On The Ball | Liverpool was more than just a job – a tribute to late manager Gerard Houllier
- The Frenchman, who died on Monday aged 73, will forever be remembered as a Kopite despite some fans overlooking his glorious season 20 years ago
- Liverpool’s weekend game against Palace becomes extra meaningful with coach Hodgson likely to reflect on 30-year friendship
Managing Liverpool is one of the most prized positions in football. Gerard Houllier loved the job.
The Frenchman, who died on Monday at the age of 73, saw the role as the fulfilment of a dream. He embraced the club’s traditions. The tributes were effusive. Yet the importance of the man who led Liverpool to a cup treble in a strange but ultimately glorious season 20 years ago has been sometimes overlooked by supporters in the ensuing two decades.
Perhaps it was because the silverware – the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Uefa Cup – have come to be considered ‘minor’ trophies. Maybe it was because Houllier’s replacement, Rafa Benitez, upstaged him by winning the Champions League at the end of the Spaniard’s first campaign.
The biggest factor in underestimating the former France manager is that he was unable to fulfil his potential at Anfield. The treble season was expected to be a launch pad for the team, but just three months into the next campaign Houllier became critically ill at half-time in a match against Leeds United and required emergency, life-saving surgery. He never recovered the necessary energy to manage at the top of the game.
Houllier understood what the club meant. During his 20s, he spent time on Merseyside as an exchange student teaching at Alsop Comprehensive. Although the school was less than 400 yards from Everton’s Goodison Park, the young Frenchman was drawn to Anfield. He stood on the Kop and became a kindred spirit to the hordes who flocked to hail Bill Shankly and his team.
