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I remember commentating at Anfield in 2002 when Liverpool played Roma in the Champions League needing a win. Gerard Houllier had been absent for the previous 5 months after heart surgery. 1/
As the teams came out for kick-off there was a huge flurry of activity around the mouth of the old Anfield tunnel. Photographers swarmed around and suddenly there was Houllier. Thin and pale. Clearly still not fully recovered. 2/
There’d been no speculation he was due back. (This was pre-Social Media) No-one was expecting him to be there. His health had been much worried about. People didn’t know if he would survive, let alone ever manage a team again. Yet there he was. It was like seeing a ghost. 3/
Liverpool had named a more attacking side than usual. Boosted by Houllier’s return the atmosphere was unreal. Capello’s Roma were beaten and Liverpool progressed. 4/
Houllier looked so frail that night that the thought he would live for almost another two decades would have been celebrated for being so unlikely.
A life well-lived and thankfully fully-lived. RIP.
A life well-lived and thankfully fully-lived. RIP.
