Gerard Houllier, who died at the age of 73, was Liverpool’s French revolutionary. He won Ligue Un with two clubs two decades apart and did a treble during his time at Anfield but his legacy extended beyond his medal collection, impressive as it was.
Rafa Benitez’s Champions League triumph in 2005 came courtesy of plenty of players Houllier had either bought, in cases such as Sami Hyypia, Didi Hamann, Jerzy Dudek and Vladimir Smicer, or promoted and nurtured, like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, who he made Liverpool captain at 23.
France’s 1998 World Cup win featured players first capped by Houllier, in Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu and Youri Djorkaeff. While he had resigned as manager after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, he was one of the architects of subsequent success as the French federation’s technical director.
At Anfield, he is remembered for an extraordinary season, but also for the sense of what might have been. Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are the only foreign managers to have won more major trophies with English clubs, just as only Guardiola, Alex Ferguson and Joe Fagan have won three in a season, but Houllier’s health may have denied him still more glory.
“2001 should never be forgotten,” said Phil Thompson, his assistant manager. Liverpool’s seminal season 20 years ago, a 63-game epic culminating in League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup wins, plus Champions League qualification, was Houllier’s masterpiece. An Anglophile and a Liverpool fan who had studied on Merseyside before becoming an English teacher, his name was to reverberate around Anfield. While he brought the great European nights back to Anfield, especially the 2001 semi-final win over Barcelona, he was also the great moderniser, the man who dragged Liverpool forward.
He was a disciplinarian who ended the drinking culture, an uncompromisingly tough character who dispensed with the captain Paul Ince, but also a great champion of youth. His proteges remained grateful. “Loved that man to bits,” Carragher said on Monday. “He changed me as a person.”
Michael Owen, who became European Footballer of the Year under Houllier’s management, said that he was “absolutely heartbroken. A great manager and a genuinely caring man.”
Thompson added: “One of the greatest moments of my life was when we came together in 1998. Just to be in his company was an absolute treat. So loyal, so passionate and extremely fierce.”
Houllier reinvented Liverpool as a counter-attacking, defensively resolute, mentally strong team with a habit of winning at Old Trafford. After only two trophies in a decade, they got three in 2001, with Owen’s double upsetting Arsenal in the FA Cup and Houllier’s inspired decision to sign a 35-year-old Gary McAllister paying particular dividends in their Uefa Cup triumph, clinched 5-4 against Alaves in the final. It fostered optimism that, long before Jurgen Klopp, he would secure Liverpool’s 19th league title.
Perhaps he would have done but for the heart attack that he suffered during a 2001 game against Leeds. Houllier returned to the touchline unexpectedly five months later, giving his side the fillip to beat Roma. Yet he felt diminished, his judgment failing him; three weeks later, after pronouncing Liverpool 10 games from greatness, he made the worst substitution of his career – Smicer for Hamann – prompting a Champions League exit to Bayer Leverkusen. Nevertheless, he won another League Cup and at least finished fourth in 2004, facilitating Benitez’s triumph.
He won Ligue Un with Lyon, as he had earlier with Paris Saint-Germain, but his heart curtailed his career and then his life. But his heyday was wonderful, and Anfield’s favourite Frenchman and Les Bleus’ honorary Scouser will be remembered fondly on both sides of the English Channel.
More on Quran memorisation:
The biog
Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology
Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels
Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs
Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends
Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDual%20permanently%20excited%20synchronous%20motors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E516hp%20or%20400Kw%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E858Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E485km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh699%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More coverage from the Future Forum
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
WHY%20AAYAN%20IS%20'PERFECT%20EXAMPLE'
%3Cp%3EDavid%20White%20might%20be%20new%20to%20the%20country%2C%20but%20he%20has%20clearly%20already%20built%20up%20an%20affinity%20with%20the%20place.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20the%20UAE%20shocked%20Pakistan%20in%20the%20semi-final%20of%20the%20Under%2019%20Asia%20Cup%20last%20month%2C%20White%20was%20hugged%20on%20the%20field%20by%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20the%20team%E2%80%99s%20captain.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EWhite%20suggests%20that%20was%20more%20a%20sign%20of%20Aayan%E2%80%99s%20amiability%20than%20anything%20else.%20But%20he%20believes%20the%20young%20all-rounder%2C%20who%20was%20part%20of%20the%20winning%20Gulf%20Giants%20team%20last%20year%2C%20is%20just%20the%20sort%20of%20player%20the%20country%20should%20be%20seeking%20to%20produce%20via%20the%20ILT20.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20is%20a%20delightful%20young%20man%2C%E2%80%9D%20White%20said.%20%E2%80%9CHe%20played%20in%20the%20competition%20last%20year%20at%2017%2C%20and%20look%20at%20his%20development%20from%20there%20till%20now%2C%20and%20where%20he%20is%20representing%20the%20UAE.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CHe%20was%20influential%20in%20the%20U19%20team%20which%20beat%20Pakistan.%20He%20is%20the%20perfect%20example%20of%20what%20we%20are%20all%20trying%20to%20achieve%20here.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20about%20the%20development%20of%20players%20who%20are%20going%20to%20represent%20the%20UAE%20and%20go%20on%20to%20help%20make%20UAE%20a%20force%20in%20world%20cricket.%E2%80%9D%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
