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Gérard Paul Francis Houllier OBE was a French football manager and former player. His past clubs include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, with whom he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2001.
Houllier entered Lille University to pursue a degree in English, but in the first year his father’s serious illness forced him to drop out of full-time study and start work, eventually as a school teacher, while he completed his degree part-time.
He was deputy headmaster of the École Normale d’Arras until reaching age 26 in 1973, when he began his full-time managerial career as player-manager of Le Touquet.
Houllier moved to Arras as youth coach, and Nœux-les-Mines as head coach where he won two consecutive promotions into the second division before moving to Lens in 1982. He took Lens to promotion and qualification for the UEFA Cup before moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 1985, where PSG won the French title the following year.
In 1988, Houllier was appointed technical director and assistant to the France national team, under manager Michel Platini. Houllier became manager in 1992, but resigned in November 1993 after France failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals.
In 1998, France won the World Cup, and Houllier was recognised for his contributions to the game.
In July 1998, Houllier was invited to become joint team manager of Liverpool, together with Roy Evans. The arrangement did not work out and Evans resigned in November after losing to Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 at home in the League Cup on 10 November 1998. Prior to the defeat, Liverpool were eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Spanish side Celta de Vigo. The departure of Evans left Houllier in sole charge of the team.
Houllier began what he described as a five-year programme to rebuild the team, and restore discipline to a squad that had been labelled widely as “Spice Boys”, as well as begin a continental approach both tactically as well as in terms of personnel, to the game starting in 1999. That summer, Paul Ince, David James, Jason McAteer, Rob Jones, Tony Warner and Steve Harkness were all sold, while Steve McManaman left on a free transfer. Simultaneously, eight new players were signed: Sami Hyypiä, Dietmar Hamann, Stéphane Henchoz, Vladimír Šmicer, Sander Westerveld, Titi Camara, Eric Meijer and Djimi Traoré. Liverpool’s training facilities at Melwood were also thoroughly overhauled.
The rebuilding continued in 2000 with the signings of Markus Babbel, Nicky Barmby, Pegguy Arphexad, Grégory Vignal, Emile Heskey, Gary McAllister, Igor Bišćan and Christian Ziege, as well as the departures of David Thompson, Phil Babb, Dominic Matteo, Steve Staunton, Brad Friedel and Stig Inge Bjørnebye. The efforts yielded a result in the successful 2000–01 season, when Liverpool won a cup treble of the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup and finished third in the Premier League, hence qualifying for Champions League. In August 2001, Liverpool won the Charity Shield against Manchester United and UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich.
In October 2001, after falling ill at half-time in the Liverpool’s Premier League match with Leeds United, Houllier was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation due to the discovery of a heart condition, an aortic dissection. With the help of caretaker manager Phil Thompson, he guided Liverpool to the second-place finish in the league, at the time their best record in the Premiership. Houllier returned to active management of the club after five months.
In the 2002–03, Liverpool finished in the fifth place in the Premier League, failing to qualify for the following season’s UEFA Champions League. A lack of success in the following seasons when Liverpool struggled to qualify for the Champions League led to Houllier’s departure from Liverpool on 24 May 2004. He left by mutual consent with the club and was replaced by Valencia coach Rafael Benítez.
On 29 May 2005, it was announced that Houllier had signed a two-year contract as manager of the champions of Ligue 1, succeeding Paul Le Guen. Despite continuing this dominance of Ligue 1, Lyon lost to Milan in the quarter-finals of the 2005–06 Champions League while they crashed out to the inexperienced Roma in the first knockout round of the 2006–07 Champions League . Houllier also suffered a cup final defeat (Coupe de la Ligue) to Bordeaux. However, in April 2007, Houllier won his second-straight (Lyon’s sixth-straight) Ligue 1 title after Toulouse’s loss to Rennes. The 2006–07 season proved to be his last with the club: on 25 May 2007, he stepped down.
On 8 September 2010, it was announced that English Premier League club Aston Villa had appointed Houllier as their new full-time manager, following the resignation of previous boss Martin O’Neill the month before. In his first press conference at the club, it was revealed Houllier had not yet signed a contract and would not take charge of the club until a later date due to commitments with the French Football Federation.
Houllier’s first match in charge was the League Cup match against Blackburn Rovers on 22 September. Villa won the match 3–1, coming back from a goal down to progress to the next round of the competition. It was announced on 18 September 2010 that Gary McAllister had agreed to become his assistant manager, with Gordon Cowans also taking a role in Houllier’s backroom staff. Two days after the Blackburn match, he signed a three-year contract.
On 20 April 2011, Houllier was admitted to hospital after falling ill in the night. On 1 June, Gerard Houllier stepped down as manager of Aston Villa by mutual consent.
Houllier died on 14th December 2020.
Houllier was awarded the Légion d’honneur for his services to French football, and an honorary OBE for services to British football, along with fellow manager, Arsène Wenger.
Gérard Houllier is 76 years old (birth date September 3, 1947).
Gérard Houllier was born in Thérouanne, France.
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According to the club website, Stilian …