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Houllier recovering Liverpool manager stable after cardiac surgery
Updated: Sunday October 14, 2001 5:25 PM
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier was recovering Sunday from heart surgery after falling ill during a battle between English soccer heavyweights the day before. Houllier, a former coach of the French national team, was in stable condition at the Cardiothoracic Center of Broadgreen Hospital after surgeons operated on him for several hours Saturday to repair damage to a major artery near his heart, the hospital said. He was still unconscious and breathing with the aid of a respirator, a hospital spokeswoman said. "The operation has been completed successfully and Gerard is in a stable condition," said a statement from the Liverpool club. "As is normal following this type of surgery, he will be monitored in the intensive care unit for a period of time." Liverpool assistant manager Phil Thompson has been put in charge of the team for Tuesday's Champions League match at Dynamo Kiev. The squad was due to fly to Ukraine later in the day. Chief executive Rick Parry said the club had no time scale for Houllier's return. "Football management is obviously the furthest thing from our minds at the moment and the only thing that matters is Gerard returning to health," Parry told a British Broadcasting Corp. radio program. Houllier, 54, was rushed to hospital shortly after halftime of a match between Liverpool and Leeds. Houllier had not had a heart attack, but suffered from a condition know as aortic dissection, the hospital said. Coaches from around the league expressed their concern and sent good wishes. Blackburn manager Graeme Souness, who underwent a triple heart bypass when Liverpool manager in 1992, described Houllier's experience as a warning over the stresses of the professional game. "I think it is another reminder to all of us in football of the important things in life -- your health and your family," Souness told BBC radio. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke of the "unbelievable" pressure of football management, likening the job to a "drug" that keeps a coach tightly wound throughout the long season. "You can't switch off, especially as you play every three days, as you have the next game in your mind straight away," said Wenger, who has been a manager for the last 18 years.
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