The life, and death, of Gerard Houllier can teach valuable lessons.
An appreciation of the good that people do, rather than regret, or ingratitude, at their perceived failures.
A thankfulness too for the time we have with those we love and admire.
And an ability to keep the importance of sport in proper perspective.
I’d learned the last two of those things at least by the summer of 2001, when we almost lost my wonderful mum to a brain aneurysm.
We’re blessed to have her with us still, just as those who knew and worked with Gerard Houllier were privileged by his bonus years, following his own near-death experience later that same year.
I never properly met ‘Ged’, but I was in his presence for a short time. The details of which pre-season game, or ‘tournament’, Liverpool FC were over in Belfast for escape me.
However, one incident has stuck in my mind. A colleague from another department tagged along to the press conference simply because he was a Liverpool fan.
While I was maintaining my professional decorum, my over-exuberant colleague spotted Houllier walking through the venue’s lobby and shouted out ‘Ca va, Gerard?’
In a tone which translated that phrase as a broad Belfast ‘’Bout ye, mucker?!’
Houllier turned round, directed a long, cool look at this impertinent stranger which made him shrivel like a lettuce leaf under a heat lamp, and then strolled on towards his seat.
That made me smile – it’s always nice to see a cocky colleague embarrassed – but it also gave me a mistaken impression of the Frenchman, feeding into a particular perception.
The idea that he was a cold, humourless, unfriendly fish.
However, the many tributes paid to Houllier since his death on Monday speak to the warmth of the man, the way he cared for players and others everywhere he went.
People aren’t always, perhaps even often, like their public persona.
Gerard Houllier was an educator throughout his life, dropping out of university because of his father’s death, becoming a school teacher, then a football coach.
To an outsider he may have appeared didactic but to his players he was a mentor, a father figure of the loving kind.
The sheer joy Gerard showed at important goals his team scored, the looks of wonder at what his players did, reveal his character.
He’s best known in Britain and Ireland for his time as Liverpool boss, but his work as France’s technical director was influential in developing top players such as Thierry Henry and David Trezequet. He had a hugely positive effect on the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Michael Owen at Anfield.
Still, he could be steely too. His decision to effectively push the beloved Robbie Fowler away from Liverpool did leave a sour taste, although it hadn’t been his fault that he had earlier replaced one of Anfield’s favourite sons, Roy Evans, as boss – the dream of ‘joint-managers’ was always doomed to failure.
However, to use that word about his time with the Reds is utterly wrong, just because he didn’t get the Premiership to dock at Liverpool or win the Champions League.
Houllier was up against two of the greatest managers in English top flight history, in Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger.
He was also being judged by the standards of Liverpool FC. When he joined the club, it was less than a decade since the Reds had won the league.
There was still a sense around Anfield that it wouldn’t take all that much for Liverpool FC to get back on ‘their perch’.
Another mistaken impression.
Taking an evolutionary approach rather than the revolutionary shake-up Graeme Souness had attempted a few years before, Gerard Houllier raised standards, enhanced professionalism, demanded more. And got it.
It didn’t prove enough, indeed the closest his team came was to finish second, seven points behind Arsenal in 2002.
Yet that doesn’t mean he didn’t do great things.
As with that preceding sentence, there was too much negativity in the assessment of Houllier.
The ‘Cup Treble’ won in 2001 wasn’t ‘The Treble’, making it easy for Manchester United fans in particular to mock – but it was still a remarkable achievement. There was good fortune involved, especially against Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, but only the greatest teams don’t need a little luck if they’re to avoid defeat in three different cup competitions.
His successor Rafa Benitez is more revered, largely because he won the European Cup/ Champions League.
Yet, although that is definitely the Spaniard’s achievement, a significant portion of credit should also go to the Frenchman.
Not only did Houllier buy and/or mould many of the players in the side which stunned a star-studded AC Milan, he had lifted Liverpool back onto the big stage in 2001/2, for the first time in 16 years, since the Heysel tragedy. Gerard also left Liverpool as a Champions League club.
If not for a series of extraordinary occurrences, especially in Istanbul, the perception of Benitez might also be that of a ‘nearly man’, which would also be unfair, given his consistency in keeping the Red flag flying high.
Decent, dignified, intelligent, urbane – no one ever wore a red scarf with more style than Gerard Houllier.
To the end, he was passing on his wisdom, appointed as technical director to two women’s clubs, including the mighty Lyon, only last month.
He’d have loved to be back at Anfield with Leipzig in the Champions League in his role as head of global football with Red Bull.
He’d have been assured of as warm a welcome as on that unforgettable night in 2002 when he returned against Roma.
Adieu, Gerard, et merci.
