Gerard Houllier, who died at the age of 73, was Liverpool’s French revolutionary. He won Ligue Un with two clubs two decades apart and did a treble during his time at Anfield but his legacy extended beyond his medal collection, impressive as it was.
Rafa Benitez’s Champions League triumph in 2005 came courtesy of plenty of players Houllier had either bought, in cases such as Sami Hyypia, Didi Hamann, Jerzy Dudek and Vladimir Smicer, or promoted and nurtured, like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, who he made Liverpool captain at 23.
France’s 1998 World Cup win featured players first capped by Houllier, in Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu and Youri Djorkaeff. While he had resigned as manager after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, he was one of the architects of subsequent success as the French federation’s technical director.
At Anfield, he is remembered for an extraordinary season, but also for the sense of what might have been. Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are the only foreign managers to have won more major trophies with English clubs, just as only Guardiola, Alex Ferguson and Joe Fagan have won three in a season, but Houllier’s health may have denied him still more glory.
“2001 should never be forgotten,” said Phil Thompson, his assistant manager. Liverpool’s seminal season 20 years ago, a 63-game epic culminating in League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup wins, plus Champions League qualification, was Houllier’s masterpiece. An Anglophile and a Liverpool fan who had studied on Merseyside before becoming an English teacher, his name was to reverberate around Anfield. While he brought the great European nights back to Anfield, especially the 2001 semi-final win over Barcelona, he was also the great moderniser, the man who dragged Liverpool forward.
He was a disciplinarian who ended the drinking culture, an uncompromisingly tough character who dispensed with the captain Paul Ince, but also a great champion of youth. His proteges remained grateful. “Loved that man to bits,” Carragher said on Monday. “He changed me as a person.”
Michael Owen, who became European Footballer of the Year under Houllier’s management, said that he was “absolutely heartbroken. A great manager and a genuinely caring man.”
Thompson added: “One of the greatest moments of my life was when we came together in 1998. Just to be in his company was an absolute treat. So loyal, so passionate and extremely fierce.”
Houllier reinvented Liverpool as a counter-attacking, defensively resolute, mentally strong team with a habit of winning at Old Trafford. After only two trophies in a decade, they got three in 2001, with Owen’s double upsetting Arsenal in the FA Cup and Houllier’s inspired decision to sign a 35-year-old Gary McAllister paying particular dividends in their Uefa Cup triumph, clinched 5-4 against Alaves in the final. It fostered optimism that, long before Jurgen Klopp, he would secure Liverpool’s 19th league title.
Perhaps he would have done but for the heart attack that he suffered during a 2001 game against Leeds. Houllier returned to the touchline unexpectedly five months later, giving his side the fillip to beat Roma. Yet he felt diminished, his judgment failing him; three weeks later, after pronouncing Liverpool 10 games from greatness, he made the worst substitution of his career – Smicer for Hamann – prompting a Champions League exit to Bayer Leverkusen. Nevertheless, he won another League Cup and at least finished fourth in 2004, facilitating Benitez’s triumph.
He won Ligue Un with Lyon, as he had earlier with Paris Saint-Germain, but his heart curtailed his career and then his life. But his heyday was wonderful, and Anfield’s favourite Frenchman and Les Bleus’ honorary Scouser will be remembered fondly on both sides of the English Channel.
The specs
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Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Price: From Dh117,059
Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
THE BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.
Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.
Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
ODI FIXTURE SCHEDULE
First ODI, October 22
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Second ODI, October 25
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Third ODI, October 29
Venue TBC
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
