It has to be Houllier or Curbs

Dec 14 2008 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

IF horses for courses is the safest way forward for Sunderland, then Gerard Houllier or Alan Curbishley should be frontrunners to succeed Roy Keane.

One has the experience and expertise to get the best out of the Black Cats’ better players. The other has pulled off a Great Escape.

Houllier? He would get Djibril Cisse and Steed Malbranque playing, if not El-Hadji Diouf.

Though he departed Liverpool before having a chance to field his then £10 million signing, Houllier has often reiterated his admiration for Cisse — and the respect is mutual.

As for Malbranque, Houllier would have taken him to Anfield in 2003 but for a price tag which proved prohibitive.

Get those two performing to potential, and the job of keeping Sunderland up this season would be all but done.

Diouf? Even Houllier himself describes him as his worst-ever signing, so theirs is a broken relationship. But that says far more about the former than the latter.

Sure, there would be question marks against Houllier’s longevity in the job, but why not appoint a bright, young coach to work beneath him as manager in-waiting?

Who better than Houllier for a mentor?

Oh, and I simply don’t buy the idea that he isn’t interested in a return to the Premier League at a club with such obvious potential.

However, with his direct, recent and happy experience of a survival battle, Curbishley cannot be easily overlooked.

Mention of his name may not quicken Wearside pulses like that of other supposed contenders, and I acknowledge that maintaining a club profile which rocketed under Keane is important.

But the fact is that Curbishley not only kept West Ham afloat two seasons ago, winning over sceptical and initially abusive fans in the process, but was then building a decent side until the club’s unravelling finances forced the sale of star players and his resignation.

Oh, and he’s not Sam Allardyce.