Paris (AFP)

Champion of France with PSG and Lyon, winner of the UEFA Cup with Liverpool, Gérard Houllier had a rich coaching career, only marred by his fiasco as coach of the Blues during the cruel France-Bulgaria of 1993.

Announced by L'Equipe and RMC, his death at 73 was confirmed on Monday by the RC Lens club and a source close to PSG, two clubs he had coached.

"I will never walk alone": in 2015, Gérard Houllier adopted the motto of Liverpool for his autobiography.

A tribute to the Reds, with whom he reached in 2001 one of the peaks of his coaching career with a splendid treble: the FA Cup, the League Cup and above all the UEFA Cup, won at the end of a final memorable 5-4 against Deportivo Alavés.

On the banks of the Mersey, Houllier will also remain the man who launched, in November 1998, Steven Gerrard, a young 18-year-old midfielder who became an idol of an entire club and captain of England.

- "Father figure" -

"I owe a lot to Gérard Houllier. For me, he has a bit of the face of the father who puts his arms around you. I won my first three titles with him. He offered me the armband at 23 and this 'was brave of him, "said Steven Gerrard as he left Liverpool.

England, this Ch'ti from Thérouanne (Pas-de-Calais), where he was born on September 3, 1947, had it in his blood as much as football.

In parallel with his passion, he became an English teacher and taught for one year in 1969 in ... Liverpool.

Did this son of a butcher suspect that he would return there as the manager of one of the biggest clubs in the world?

Probably not.

As he explains, the one who started as a player-coach from Le Touquet is a "coach from the base of the football pyramid, and not from its top".

But the values, tenacity and knowledge of the game of this technician will take him there, to the top.

Gradually and first by conquering his native North.

The first joys began with Noeux-les-Mines, which he brought up to Division 2, before tasting the elite at RC Lens (1982-1985).

Stripes taken and a growing reputation which earned him to "go up" to Paris in 1985 to offer PSG Francis Borelli his first title of champion of France, in his first season.

In 1988, he became assistant coach to Michel Platini, before taking control himself in 1992, for twelve small matches.

Because his name will forever be attached to one of the worst fiascos in the history of the Blues: the defeat against Bulgaria in 1993 (1-2), which deprives France of the 1994 World Cup.

After the failure, Houllier makes an impression with his bitter sentence against David Ginola, denouncing the attacker's attitude as a "crime against the team", a statement that is the source of deep enmity between the two men.

The coach resigned and found refuge in the National Technical Directorate (DTN), where he remained until 1998, when he joined Liverpool, aged 51.

- Open heart -

In England, his character inspires respect, his sense of humor is appreciated and, best of all, he wows fans with memories of his youth, when he himself came to the stands at Anfield.

The alchemy takes the form of success with the fabulous hat-trick of 2000-2001, which will be transformed into a quintuplet with the victories in Community Shield and European Supercup.

But, in October 2001, in the middle of a match, he suffered a heart attack.

Open heart operated for more than eleven hours, he will remain away from the benches for several months.

"There are those who say maybe I should forget about football. Maybe I should forget to breathe!", He will say on his return.

However, he struggled to regain control, despite a new success in the Coupe de la Ligue (2003).

Back in France, he maintains the hegemony of Lyon with two league titles in 2006 and 2007 but misses his European campaigns.

After a new mandate at the DTN (2007-2010), the "Frenchy" offers himself a last one-year freelance as trainer of Aston Villa before saving his health.

As sports director of the New York Red Bulls then, since 2016, as special advisor to President Jean-Michel Aulas in Lyon, he will remain in the world of football until his death.

His world.

© 2020 AFP