On May 25 this year, Robbie Fowler travelled to Istanbul to watch the European Cup final. 'I was like every other Liverpool fan that night. I was over me head,' he tells me. 'What made it sweeter was that ever since the Olympiakos game no one gave them a chance, first to beat them by two goals, to play Chelsea, to play Juventus, even AC Milan; no one was giving them a chance. It fired them all up.'
In the celebrations afterwards the players he had once captained expressed regret that he had not been there on the pitch with them and blamed Houllier for forcing him out of the club. 'Obviously, deep down, I was thinking maybe it could have been me lifting the trophy, I could have been there on the pitch, but I never moped about it,' he says. 'I don't want to say in an ideal world - because that would be disrespectful to Leeds and Manchester City - but I do wonder what might have happened [if he had stayed at Liverpool]. If things had been going according to my plan, I would still be there.'
In five seasons under Graeme Souness and Roy Evans, Fowler won only one trophy, the 1995 League Cup. In his third and final full season with Houllier he won the treble of League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup. It was, he says, 'the greatest season of my career, and also one of the worst'. Fowler's version of what he regards as Houllier's desire to force him out is shocking, as it was at the time to those in the know. During the painful period before his inevitable departure from Anfield, he received calls of support from Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and John Aldridge. 'I've always thought it was wrong for players to leave clubs and have a go at managers or personnel who were at the club. You should just leave, and leave on good terms. It is clear that meself and Gerard never got on, but I don't think I've mullered him in the book. I've just been honest about the way he treated me and I treated him.' Fowler writes bluntly: 'He [Houllier] lied to me', in a reference to a private promise to make him central to plans at Liverpool. Emile Heskey and Michael Owen started more games than Fowler, who was not played regularly enough to hit his rhythm. He endured regular dressing-downs in front of embarrassed team-mates. Fowler writes that Houllier used the influential Liverpool Echo to make fans question his form and attitude, briefing a young, raw reporter, Chris Bascombe, against him, even telephoning the writer to berate him if he had praised Fowler in a game. (Bascombe later explained in detail Houllier's tactics, having wised up when pressured to do the same with Owen.) The manager argued that Fowler and Owen could not play together - but they emphatically disproved the theory, for England in Greece in June 2001. Robbie was named man of the match. But Houllier, 'the man who claimed he never missed a football match in Europe' according to Robbie, astonishingly just 'said he hadn't seen it' when asked by the local press.
He is more forgiving of former assistant manager Phil Thompson, with whom he often clashed. 'I've met him a few times since we've both been away from Liverpool and he's a totally different person. I couldn't believe it. At Liverpool he was a bit in yer face, if you like. But since he got released he's a totally different person, someone I didn't mind. With him and Gerard, it was a bit Jekyll and Hyde.'
The sense of injustice may be powerful, but he says he would swap only one thing in his entire time at Liverpool: the last game he played, against Sunderland at home, on 25 November 2001, when he was substituted at half-time to strengthen the midfield. 'That kind of sums up my time under Houllier,' is his verdict. What of the notion that he has squandered his talent, that he should still be playing for England, for whom he last appeared in the 2002 World Cup? 'I'm still working hard,' he says. He concedes that he is more insecure than many would imagine an international to be. 'I sometimes think I've needed a bit of an arm around me in my career - which I've not always got from certain managers and coaches who didn't understand me.'
Stuart Pearce, who succeeded Kevin Keegan as manager of Manchester City in March, has encouraged Fowler with a more paternal approach. After describing himself as 'a cabbage' during his first two seasons at City, Fowler lists coming in the top three of the supporters' player-of-the-season awards last season as one of his proudest achievements (defender Richard Dunne came first). Meeting him at home, it is clear he has attempted to remain true to himself and his Toxteth background throughout his thrilling and often troubled career. 'When you come from a council estate in Liverpool, how you come across is important,' he says, speaking for himself but also McManaman. 'You don't want to be seen as a biff: some busy bollocks like Gary Neville, or someone who has sold their soul like Beckham. The mates we've got, if either of us gives it the big bollocks, then they'd destroy us. Steve's like me, he's got mates from when he was a kid who knew him when he was two-foot nothing and had holes in his kecks. He'd be mortified if they thought he was getting above himself, or playing the big star, and I feel exactly the same way. Sometimes, I think that's why we both come across as if we don't give a fuck, and I think that's why a few managers - England managers in particular - haven't understood the pair of us.'
As I prepare to leave, Fowler beckons me over to his mother-in-law's car. A small dog is hurling itself at the window, doing a good impression of an enraged guard-dog. 'Watch this,' says Robbie, with a grin. He opens the door boldly and the dog, relaxing, slinks over to the other side of the car. All it craves is a bit of reassurance. What is it they say about first impressions? · Fowler: My Autobiography is published this week (Macmillan, £18.99) · Sarah Edworthy is co-author of El Macca: Four Years with Real Madrid (Pocket Books, £7.99)