departure Having signed the pre-contract with Real Madrid, McManaman still had five months left on his contract at Liverpool. New manager Gérard Houllier, who had replaced Evans as full coach following the failure of their joint-managerial role that very season, was widely believed to want to get rid of the "Spice Boys" mentality and cavalier attitudes at the club, having told many players they were surplus to requirements (including Jason McAteer, Phil Babb, Rob Jones, Stig Bjornebye, David James and Paul Ince), and where there were exits for seventeen other players who would leave the club in the next year ahead. While stating that he would have preferred that the player stayed, he said that the club had to respect McManaman's decision to exercise his right to leave at the end of his contract and conceded that he would have to replace the player, ultimately stating that McManaman's departure was inevitable and the only chance of keeping him would be if he (McManaman) decided to sign a 12-month contract extension having failed to secure a move to the club of his choice, saying: "If I was the manager of Real Madrid—or Barcelona or any leading club—I would want to have Steve McManaman in my side," he said. Reports also emerged at the time stating that McManaman's decision making process was significantly shaped by Roy Evans' complete departure from the club in mid-November 1998, as Liverpool would be commencing on a new era and tactical style under Houllier and it dovetailed with McManaman's desire to time his move that year, rather than to sign an extension and move a year later. Jamie Carragher defended McManaman in his autobiography, stating that at the time: "Despite being accused of greed, Macca also lost money to secure the move. He was one of the lowest earners at Anfield (for years), despite being the top player, because he'd refused to sign a new contract. Financially he took a big risk, putting his career before money. I respect him for that." Another of McManaman's younger team-mates, David Thompson, also revealed (in an interview in 2019) that McManaman was the best player in that 90s Liverpool team, but was playing as the playmaker of the side on a lower salary than even new foreign signings who came in on higher wage contracts at the time. McManaman also stated that his decision to move abroad was something he