a five-point lead at the top of the table in January, but eventually finished poorly in fourth place, while Manchester United clinched the title by a seven-point margin. Their European Cup Winners' Cup adventure ended in the semi-finals when they lost to Paris St Germain. They had also collected 3 points fewer overall, finishing with 68, with much of the press berating the club for a lack of discipline off the field, dubbing Evans' squad the Spice Boys for their lifestyles off the pitch, which affected their performances on it. In the last game of that season, against Sheffield Wednesday, Liverpool failed to win, with Owen hitting the post late on. Had he scored Liverpool would have finished second and had the opportunity to play in the following season's European Cup. With Stan Collymore moving to Aston Villa in the close season, Evans did not want to throw Owen into the first team, so he brought in midfield hardman Paul Ince, and legendary German striker Karlheinz Riedle to partner the prolific Robbie Fowler. Liverpool appeared ready to mount a strong title challenge in 1997–98 season, however, an injury to Fowler, that lasted for the majority of the season, prevented the team from making the most of its potential. Owen burst onto the scene with 18 goals in 36 Premier League games. Nevertheless, they again collected 3 points fewer than the previous season for the 3rd straight season (65 total) and had to settle for third place in the league and yet another UEFA Cup campaign. In 1998 Liverpool's longstanding Boot Room coach Ronnie Moran retired and was set to be replaced by Gerrard Houllier for the 1998–99 season onwards. It was decided that Houllier would become joint manager of Liverpool to work alongside Evans, but the arrangement was not a success and Evans resigned in November to leave Houllier in sole charge. Houllier would remain at the club until 2004, collecting one FA Cup, one UEFA Cup and two League Cups in that time. Liverpool legacy When Roy Evans took over from Graeme Souness in 1994 the team was in rapid free-fall. In his first full season (1994–95) Liverpool finished 4th with 74 points. At this point it seemed that he had successfully reversed the decline that had set in under the Souness regime, and the 'glory days' would soon be returning. However, the team was to finish the next