Whether Houllier was considered a failure or not, the point remains he was a hugely experienced and successful manager, who didn't perform as most of us would have wanted him too. My general point is, we have had experienced managers and inexperienced ones, all with varying degrees of success in previous roles. None of them worked out how we would have liked. Moyes, Rodgers, Garde, Poyet, Warbuton, Rowett or Pearson - you can make a case for any of them to get the job and probably make an equally strong case as to why they shouldn't.