Former Blues coach Gérard Houllier has died.
Invited last May on Europe 1, this man who had devoted his life to football wanted to convey, in a year upset by the coronavirus, an optimistic vision of the future of French football, passing the baton to the youth.
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Gérard Houllier, former coach of the France team, manager of Liverpool and Olympique Lyonnais, died on the night from Sunday to Monday.
According to the information of
the Team
, he had just undergone, at the age of 73, a new operation of the aorta.
During a year marked by the health crisis that paralyzed the football world, the OL advisor had expressed his optimism and his look to the future.
At the microphone of Europe 1 last May, the former coach of the France team affirmed that "French football will be the one that will perhaps recover the best thanks to the training of young people, thanks to their qualities and their young talents ", while conceding that it would take at least two years to recover.
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Hope in youth
This is how Gérard Houllier placed all his hopes on young people.
"The Japanese are used to saying: 'The crisis is an opportunity'", he continued on Europe 1.
"Money, there is no more, or very little. There are receipts which have not arrived, the clubs will be a little more deprived, and they will turn to the training centers, that they sometimes use it a little too timidly or hastily. But you will see, it will be thanks to the quality of the players, which is exceptional, that we will emerge victorious from this crisis which is a challenge, a challenge. But I think we are going there arrive ", developed the former coach at the microphone of Lionel Rosso, in Europe 1 Sport.
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Football until the end
Devoting his life to football since 1973, when at the age of 26 he left his teaching post to become a player-coach for Le Touquet AC, he notably won the French championship three times (with PSG in 1986 and Lyon in 2006 and 2007) as well as the UEFA Cup in 2001 with Liverpool.
Gérard Houllier has, over the past year, been a strong voice in the debate surrounding the resumption of football competitions, which were halted by the health crisis.
"I was surprised, the public authorities never mentioned sport in all the speeches. It was not until Edouard Philippe's last speech that we said 'sports events are obviously over'", he had scolded.
"I think that sport means a lot for a country, for all countries".