Just catching up with the news. So sad. I loved the romance of Houllier teaching French in Liverpool and watching Shankly’s team and falling in love with it all. It was a great story that came full circle when he came back to manage the team.
He was a great footballing man, and also a great man. Educated, kind, thoughtful, and very professional. We had a fine team under Evans but it just fell short of the League title due to being old school in terms of approach to the game. The Spice Boys culture is well documented.
Houllier came in and changed all that. I’d like to think that he would have taken us to the title if he hadn’t fallen ill. We had a good team, and we were getting into the winning habit, as the cup treble of 2001 demonstrated. But as it happened the all important Prem title remained just out of reach.
Rafa won the CL with most of Houllier’s players, which gave him a real satisfaction.
He was a statesman of the game and will be sadly missed. Genuinely gutted by this news.
Must admit it took me a while to take to Houllier. I wasn’t happy with the way Uncle Roy was treated. It was obvious as soon as Ged was appointed at the first sign of trouble Evans would be the fall guy.
We were a laughing stock for having 2 managers. If memory serves (as I was there) we lost 2 home games on the bounce to bottom team derby 2-1 and then to Leeds 3-1 after going 1 up. Alan Smith came on and with his first touch in his pro career scored. We then crumbled.
So Roy went and I was really unhappy about that.
But credit to Houllier he got rid of the dross and dropped shit like James - unfortunately it was another duffer in Friedal. He got rid of Staunton who was shocking in his 2nd spell. He ditched Ince as well which was a big call.
He signed Hyppia, Henchoz, Westerweld, Camara, Hamman, Heskey and we started looking a real force. The treble year was great and ironically in what seemed like a 1000 game season our 3 worst performances of the season were the finals but we won them.
After he came back from being unwell he wasnt really the same. His biggest mistake was signing Diouf instead of Anelka and shite like Diao and countless other scratch your head signings. He wasnt helped when Babel got that illness and was never the same.
I think LFC and Ged parted maybe a season too late as we were miles behind United who were miles behind that Chelsea team.
Ged was unlucky in that he didnt have United budget so for every A+ player United signed we could only afford the B+ signings and then Roman came in and we were behind again
But for a few years we just kept winning silverware and it was excellent. It was such a shame he couldnt get us over the line in 01/02 but Arsenal went on that crazy run and won something like 12 of the last 12 and pipped us. We were meant to kick on in 02/03 lost that game to Cheslea and didnt qualify for CL and Romans millions and never recovered from it.
This will be quite a personal post so please feel free to skip it I just need to get some stuff out.
Houlliers death has completely rocked me. Not only was it out of the blue and unexpected or because of how sad it was (he was such a great guy from everything said, but because of the impact he’s had on me that I hadn’t even thought of before.
I was always a Liverpool fan, my dad’s family are a mix of Tranmere and Everton fans but my mum’s family are more forceful and passionate LFC fans. So I was a Liverpool fan long before I could understand these things and born in 82 I didn’t really get to enjoy the good times back in the 80s. My grandad and Auntie Jo always went the match when I was young young. Think they had a “dad and lad” season ticket or something.
My grandad was the personal biggest male influence on me being a Liverpool fan although he wasn’t loud and brash about It, just quietly, confidently, there and passionate.
As an older kid and young teen I identified as a Liverpool fan but I was extremely casual. I didn’t exactly know a lot and was more into various types of Rock music.
Growing up my nan and grandads house was the family hub of a very close family. We lost my nan when I was 16 and we suffered a lot as a family it wasn’t expected. Two years later we lost my mum which is something that still causes tears at family parties 20 years later (fuck you cancer).
It was a dark time for me around the millennium anyway. Houlliers reds started to offer more and more of a distraction from that bleakness and get me more and more into football. Without realising it by the time he left and Rafa came in I was a die hard, committed fan. Even if I couldn’t afford to go to matches back then.
Without Houllier and his achievements I don’t know if I would as emotionally attached to the club as I am yet I never considered the impact he had on my life.
We sadly lost my grandad this summer, it was heart breaking for us all but I never considered how much I owed him for being a red. Now Houllier goes too and that’s the two biggest male influences on my becoming the red I am today both gone. I owe them both a massive debt and it can’t be a coincidence that they were both the ultimate gentlemen too that set an example on how to behave and live your life.
I feel privileged that Gerard Houllier was the manager of my club at the time I needed him to be. And just wanted to say thank you and sleep well.
