself in a foreign country, that's understandable." At the time, McManaman also suffered personal tragedy when his mother Irene, passed away aged 50 after a long battle against cancer. The combination of all these factors meant McManaman suffered a loss of form; however, McManaman managed to rally and pick up