90min

Football World Pays Tribute to Gerard Houllier

By Tom Gott

Houllier led Liverpool to UEFA Cup glory in 2001
Houllier led Liverpool to UEFA Cup glory in 2001 / PATRICK HERTZOG/Getty Images
facebooktwitterreddit

The football world was rocked on Monday with the news that former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier had passed away late on Sunday at the age of 73.

The legendary Frenchman enjoyed success both in his homeland and overseas, with his six-year spell at Anfield between 1998 and 2004 perhaps the most well-known period of Houllier's managerial career.

A real rags-to-riches story, Houllier cut his teeth in the fifth tier of French football before steadily rising up the ranks. He moved to Lens in 1982 and earned a move to Paris Saint-Germain three years later.

In his debut season, he led PSG to the Ligue 1 title, establishing himself as a genuine force to be reckoned with at the time.

Houllier then spent nine years working in various positions with the French national team, eventually earning himself a move to Liverpool to lead the side in a short-lived partnership with Roy Evans, before gaining sole control six months later.

In the years running up to Houllier's move to Anfield, Liverpool found themselves in somewhat of a slump, having struggled to impress in the Premier League, and Houllier was often credited for being the man who single-handedly dragged Liverpool back to relevancy.

He embarked on a quest to rebuild a squad which had faced real criticism in the media, offloading big names like Paul Ince and David James and replacing them with the likes of Sami Hyypia, Dietmar Hamann and Vladimir Smicer - the spine of the side which would go on to win the Champions League in 2005.

2001 was Houllier's finest season at Anfield. He led Liverpool to a cup treble, watching on as his players lifted the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup - an accomplishment which is still heralded to this day.

Houllier left the club in 2004, having put in place everything Liverpool needed to continue their success. He had helped overseen the development of the Melwood training complex, rejuvenated a tiring squad and helped instil a culture of winning in a side which had forgotten what it meant to be successful.

In his later years, he spent time with Lyon and Aston Villa, with whom he ended his career in 2011 when health problems became too much to manage.

Houllier led Villa to ninth in the Premier League that year, and to this day, no Villa manager has been able to better that result.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!