Gerard Houllier led Liverpool to an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001; He spent six years at Anfield between 1998 and 2004 and also managed France, Lyon and Aston Villa. Jamie Carragher pays tribute to his former manager.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 07:03, UK
Gerard Houllier had a transformative impact on Liverpool, changing the culture at the club and restoring success, says his former player Jamie Carragher.
The Sky Sports pundit saw first hand how the Frenchman made key changes to the way players at Liverpool approached the game and describes Houllier as a key influence on his own career.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Carragher paid tribute to the work and achievements of Houllier at Liverpool - which he says have sometimes been underestimated by people outside of the club - and also praised the personality of the man with whom he shared a close bond.
"He was a great man. It wasn't just the manager, the job he did for Liverpool and other clubs, the influence he had on what the French did in the 1998 World Cup win, but what he did for me, Stevie [Gerrard], Michael Owen, Danny Murphy, when he first came in. I don't think I, or any of those lads or anyone else involved in the club, will ever forget what he did for us. He meant so much to us all, really.
"At such a young age you're like a sponge for information, you really look up to your manager, and in that spell he had, for those five or six years at Liverpool, I absolutely adore that man and I'm devastated.
"We always kept in touch. We were arranging something for the summer, to coincide with 20 years since the 2001 treble, when we had that great season which really in some ways put Liverpool back on the map of winning trophies. We'd had a tough 10 years in the 1990s, so it wasn't easy. He was the man who got us back there winning trophies.
"Obviously we know what happened to him on the bench, as well, one day at Anfield he had problems with his heart then and that was down to the absolute work ethic of the man to try to get Liverpool back where he wanted them, to the very top. He was an absolute legend in my eyes.
"It wasn't easy [for him coming into Liverpool]. Liverpool had so much success with the Boot Room era. We always look at the big change in Liverpool's fortune going back to the late 1950s, when Bill Shankly came in, but I actually think of there being a line in the sand when the Boot Room era finished and Gerard came in and the success Liverpool have had since.
"Liverpool have just won the league with Jurgen Klopp but there were a lot of trophies won under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez in the 2000s. That was almost the rebirth of the club and getting the club back on the footing of challenging in Europe and playing in European finals, and winning trophies as well.
"I always feel it was underestimated the job he did at Liverpool. A lot of that team who won the Champions League in 2005 under Rafa Benitez, a lot of those players were the nucleus of Gerard's team and I think the job he did was testament to where the club is today in terms of that team he created in the early 2000s and the success we had in that decade from 2001 to 2009 under Gerard and Rafa after that.
"His first season was tough, you had the joint managership with Roy Evans. But he basically took Liverpool into the 21st Century in terms of how things were done.
"We'd had so much success with the Boot Room era but there was no doubt things had to change and move forwards with modern times.
"Certainly from a personal point of view, the education he gave out in terms of how to look after myself, certainly off the pitch as much as on it, I think that was a big thing in how long I ended up playing for and staying at the club for so long. Without his advice and guidance at such a young age I don't think I'd have had the career I had.
"I never, ever give one person in my life the title of being 'the' biggest influence but there will always be three or four people who I look to who have shaped me and shaped my career and he is well amongst that and I'll never forget what he did for me.
"He was a really tough manager, in the nicest possible sense. I learnt so much from him in the way he shaped the squad, the discipline he had within the squad, he wouldn't back down to any player, there was no player power at the club.
"If anyone had gone into any of his meetings they may have got a different take on how demanding he was of his own team and how competitive he was to win.
"He was so close to bringing the title back. You can't forget that era - it was Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson at their clubs, absolutely legendary managers - so it was always going to be tough for any manager in that era, but to actually win what we won in those five or six years with the competition we were up against and beat both of those sides in cup finals to get silverware, we were really close in the Champions League one season as well.
"He was an uncompromising manager but an absolute diamond of a guy, hence why so many of his players still kept in touch with him.
"He'd watched games as a youngster, I think he'd come over and had an internship as a school teacher, so he was well aware of the city and the passion for football.
"But people have to remember, in 2001 when we started getting success and those cup finals, it had been a long time since Liverpool had had that success. It was almost a new generation of supporters.
"A lot of supporters in their 30s or 40s can't remember what happened in the 1970s and 1980s, so the first time they saw Liverpool win was under Gerard Houllier.
"I think what he did for the club at that time and getting it back to where it belongs, and competing in Europe and the Champions League and winning trophies again and making us competitive, and obviously Rafa came in and carried that on, I always felt he was massively underestimated outside of the club - but certainly not by the players within it."
