League Cup is a good start but league title is an obsession for Liverpool fans, says former manager Gerard Houllier The successful candidate will report to Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, and lead the drive to make St George's Park, the soon-to-opened national football centre, a centre of excellence for coaches. But having worked as technical director for the French Football Federation at Clairefontaine for four years from its inception in 1988, Houllier admits it was not until France lifted the World Cup in 1998 that the fruits of his labour became apparent. We [France] entered the national centre in Clairefontaine in 1988 and became world champions in 1998. Houllier said. That's how long it takes. It is a very good initiative by the FA, but the technical director needs to know the job is different from being a manager. The manager prepares the next game while the technical director prepares the next 10 years. England have not won anything since 1966, but it is never too late to do well. During his four-year stint as French technical director, Houllier worked in tandem with national team manager Michel Platini before succeeding the former France captain in 1992. While the two men enjoyed a harmonious working relationship, there have been few examples of the technical director role succeeding in English football, with scepticism from the manager's office often proving an insurmountable obstacle. But former Liverpool and Aston Villa manager Houllier insists that the two positions can work alongside each other. The technical director role is not the same as the national team coach - that is very important. The technical director is in charge of the elite programme and that goes up to the under-21 level, but the national team coach is different. He can just be in charge of the national teams and sometimes have good rapport with the under-21s because he might take players from them. That was the case with [Fabio] Capello and Stuart [Pearce]. The technical director needs to have a vision, a plan, and he must be in charge of the elite programme, the coaching programme and the development of football practice. That means amateur and youth level. It is a huge task and he will need energy. With friction between leading clubs and the FA a constant theme in relation to international football, Houllier has urged the successful candidate to work closely with top Premier League managers. If you want to be a successful technical director, you need to have the clubs with you. So going to see all the Premier League coaches is vital. One of the successes we had in France was we gathered the Premier League coaches twice a year because they need to know what you are doing with the youth and so on and show them the importance of the national team. The job for the technical director is to make sure the elements of success are there. First is best scouting, second is proper facilities for the youth players. If one young team has to go to university there and then train somewhere else it is no good. You need a proper programme with a proper coach. The coach of the academy is not the same as the first team. And you also need to have successful steps in place to become a professional.