Houllier was destined to manage Liverpool

Gerard Houllier would reflect on the "touch of destiny" that led to him standing on Anfield's famous Kop for the first time in 1969, where he watched Liverpool cruise to a 10-0 win over Dundalk in a Fairs Cup tie.

Houllier, who has died at the age of 73, was spending a year in the city as part of his degree at Lille University, and until that point had shown little inclination or aptitude for a career in professional football.

Few, least of all Houllier himself, could have envisaged that less than two decades later he would be standing in front of that same Kop, milking the acclaim of the supporters after steering the club to a silverware treble.

Houllier began in management in his mid-20s, cajoling Calais-based amateur team Noueux-les-Mines up from the fifth tier of French football to Ligue 2.

The extent to which Houllier's success was inspired by that night at Anfield is unclear but it clearly stuck with the Frenchman, who recalled as recently as 2016 the impression Liverpool's performance had left on him.

"I think 15 minutes before the end of the match the score was 8-0 and still Liverpool went looking for goals," Houllier marvelled.

"In France, if you are 5-0 up at halftime the game is over in the sense that you don't bother trying to increase your score. It's not like that in England."

Houllier moved on to Lens, whom he led to Ligue 1, then Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he won the French title.

His burgeoning reputation as an astute tactician led to him joining Michel Platini as technical director of the French national team, before succeeding the Les Bleus great in 1992, tasked with steering his nation to the 1994 World Cup finals.

Houllier's first managerial setback came in November 1993, when France needed just a draw to beat Bulgaria and qualify for the finals but lost.

Houllier would go on to realise his "destiny" when he returned to Liverpool in July 1998, firstly as co-manager with Roy Evans, then alone after Evans resigned from his post four months later.

Houllier would go on to achieve a League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2000/01, marking the high point of an Anfield spell that ended in May 2004.

"There are some rare cases of players who need a very authoritarian coach but, in general, this kind of direction is demotivating, because it limits individual initiative," Houllier wrote in his book.

Despite suffering with heart problems - he required an operation after falling ill during a match against Leeds in 2001 - Houllier returned to France to win two titles with Lyon, then returned to the Premier League with Aston Villa.

He lasted a year at Villa Park, but there, as at Anfield, Houllier's legacy lives on as a man who cut through the pressures of top-flight football and fulfilled his "destiny" in the most engaging of ways.