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People will remember how you made them feel. And the true measure of one’s impact is how long it lasts, the legacy one leaves behind.
Gerard Houllier passed that wisdom on to his assistant Phil Thompson when he was Liverpool’s manager, and after his passing on Sunday night, warm tributes will flow for a football revolutionary with a big heart that he literally gave to the game. .
This year it has already stolen so much from us and now it had needed an innovator, a master tactician, one of the most intelligent minds that could be found intertwined with the most wonderful soul.
Houllier was instructive in the rejuvenation of French football, the modernization of Liverpool and the development strategy of the Red Bull franchise. The best policies for youth in Europe have been based on his ideas, which he would openly share.
Houllier lived to guide emerging talents and tributes from Ashley Young, Michael Owen, Memphis Depay and Jamie Carragher, to select only a few, speak of it.
She also worried about the advancement of women’s football, as the giant Lyon and OL Reign will attest.
Houllier won titles with Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon, it was a big part of the brains confidence that returned France to the top of the game, his five full seasons in Liverpool brought five big pieces of silver, a return to the League of Champions, a second place in the top flight, but also a complete club repaint.
As Thompson put it, Houllier took them “from the front pages to the last pages again. We were once again a true football club with one of the best training grounds in Europe ”.
Melwood was reformed, there was a greater focus on nutrition and sports science with a culture of indulgence replaced by one of excellence.
He brought in possibly the best player in club history in Steven Gerrard. And the former Liverpool captain had told Houllier that the Istanbul Miracle would not have happened without the experience of winning the UEFA Cup in 2001.
Jurgen Klopp has often referenced the influence of those who preceded him as part of the history of the Merseysiders to conquer Europe and England again. Houllier “brought the club into the 21st century,” according to former president David Moores.
Not even open heart surgery, performed in October 2001 after falling ill at halftime at Anfield during a game against Leeds, could prevent him from fulfilling what he considered a vocation rather than a job. He was ordered to recover for a year, but returned to the dugout after five months.
Houllier would admit that he was lucky to live given the quick diagnosis, the lack of traffic to get to the hospital, and that the surgeon was not absent as he had originally planned.
Houllier will be fondly remembered by Liverpool
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So they told him to relax in football. “I’d rather stop breathing,” was Houllier’s reply.
And so, he continued to serve the game until its end. The sticking point, however, is not his devotion to the support, but how it was carried out: with genuine care, effort, and being approachable and overwhelmingly friendly.
Houllier made time for everyone he could. He would respond to messages, gladly offer information, and take long calls to talk about a player or strategy or whatever you wanted despite a stacked schedule.
Houllier was really interested in what you were like and what your opinion was too. He loved asking questions as much as he loved being detailed when answering them. Soccer was always to share, to think, to be a common experience.
It’s no wonder that, as the highlights come, they focus on the man.
People will remember how it made them feel. Houllier’s legacy as one of soccer’s great minds and greatest gentleman will endure.
