Gerard Houllier, who has died aged 73, may just have been destined to manage his beloved Liverpool Football Club.
Houllier came to Anfield on a joint-management ticket with incumbent Roy Evans on 16 July 1998 - but the seeds of his arrival were sown 30 years earlier when he stood on the Kop watching Bill Shankly's great Liverpool side while teaching French at the nearby Alsop Comprehensive School.
He deserves to be remembered as the man who had the strength of character and talent to revolutionise Liverpool, making them successful once more when he took sole control after the inevitably unworkable arranged marriage with Evans came to an end four months later.