It was fitting that Steven Gerrard chose Paris to throw his weight behind those calling for his former manager Gerard Houllier to replace Steve Staunton as the manager of the Republic of Ireland.
The Frenchman, 60, has refused to comment on the link with the Irish job but is thought to be keen on the idea and the FAI will be interested to hear such a leading figure in the game giving his old boss a glowing reference in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower yesterday.
Gerrard agrees that Houllier taking sole charge of Liverpool in the closing stages of 1998 was a situation not dissimilar with the current state of the Irish national team and the England midfielder believes Houllier is an ideal candidate to inject new life into a team that failed miserably to qualify for next year’s European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.
Houllier’s spell in charge at Anfield, which came to an end in the summer of 2004, is not recalled fondly on Merseyside, despite him delivering a uefa Cup, an FA Cup and two League cups. Having finished second in 2002, his decision to spend e30million on El-Hadji Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao taints his legacy but the stabilising job he did in his early seasons is without question and Gerrard, who was given his Liverpool debut by the Frenchman, thinks he can do the same for Ireland.
Speaking at the launch of the new adidas Predator PowerSwerve boots, Gerrard said: “He’s certainly a fantastic manager, a great guy and he’s got some really interesting ideas about football. He turned Liverpool around, he was very professional and if the Irish manage to get their hands on him, they’ve got themselves a very good manager.
“He’s a good man-manager and he knows how to get the best out of players individually. He’s very professional, he’s worked in French football for a long, long time and he’s had a bit of success.
“I think he proved himself at Liverpool. He came in and there were some big names in that dressing room. He changed the club and he changed an awful lot of things that helped improve the players’ performance on the pitch. His training methods are good and tactically he was spot on. We had success in Europe and on the domestic front. Personally I can’t speak highly enough of the man. I really enjoyed working with him.
“He got me six or seven medals that I’ve got at home and I’ve got a lot to thank him for. I think he can make a success of the Irish job certainly. There’s good players there and they’ve got passionate support and he’s certainly a passionate man and he’d definitely help Ireland.”
