RIP Gerard Houllier

[Rigadon]

That's lovely. I'm overwhelmed with sadness, I must admit. I always find death hard to deal with. I'm half expecting someone on social media to call me a mawkish cunt, but honestly - what is the point of sport, music and other arts, when it's affected your life so profoundly, if you can't grieve and feel real huge loss for those people that you may not have ever known, or even met, when they die. If you can't feel these things then what's the ****ing point of any of this tbh.

[Myo]

That's lovely. I'm overwhelmed with sadness, I must admit. I always find death hard to deal with. I'm half expecting someone on social media to call me a mawkish cunt, but honestly - what is the point of sport, music and other arts, when it's affected your life so profoundly, if you can't grieve and feel real huge loss for those people that you may not have ever known, or even met, when they die. If you can't feel these things then what's the ****ing point of any of this tbh.

Amen Shaggy, i was thinking (and going through the same the past couple of days)...

RIP Gerard...

[Harv]

Whats a real shame is there will be hardly any fans at the Spurs game to give Ged the send off he deserves.

[Roboklopp]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/dec/14/phil-thompson-tribute-gerard-houllier-liverpool-togetherness?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Zapater]

. I remember singing his name for what seemed like hours in a square in Barcelona in 2002 (CL, we drew 0-0 in an utter snorefest - a Houllier gameplan perfectly executed ....Milan Baros came on as sub to make his debut)

My favourite thing about those games is looking at the line ups. It's really like a merger between the last of the 'old school' and truly modern football in many ways. I was in absolute shock when we won.

Gary Mac, Pepe Reina, Guardiola, Fowler, Luis Enrique, Kluivert, Rivaldo, Gerrard, Simao, de Boer etc. all on the same pitch, it's a bit mad.

Reina must've been like 10 years old, no one would have thought he'd have turned out for us for all the years.

[memzey]

https://twitter.com/theanfieldwrap/s...71842634866688

I was at this one - great memories. I was stood perfectly inline with Fowler’s overhead as it went in. Just looked like it went up and down from my perspective but ended up in the net. A magical day all round.

[memzey]

I remember singing his name for what seemed like hours in a square in Barcelona in 2002 (CL, we drew 0-0 in an utter snorefest - a Houllier gameplan perfectly executed ....Milan Baros came on as sub to make his debut.

I was at that one too! My first away game in Europe. Do you remember playing “throw the tramp into the fountain” on Las Ramblas? ****ing mental.

[frank the tank]

good article by Thommo.

Thommo is a strange one. There is something about him that cheeses me off but I love the passion for LFC that he has. Genuine.

I was up the walls in work yesterday but last night watched videos of Ged. Very sad alright. The one that LFC posted was brilliant.

YNWA Gerard

[Irishnev]

v West Ham (I think?), and kneeled down near the post possibly weeping after he scored.

Such great memories. I was supposed to be having a dry week but I'm toasting Houllier tonight. He brought us all so much joy that I just couldn't just do a couple of posts and move on. I remember singing his name for what seemed like hours in a square in Barcelona in 2002 (CL, we drew 0-0 in an utter snorefest - a Houllier gameplan perfectly executed ....Milan Baros came on as sub to make his debut)....if someone said he'd be dead less than 20 years later and all I gave him was a couple of posts on the internet and then moved on then I'd never have believed it. So here we are. Houllier!

Related story to Baros

Since moving to Poland I’ve been doing a lot of work with companies in the Czech Republic. One company is a supplier of ours and they’ve opened a branch in Ostrava - about 45 mins from me. Was a free booze up this week to celebrate it but due to Covid not a runner for me.

As soon as the world settles down I’ll get to Ostrava and find Banik’s ground - I’ll thank it for giving us Milan and a load of cash at the Euros

[Shaggy]

I was at that one too! My first away game in Europe. Do you remember playing “throw the tramp into the fountain” on Las Ramblas? ****ing mental.

I do, I'm afraid.

It was a ****e game but a great trip.

[Shaggy]

Related story to Baros

Since moving to Poland I’ve been doing a lot of work with companies in the Czech Republic. One company is a supplier of ours and they’ve opened a branch in Ostrava - about 45 mins from me. Was a free booze up this week to celebrate it but due to Covid not a runner for me.

As soon as the world settles down I’ll get to Ostrava and find Banik’s ground - I’ll thank it for giving us Milan and a load of cash at the Euros

Banik Ostrava

[Irishnev]

Banik Ostrava

- seemed so exotic all those years ago

[Fredo]

I subscribed to L'equipe the other day to read the dedicated 11 page special about him. One article mentioned how instrumental he has been to the Red Bull franchise, developing its policy of buying young players with a highly structured wage package and strict pay structure. He was responsible for bringing Sadio to Salzburg and also Naby to Leipzig.

[frank the tank]

I knew that he was a tech director there but didn't know he was back when Sadio went to Salzburg.

The irony is that the day he passed, LFC drew RB Leipzig in the Champions league.

[Fredo]

From: https://tribuna.com/en/liverpoolfc/n...ore-liverpool/

Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier shares a story of his admiration for Sadio Mane which started long before they both came to Liverpool.

Houllier was a scout fot Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg and 19-year-old Mane tried to do his best to help Metz to fight against relegation from the French Ligue 2.

"I first saw him playing for Senegal in the 2012 London Olympics.

"What I liked straight away was his speed and ability on the ball. It was fantastic for a boy of his age. I had also seen him on French television.

"I quickly discovered that Metz would be willing to sell for financial reasons. Salzburg agreed to buy him and we paid £4million. The potential was there and we just had to make sure he was well looked after.

"When I was at Liverpool, I introduced a player liaison scheme where foreign players would be helped to settle into a new and strange environment. We did the same at Salzburg where shy Sadio joined a French-speaking family.

"We played a friendly against Bayern Munich and Salzburg won 3-0. He scored one and made one. Bayern wanted sign him after that."