He was my football father... and I was blessed to work with him

GERRARD ON HIS SPECIAL BOND WITH HOULLIER

THE death of Gerard Houllier has left a profound sense of loss within Steven Gerrard. Their bond, dating back 22 years, extended far beyond that of manager and player. ‘I was lucky and blessed to work with Gerard Houllier because he wasn’t just a coach,’ reflected Gerrard yesterday.

‘He was someone who was like a father to me from a football point of view. He was my football father from the moment I turned professional.’

It was Houllier who gave Gerrard his Liverpool debut as an 18-year-old, who led him to his first medal at 20 and who made him captain at 23. Every bit as importantly, it was Houllier who helped to shape him as both a player and a person.

The importance of the values Gerrard had already drawn from his parents — humility, respect, family — were emphasised by a Frenchman who arrived on Merseyside to guide the club’s brightest young talent in the process of becoming a world- class midfielder.

Their r el ationship endured beyond Houllier’s departure from Anfield in 2004. And it acquired a new dimension in the summer of 2018 when Gerrard stepped into frontline management with Rangers.

Houllier’s enthusiasm about the progress being made at Ibrox was intense. He was a regular source of invaluable advice to both Gerrard and assistant Gary McAllister. Together, they had won a treble of League

He was still giving me advice a few weeks ago on my job at Rangers

Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup under Houllier’s guidance at Anfield in the 2000-01 season.

On Monday, news of their former manager’s passing at the age of 73 came as a terrible blow. That emotion was still clearly evident within Gerrard yesterday as he paid a heartfelt tribute to Houllier’s influence on his career and life.

‘He was very interested in what we are doing here,’ revealed Gerrard. ‘His relationship with Gary was very strong as well.

‘He was very keen on being a support in any way, shape or form. He was more interested than anyone else. I can’t tell you how much interest he had in my development as a coach and a manager.

‘The relationship has been strong since day one. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and I spoke to him in the summer.

‘There was a difference in the way he sounded compared to when I played under him. He obviously had a big operation back when we played, which was well documented.

‘He was getting older and a little bit frail in his voice. But it was still very unexpected and still very much a shock.

‘ Even t hough t here was a difference a few weeks ago, he was still very enthusiastic and upbeat, laughing and joking on the phone — basically still gi vi ng me soundbites of advice on what I’m doing at Rangers.

‘He will be a real big loss to me and I know there are an awful lot of other people in the game feeling the same.’

Houllier could understand what Gerrard had taken on at Ibrox. Liverpool had gone six years without a trophy before winning the 2001 League Cup. Houllier changed the culture within a club that had lost direction.

Almost t wo decades l ater, Gerrard is seeking to provide a first trophy for Rangers since 2011 after inheriting a set-up that looked utterly bereft before his arrival.

Already 13 points clear in t he Premiership, t oni g ht’ s Betfred Cup quarter-final against St Mirren provides a chance to step closer to that silverware aim.

‘Houllier turned Liverpool back into a winning team,’ said Gerrard. ‘ He brought a culture and a philosophy. Part of the club was broken at the time. The standards weren’t good enough.

‘ He brought t he winning mentality back. That’s what we are trying to do here at Rangers.

‘They are different scenarios. I actually think the challenge here is much bigger, but for sure Gerard Houllier was a winner.

‘We were hoping one day, by putting the right things in place on and off the pitch at Rangers and by bringing in players who understand those standards, to turn this club into a winning one as well.’

Gerrard achieved his greatest single triumph at Liverpool under Rafa Benitez in that extraordinary 2005 Champions League final win over AC Milan. It was an achievement he feels was only possible thanks to the foundations Houllier laid.

‘At that time, I think Liverpool needed a foreign manager,’ argued the 40-year- old. ‘Arsene Wenger had gone i n at Arsenal. With Gerard coming in at Liverpool, it basically changed the way the Premier League looked.

‘The standards were different in terms of how you went about your daily work. There were foods cut out, booze was banned, there was more gym work.

‘He was the main part of why we won the Treble in 2001. I think he put the footings in for the later success in 2005.

‘Obviously Rafa Benitez came in, took the baton and put his own stamp on it. But if it wasn’t for Gerard Houllier there’s no way in the world we would have been in a position to challenge in 2005.

‘He will get a lot of praise in footballing terms but if you knew him like I knew him, or you ever came across him, he was much more than just a football man.’

The l essons Houllier taught Gerrard will endure. One of t he s i mplest was al s o t he most i mportant i n terms of management: do it your own way. ‘I can’t become Gerard Houllier, or Rafa Benitez or Fabio Capello or these coaches who are incredible people as well as high- l evel managers,’ admitted Gerrard.

‘I have to be myself but, for sure, I have to steal ideas and use methods and ways I believe are right with players — and add them to what I’m trying to become.

‘I was lucky to work with many top-level managers but Gerard was special in a different way because he wasn’t just a coach. He played the biggest role in shaping me and my Liverpool career.’

Gerrard’s mind can switch back easily to the days when he was a gifted kid from Huyton with a hunger to make it at Anfield.

‘Gerard came to watch me a couple of times and asked if I could start training full-time,’ he recalled.

‘Steve Heighway, Hughie McAuley and Dave Shannon passed me on to the first-team staff at that point. The first-team staff were Gerard, Phil Thompson as his assistant and Sammy Lee, who was the first-team coach. The transition was seamless because of the care and the love and the attention they showed me. The way I was looked after at Liverpool from the ages of eight to 35, I can’t speak highly enough.

‘When you’re 16 or 17 and you’re becoming a man, it’s a big moment in your life and you need the right people to shape you — not just as a footballer, but as a human being.

‘I have a lot to thank them for, especially Gerard, who didn’t just used to give me attention when I was at Melwood or at Anfield. It was more than that. It was phone calls to my parents to see what I was doing away from the game.

‘He wanted to know what I was eating, how I was living my life. He was shaping me to become an elite professional. He was trying to shape me as a human being.

‘Then later on, towards the age of 23, he offered me the Liverpool captaincy and that’s when he was shaping me even more as a leader.

‘So, for seven or eight years he played a massive part in my life and I’ve got a lot to thank him for.’