The Frenchmen added his name in Liverpool folklore when he led the team to five trophies inside a single calendar year. And Houllier’s importance to Patrik Berger’s career can’t be understated.
“He was massive for me,” the former Czech international tells Tribalfootball. “Six or seven months before he signed for Liverpool I was not playing much as I wanted to and I had a deal on the table from AS Roma. Almost everything had been agreed and then I spoke to Peter Robinson, who I think was the person that signed me for Liverpool. It wasn’t Roy Evans, it was Peter Robinson, who was also running the football club.
“I wanted to leave in January and he told me to wait because in the summer a new manager is coming. He said; “I can't tell you who he is but he wants to keep you and he wants to build the team around you. So, I made the decision to stay and found out in the summer it was Gerard Houllier. So, obviously he was a massive figure in my Liverpool years,” says Berger who clocked up 148 games in the famous Red jersey. The only team he played more than 90 games for in his career and Houllier brought a whole new style to Anfield.
“When I signed for Liverpool, everything was old school in a way. He brought the European kind of professionalism to the UK. Arsene Wenger and him definitely brought the diet, to be more professional, you know, how to look after yourself much more than we had been doing before that. He changed the mentality at the club for sure.”
Despite winning five trophies in a single year, Gerard Houllier is missing from the picture at Anfield of legendary managers collecting trophies for The Reds. A fact lost on Patrik Berger.
“He should be up there for what we achieved in that year. It was something that probably won't be repeated again. The year 2001 was massive. We also had a massive game at the end of the season to qualify for the Champions League, which we did. Apart from the Premier League, we won everything we played for.”
- Patrik Berger was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of spelbolagutansvensklicens.co