Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp paid tribute to former Reds manager Gerard Houllier, who died aged 73 on Monday, calling the Frenchman a “true coaching legend.”
Houllier won four major trophies, including an unprecedented treble in 2001, during a six-year spell from 1998 to 2004 as manager of the English Premier League giants. He died after undergoing heart surgery.
“He is a true Liverpool legend and he is a true coaching legend,” Klopp told Liverpool’s Web site. “He was really influential in the game. A great coach, but a human being who gave you a really warm feeling when you were around him. For all of us it is a big loss and a really sad day.”
Photo: Reuters
Houllier helped Liverpool become a consistent force in English football again after a barren spell in the late 1990s.
Last season’s Premier League triumph under Klopp ended a 30-year wait for a top-flight league title, while Liverpool’s only other major honors in the 1990s were the 1992 FA Cup and 1995 League Cup.
Houllier lifted both those trophies, as well as the UEFA Cup, during his third season in charge, before his side also beat Manchester United to win the 2003 League Cup.
He won Ligue 1 titles in France with Paris-Saint Germain and Lyon, and also had a spell in charge of the French national team from 1992 to 1993, when they failed to qualify for the 1994 finals in the US.
The cerebral Houllier played an important role in shaping Liverpool after the club that had dominated English football in the 1970s and 1980s lost their way. His affiliation with Liverpool began decades before he took charge at Anfield.
He worked as a teacher in the city during the 1960s, first taking in a Reds match on the Kop in 1969.
“I met him before I came to Liverpool and I knew him a little bit then,” said Klopp, who took over at Anfield in 2015.
“When I arrived here, one of the first messages I received — and I didn’t even know he had my number — was from Gerard Houllier... He was really supportive from the first day. Between now and then, always messages came in after big games, big defeats, big wins and all these kind of things, Klopp said.
“In between, Gerard really texted and told me: ‘That was right ... that was wrong... I know the situation,’ and all this kind of stuff,” he said. “He was a really, really, really nice and gentle person. I miss him now already.”
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