FA PREMIERSHIP: There were still a few ecstatic Liverpool supporters milling around two hours after the final whistle when Gerard Houllier emerged from Anfield on Tuesday night. As the cheers erupted the Frenchman, looking gaunt but rapt, offered a sheepish smile and wave. It was good to be back.
The dust may have settled after his side's 2-0 victory over the Italian champions Roma, but Houllier was at the club's Melwood training ground yesterday with work to do. Although Real Madrid or Manchester United may await in Europe, and Chelsea visit Anfield in the Premiership on Sunday, the manager will find time to meet his chief executive Rick Parry.
Liverpool are keen to streamline Houllier's managerial duties and reduce the stress of an oppressive workload. That will not mean a change of role for the man who masterminded the plunder of five trophies in as many months last year, but the club will cut back on his more menial tasks. The time has come for delegation.
"Whereas before he took everything on board himself, we will try to get him to focus on things that really matter," said Parry. "Everyone wants a piece of Gerard's time. It will take some careful handling because he tends to throw himself into the job 110 per cent."
Houllier may relinquish his position on UEFA's technical committee alongside the likes of Fabio Capello and Louis van Gaal. Parry has long since viewed that as a burdensome commitment - the body meets only three or four times a year, but the extra travelling adds to the 54-year-old's duties. Instinctively, he may be reluctant to take even the smallest step back from the front line.
Since he arrived at Anfield in 1998, Houllier's presence has permeated the club and he was in Auxerre last weekend watching his long-term transfer target, the 20-year-old French striker Djibril Cisse. It was typical of a man whose scouting checks take him around the globe. "Gerard knows what he is doing," said Parry. "I always thought he would find it tempting to go to the Roma game. The impact he had was astonishing and it was no coincidence that the players responded as they did."
His reappearance on the touchline coincided with a tactical switch that pushed Vladimir Smicer up alongside Jari Litmanen and Emile Heskey in attack and utterly flummoxed Roma.
"Capello may be one of the best coaches in the world, but he couldn't cope," said Smicer. "The ploy was a triumph for Gerard's thinking. He didn't want his presence to dim our focus, but he just came in and said: 'I feel today will be something special so I would like to be with you.' He was right."
Amid the euphoria surrounding Houllier's return, it would be easy to overlook the achievements of Phil Thompson in his absence. Not only are Liverpool mounting their strongest title challenge in six years but are in the European Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1985. Thompson, once viewed as nothing more than a touchline drill instructor, has proved his pedigree.
"Phil has done a phenomenal job with the minimum of fuss and drama," Parry added. "There has been a huge extra workload and responsibility on him, but asking him to take over wasn't a gamble. It was the Liverpool way."
