STEVEN Gerrard paid an emotional tribute to his “football father” Gerard Houllier yesterday and revealed the important role which his former Liverpool manager had played in his development as a coach since joining Rangers in 2018.

Gerrard was visibly upset as he spoke about Houllier publicly for the first time since the Frenchman, who handed him his debut as a teenager at Anfield in 1998 and then helped him blossom into one of the world’s finest midfielders, passed away aged 73 on Monday.

The English great attributed the success that he enjoyed in the game – including the epic Champions League final triumph he captained his boyhood heroes to in Istanbul in 2005 - and the heights he scaled with both club and country to the influence of his mentor.

However, he also told how the former Paris Saint-Germain and France manager had taken a keen interest in his coaching career after he moved to Ibrox and had offered him invaluable advice and support during the past two and a half seasons, including in in the past fortnight.

“I have a lot to thank Gerard for,” said Gerrard. “He didn’t just used to give me attention when I was at Melwood or at Anfield. It was more than that. It was phone calls to my parents to see what I was doing away from the game.

“He wanted to know what I was eating, how I was living my life. He was shaping me to become an elite professional. He was trying to shape me as a human being and as a man.

“Later on, he offered me the Liverpool captaincy and that’s when he was shaping me even more as a leader. So, for seven or eight years he played a massive part in my life.

“I was lucky and blessed to work with Gerard Houllier. He was someone who like a father to me from a football point of view. He was my football father from the moment I turned professional. So he was much more than just a coach.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for the coaches I worked with but he’s the one because he played the biggest role in shaping me and my Liverpool career.”

Gerrard continued: “He was very interested in what we are doing here. His relationship with Gary (Rangers assistant McAllister) was very strong as well.

“He was very keen on being a support in any way shape of form. He was more interested than anyone else. I can’t tell you how much interest he has in my development as a coach and a manager.

“The relationship has been strong since day one. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and I spoke to him in the summer.

“There was a difference in the way he sounded compared to when I played under him. He was getting older and a little bit frail in his voice. But it was still very unexpected and still very much a shock yesterday.

“Even though there was a difference a few weeks ago, he was still very enthusiastic and upbeat, laughing and joking on the phone.

“Basically, he was still giving me soundbites of advice on what I’m doing at Rangers. He gave me loads and loads of advice. The man piece of advice was to be myself and do it my own way.

“He was always there on the end of a phone. If I wanted to set up a certain way, if I was up against a certain opponent, if I was unsure in any shape or form he was the type of person I could pick a phone up to and bounce anything off for sure.

“He will be a real big loss to me from a personal point of view and I know there are an awful lot of other people in the game feeling the same.”

Houllier transformed Liverpool after years of disappointment and underachievement at Anfield and famously won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble during the 2000/01 season.

His former skipper has the opportunity to lift multiple trophies with Rangers in the months ahead; his side lead the Premiership and are still involved in the Betfred Cup, Scottish Cup and Europa League.

Gerrard, whose team take on St Mirren in the Betfred Cup quarter-final at the Simple Digital Arena this evening, admitted he is attempting to oversee exactly the same sort of revolution at Ibrox.

“Houllier for sure turned Liverpool back into a winning team,” he said. “He brought a culture and a philosophy into the club and it was the right thing to do. Part of the club was broken at the time, the standards weren’t good enough.

“He was key. At that time, I think Liverpool needed a foreign manager. Arsene Wenger had gone in at Arsenal. With Gerard coming in at Liverpool, it basically changed the way the Premier League looked.

“The standards were different in terms of how you went about your daily work. There were foods cut out, booze was banned, there was more gym work, professionalism and standards went through the roof.

“That was the start of the building process to get Liverpool back to where it should have been which was winning trophies. He was the main part of why we won the treble in 2001. I think he put the footings in for the later success in 2005.”

Gerrard added: “He brought the winning mentality and culture back. For sure, that’s what we are trying to do here at Rangers.

“They are different scenarios. Liverpool at the time was a lot different to when I walked in the door at Rangers. I actually think the challenge here is much bigger.

“But we were hoping one day, by putting the right things in place on and off the pitch at Rangers and bringing in players who understand those standards and can deliver on them, to turn this club into a winning one as well.

“Gerard will leave a legacy at Liverpool Football Club and rightly so. He will get a lot of praise in footballing terms, but if you knew him like I knew him or you ever came across him, he was much more than just a football man.”