Former Liverpool FC Manager, Gerard Houllier Is Dead

Former Liverpool, Aston Villa and France manager Gerard Houllier has died aged 73.

Houllier spent six years at Anfield between 1998-2004, winning four major trophies including the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001.

After two years with Lyon, Houllier returned to the Premier League in 2010, replacing Martin O’Neill as manager of Aston Villa. He stepped down from his role at Villa Park in June the following year, shortly after falling ill with heart problems.

The Frenchman spent 38 years as a manager, also taking charge of the France national team, Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, where he won Ligue 1 in 1986 – the first of PSG’s nine titles.

In a statement on Monday, Liverpool said: “Liverpool FC is mourning the passing of former manager Gerard Houllier, aged 73.

“The Frenchman was in charge of the Reds for six seasons, leading his team to an historic and unforgettable treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000-01 and returning the club to the Champions League.

“Houllier – who recovered from life-saving heart surgery during the 2001-02 campaign to return to the dugout – later guided Liverpool to a second League Cup triumph of his tenure in 2003 and departed the following year having overseen 307 matches and successfully re-established the club as a modern force.

“Everybody at the club is deeply saddened by the loss of Gerard and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen paid tribute to Houllier on Twitter, writing: “Absolutely heartbroken to hear that my old boss, Gérard Houllier, has sadly passed away. A great manager and a genuinely caring man.”

Jamie Carragher said he was “absolutely devastated” by the news of Houllier’s death. The former defender wrote on Twitter: “I was in touch with him only last month to arrange him coming to Liverpool. Loved that man to bits, he changed me as a person and as a player and got LFC back winning trophies. RIP Boss.”

Aston Villa added on Twitter: “All at Aston Villa are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Gérard Houllier, our manager during the 2010/11 season. Our thoughts are with Gérard’s loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”

Stephen Warnock, who played for Houllier at Liverpool and Aston Villa, told Sky Sports News: “He’s someone who had a huge influence at Liverpool and the French national team as well. He was my manager on two occasions, both at Liverpool and Aston Villa. This is terrible news.

“He’ll be remembered fondly by Liverpool fans for that incredible season where they won the treble and went on to win five trophies under Houllier in the calendar year. It was a quite remarkable season.

“He was a stern disciplinarian. He brought new standards into Liverpool when he first came in. He was very similar to Arsene Wenger, when he came into Arsenal and how he tried to implement a different diet and way the players should live. You only have to listen to Steven Gerrard, Danny Murphy, Jamie Carragher talk about the influence he had on their careers and how he changed their set up to approach football and the way they lived their life. He had a huge influence on their careers.

“He did have that disciplinarian side to him, that a school teacher perhaps has, and he had that in and around the training ground. He was very stern in the way he spoke. But tactically he was very astute and a huge studier of the game. He changed Liverpool after Roy Evans and tried to bring a different style in, a continental style into Liverpool and that worked for a period of time.

“He made very big decisions at Liverpool but that was something he was never afraid to do. Never afraid to make those decisions. At Liverpool it was a big thing at the time because you had big characters in the changing room but he wasn’t afraid of those characters, he wasn’t afraid to do what he thought was right for the football club to move it forward.”

Lee Ray

Lee Ray is a qualified journalist dedicated to inform and update you with News, Gossip, Entertainment, Showbiz and Music!