One year on reborn Houllier enjoying life to the full
Twelve months later he is on holiday, enjoying the sort of break in the sun he has been advised he must take as part of his long-term rehabilitation.
He may look back to his bullish, confident best, but anyone who has had 11 hours of major heart surgery will know that the recovery can take months, even years.
It was October 13 last year, at the home game against Leeds at Anfield, that Houllier felt unwell. He was in hospital before the players had got back to the dressing room after the match.
This Sunday, Houllier will be relaxing with his wife, recharging his batteries for when the Premiership and European whirl start up again.
He was so determined to get away that he was off, carrying his briefcase, within minutes of last Sunday’s win over Chelsea, Phil Thompson taking over the press conference duties as Houllier disappeared out of the stadium to catch a flight to the sun.
He is not expected back until Thursday, when his international players also return from duty. Houllier spoke recently of the events of a year ago.
He said: ‘‘October 13 is going to be very poignant, it will be a great day and I’ll celebrate it because I’m aware that I am miraculously still alive.
‘‘Every minute now is so precious to me and that’s why I want to give time to people.
‘‘What happened to me could have cost me my life, but now I just feel stronger each day and I know now the problem I had won’t curtail my future in football.’’
He will celebrate quietly with his wife Isobelle somewhere away from the madding crowd.
He said: ‘‘I was told that it takes a month of recovery for every hour you are on the operating table. My surgery lasted 11 hours and I spent half a day in theatre so I should be OK soon - I’m getting there.’’
Houllier’s eventual return to Anfield came on an emotion-charged evening on March 19 - barely five months after his operation and now, he concedes, too early.
Liverpool that night beat Roma - and he still looked pale and drawn. But he shies away from talk that he is a hero for coming back at all.
He says: ‘‘I would have considered myself a hero if I’d been able to walk away from football. ‘A lot of people thought I should do that, even friends of mine in the game, but I didn’t so that means I’m not a hero at all.
Houllier says it was during his convalescence he came up with the masterplan to take his team to a new level.
He said: ‘‘Stepping back sometimes makes you have a different look at your team. Sometimes when you’re so close and so focused you don’t see things.” When you step back you can ask ‘can we try this, can we try that?’
‘‘When I came back in March I said ‘OK, we’ll play different football’. I couldn’t change things until the end of the season but I knew what I wanted to do. So far the players have responded in a most spectacular way.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s plans to build a new stadium in Stanley Park have received the backing of the majority of Anfield residents.
The club unveiled proposals earlier this year to move from their current home to a new 55,000-capacity purpose-built arena on an adjacent site.
Over 58% of local residents have now voted in favour of the move in a survey about the regeneration of the Anfield and Breckfield areas.
The full plans include a hotel and conference centre, health facilities and a shopping centre.
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry told the club’s official website, www.liverpoolfc.tv: ‘‘We’re obviously delighted. It’s a combination of three years of a lot of hard work and a vindication and endorsement of the policy we adopted that we had to be very much a part of the community plan. We couldn’t go ahead in isolation.
Liverpool have played at Anfield since their formation in 1892 when Everton left the ground to play at nearby Goodison Park.
The stadium has seen considerable redevelopment in recent years with three stands being built in the past decade.
Despite the improvements however, capacity now remains locked at 45,362 with little room for further extension.
The planned new stadium would see the club barely straying from its Anfield roots to a site currently used as a car park.
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