|
Instead, it appears that Houllier has suffered another setback in his plans to gradually ease himself back into the Anfield hot-seat.
It is the third time that the Liverpool boss has been forced to delay his return, and it seems that he will not now be allowed to resume his responsibilites until March at the earliest.
Even then, Houllier will take a part-time role at first, gradually taking on more duties until he feels that he can assume the full workload the job entails.
It is a blow for the French coach, who insisted to his players and staff before Christmas that it was his goal to return by the New Year. Now though, he has been forced to fly out of the country once more for an extended holiday, with assistant boss Phil Thompson revealing that his manager has been told to rest.
"Gerard is fine and he's going to be back in a few weeks. It may be four weeks, it may be a little longer, he'll go away now for a few weeks." Thompson said.
"It's an open date. There are no problems, but he wants to make sure he is fit and ready to come back. That is why we can't give any specific dates."
Houllier has suffered several blows to his plans to return, and tearfully told a packed meeting of Liverpool shareholders just before Christmas that doctors had told him to go away for a break. He only returned to Merseyside last week after a six-week holiday, and it was thought that he would be given the green light to resume duties.
Houllier, in fact, was in at the training ground in the early part of this week, overseeing tactics and team strategy for Wednesday's match against Leicester.
But following his appointment with the specialist who saved his life, the French coach has now been told that it is best he rests further, and takes a break away from football.
Houllier though, still asserts that he will ultimately return to lead Liverpool, despite the growing fear about his health that the setbacks to his plans have generated.
And last night former Liverpool player Mark Lawrenson questioned whether Houllier will ever be able to take up his post again.
"I would seriously wonder whether he would actually ever come back in the same capacity that he left at Liverpool," said Lawrenson.
It was at the reverse Barclaycard Premiership fixture against tomorrow's opponents Leeds back in October that Houllier was taken ill during the half-time interval.