French manager Gerard Houllier has passed away at the age of 73.

Houllier, who came to the Premier League in 1998 with Liverpool, also managed Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon and Aston Villa, his last club, in 2011.

Tributes are now pouring in for Houllier, who Gary Lineker has described as ‘one of football’s smartest, warmest and loveliest people’.

The Frenchman famously guided Liverpool to a unique treble of an Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup in 2001 but, in October of that year, was rushed to hospital with a heart condition.

Houllier fell ill, too, in his single season in charge of Aston Villa, during 2010-11. The Frenchman hadn’t managed a club since.

Though never a professional player himself, Houllier was an amateur midfielder and famously attended his first Liverpool match in 1969 – a 10-0 thrashing of Irish club Dundalk.

Houllier will be fondly remembered for the youth policy he implemented as a manager. Not only was he a key figure in nurturing the likes of Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard at Liverpool, but also famous for trusting in younger players in France, even managing the U18 and U20 sides of his native country.

He will go down as one of his country’s finest-ever managers as well, having won Ligue 1 three times in his career.