Houllier had precious gift of humanity

They played every match. That is what is often overlooked about Gerard houllier’s Liverpool team of 2000-01. In winning their cup treble, Liverpool fulfilled every fixture that was in the calendar on the day their season began. All those blank midweek dates for rounds of the League Cup and UEFA Cup, all those weekends with possible FA Cup ties. There wasn’t a game on the list they did not play. It was an incredible achievement.

Manchester United were knocked out of the League Cup in the fifth round in 1998-99, Liverpool’s treble winners from 1983-84 did not make it past the fourth round of the FA Cup. And, yes, a treble with a title in it and a european Cup is the trump hand. yet in its unique structure and narrative, houllier’s treble was also very special indeed.

Like the man, really. I remember talking to him about his heart operation and recovery and, seeking an empathetic connection, mentioned my father had an aortic valve replacement in 1993, around nine years earlier.

We discussed that for a while, the importance of returning to work and how some people find it difficult, the emotions and vulnerability associated with major surgery.

every time we met after that, no matter how many years had passed, or if we were at a match, or in an airport lounge, on tables at the same restaurant — and once in a FIFA car that rescued me from a deserted corner of the Maracana Stadium — his first words were to ask after my dad, a man he’d never met, but always remembered.

The tributes to Gerard this week were unanimous in praise of his coaching talent, but also his humanity. how true they all were.