Gérard Houllier’s life was saved 25 years ago today, after he was rushed from Anfield to hospital at half-time against Leeds in 2001.
13 October also brought the first Merseyside derby in 1894, the High Court ruling in 2010 that cleared the way for Fenway’s takeover, and Bill Shankly’s side knocking out Juventus at Anfield in 1965.
Houllier’s longest night
It was 2001, and Leeds were top of the Premiership and a goal up through Harry Kewell. Houllier felt pains in his chest during his team talk, and the club doctor, Mark Waller, examined him before an ambulance took him away.
At the Royal Liverpool Hospital, tests showed it was not a heart attack but a dissection of the aorta, a tear in the main artery carrying blood from the heart. He was moved to the cardiothoracic unit at Broadgreen, where surgeons operated for 11 hours.
The players were not told until after the final whistle. Danny Murphy’s second-half equaliser earned a 1-1 draw, and Phil Thompson took charge of the team while the manager recovered.
Houllier was discharged a few weeks later, and in March 2002 he made a surprise return to the dugout for a Champions League game against Roma that Liverpool had to win 2-0. Jari Litmanen’s early penalty and an Emile Heskey header did exactly that, sending Liverpool into the quarter-finals.
Houllier, who led Liverpool to the cup treble of 2001, died in December 2020, aged 73.
The first Merseyside derby
In 1894, Liverpool were in their first season in the First Division, and still without a win after eight games, when they faced Everton, who were top of the table. A crowd of 44,000 turned out.
Tom McInnes headed Everton in front after ten minutes, Alex Latta added a second after the break and Jack Bell made it 3-0 in the closing stages. The Everton players were rewarded with a silk hat on top of their usual bonus.
Liverpool’s first top-flight win came a week later, 2-0 against Stoke at Anfield, but the season ended in relegation after a Test Match defeat by Bury.
Twenty-nine years later, in 1923, Everton also won the derby at Anfield on the same date, 2-1 in front of 50,000, with Jimmy Walsh scoring for Liverpool.
Hicks and Gillett’s last stand
Sixteen years ago today, in 2010, the fight for control of Liverpool reached the High Court in London, where Mr Justice Floyd ruled that Tom Hicks and George Gillett could not block the club’s £300m sale to New England Sports Ventures, the Boston Red Sox owners led by John W Henry.
The board met that evening to complete the deal, only for the Americans to obtain a temporary restraining order from a court in Dallas, Texas, in a lawsuit that called the sale an “epic swindle”.
The next day, Mr Justice Floyd described their conduct as “unconscionable” and ordered them to withdraw the Texas action. On 15 October, NESV completed the takeover.
1965: Juventus beaten at Anfield
It was 1965, and Bill Shankly’s FA Cup holders were welcoming Juventus to Anfield for the second leg of their European Cup Winners’ Cup first-round tie, 1-0 down from the first leg in Turin. Chris Lawler and Geoff Strong scored inside the first 25 minutes, and a crowd of 51,055 saw Liverpool go through 2-1 on aggregate.
They went on to reach the final, losing to Borussia Dortmund after extra time at Hampden Park.
A bad night for France and England
Thirty-three years ago today, in 1993, Houllier was in charge of France when they lost 3-2 to Israel at the Parc des Princes in a World Cup qualifier, with Reuven Atar scoring a late winner. Ronny Rosenthal, then still a Liverpool player, was in the Israel side. France failed to reach the 1994 World Cup, and Houllier resigned.
On the same night in 1993, England lost 2-0 to the Netherlands in Rotterdam. Ronald Koeman escaped a red card for bringing down David Platt, then scored from a retaken free-kick before Dennis Bergkamp added a second, and Graham Taylor’s side missed out on the World Cup too.
Birthdays: Richard Money and Tom Hill
Born on this day in 1955, Richard Money is 71 today. The Lowestoft-born defender joined Liverpool from Fulham in May 1980 and made 17 appearances. The most famous of them came in April 1981, when he played in the 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium that took Liverpool through to the European Cup final.
Tom Hill, born in Formby on 13 October 2002, turns 24 today. The midfielder made his senior debut in the League Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa in December 2019, and joined Harrogate Town in January 2025.
Also on this day
- 1900: Liverpool 2-1 Bolton Wanderers at Anfield. Jack Cox and Charlie Satterthwaite scored, and Maurice Parry made his debut.
- 1906: Liverpool 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday at Anfield, with Sam Raybould scoring.
- 1928: Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle United at Anfield. Gordon Hodgson and Jimmy McDougall scored.
- 1934: Liverpool 5-4 Birmingham at Anfield. Gordon Hodgson scored twice, one a penalty, with Vic Wright, Jimmy McDougall and Sam English also on target.
- 1951: Liverpool 4-0 Fulham. Jimmy Payne scored twice, with Jack Smith and Billy Liddell also on target.
- 1956: Bristol City 2-1 Liverpool in the Second Division, with Johnny Wheeler scoring.
- 1962: Leicester City 3-0 Liverpool.
- 1964: Liverpool 0-1 Leicester City at Anfield, with Mike Stringfellow scoring the only goal.
- 1973: Southampton 1-0 Liverpool, with Mick Channon scoring.
- 1979: Ipswich Town 1-2 Liverpool. An Ipswich own goal and David Johnson gave Liverpool the win.
- 1999: Southampton 2-1 Liverpool at The Dell in the League Cup third round. Michael Owen put Liverpool ahead before Dean Richards equalised and Trond Egil Soltvedt won it in injury time.
