David James should be a happy man. He is preparing for an FA Cup Final appearance, the prospect of European football and has been spoken of as a candidate for Kevin Keegan's England squad at Euro 2000.
The Aston Villa goalkeeper has made enough careful repairs to a reputation which lay in tatters only a season ago that Calamity James, the nickname he hated so much, has long since bitten the dust.
Even so, James can neither forget nor forgive what he regards as his betrayal by Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier during the time at Liverpool which became the lowest ebb of his career - and he leaves nobody in any doubt that the bitter taste lingers.
Scousers will tell you he is the only goalkeeper in the Premiership who can make spectacular saves without dislodging the chip on his shoulder but James believes he became a scapegoat for the ills that dogged Liverpool until this season.
So he condemns Evans for being too nice, Houllier for not being nice enough and blames his catastrophic dip in form at Anfield on not practising crosses in training.
As Liverpool finally stand on the verge of Champions League football, James said: 'If John Gregory had been our manager, we would have won a few more trophies.'
James left Anfield for Villa Park last summer in a £1.8million deal, with just a League Cup medal - and a pocketful of grievances - to show for seven years that started to go horribly wrong in the Spring of 1997 with a series of high-profile errors that gave the headline writers their chance.
'All the mistakes I made were because Liverpool neglected crosses in training,' he said. 'I suffered out on the pitch. I was being torn apart and it was my worst time in football. These problems are being ironed out at Villa, the coaches are always on top of things. We have really worked on my game to eradicate the flaws.'
Just in case there is any doubt as to the men he blames for his Anfield demise, James added: 'Roy Evans was a nice bloke but that was his biggest fault. Liverpool needed some stern guidance. We would have had a much better chance of winning a couple of League titles if Roy had been a stronger character.
'Look at Sir Alex Ferguson. Does he strike you as a really nice bloke? He doesn't really come across as over-pleasant.
If he's not happy, you know it. If Roy Evans wasn't happy, he would try to be happy for the sake of not being sad. There is no doubt that some of the lads at Liverpool took advantage of Roy.'
Houllier remains high in James' rogue's gallery for the way in which the Frenchman told an amused nation, via a post-match television interview, that the keeper would be on his way before he informed James himself, as the manager had promised.
'I wasn't pleased about that,' revealed James in the current issue of FourFourTwo magazine. 'I had a meeting with Houllier before he went on television and what he said went completely against what he had told me privately.'
But James is revelling in Villa boss Gregory's manager-ship. 'I love the fact that he's a real lad and his honesty: if something has to be said, he just wades in.'
James admits he feared the worst for the ill-fated Anfield team of Houllier and Evans. 'I was up for the new system but I was clutching at straws because it soon turned sour,' he explained. 'The players were confused, they were preaching two different styles of football. Evans and Houllier were like chalk and cheese.
'Roy allowed us a few drinks around Christmas, whereas Gerard had a ban on alcohol. When the two systems clashed, it was like Halley's Comet hitting Earth.'
James' reputation was also heading south at blistering pace as his mistakes coincided with Liverpool falling away in the title chase, as well as crashing out of Europe. The effect was a huge loss of confidence and his place in the England squad.
The 29-year-old said: 'Sadly, I think I will always be recalled as a dodgy keeper but I am determined to lose that terrible label. People haven't seen the best of me. I've signed a four-year contract at Villa and I expect to reach my peak during it. Football is giving me a buzz again.'
