by It would become one of Jürgen Klopp’s most famous lines and served to project him to a wider and increasingly attractive audience. It was November 2013 and the spotlight was on the superstar manager of Borussia Dortmund, whose fans were everywhere but especially in England.
Manchester City and Chelsea wanted him that summer and now he was preparing to host Arsenal, another Premier League club he was on the radar for, in a Champions League group game. Many Arsenal supporters considered Klopp to be the ideal successor to Arsène Wenger, which reminds us, more than anything else, of the drawn-out nature of the final game. The Frenchman will not leave until 2018.
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There were certain similarities between the two; the career paths, the promotion of young players, the entertaining styles, the approaches to squad building. Klopp didn’t see it. “He likes to have the ball, play football, passes … he’s like an orchestra,” he said, pretending to play the violin. “But it’s a quiet song, yes? I like heavy metal.”
Klopp was in court with a bunch of English journalists and they all remember every detail. vigorously. This is how Klopp gets you. The magnetism, the big smile, the force of his presence and his personality. The energy, can be a little zany. Or explosive.
One of the greatest things about Klopp, as with all the greats, is the way he makes connections. At the time, it felt inevitable that the Premier League would be his next destination at some point, even if he insisted that nothing could happen until 2018 as he had just extended his Dortmund contract to until then. On the other hand, life can always get in the way.
Manchester United were keeping an eye on him. The retiring Sir Alex Ferguson had seen him at Wembley at the end of the previous season after Klopp’s side lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League final and congratulated him on how getting away with it. But when the moment came for Klopp to make his move in 2015, there was one destination that felt right; fits Liverpool almost perfectly.
Klopp has taken his place in the pantheon of Premier League managerial legends – established alongside Ferguson and Wenger, Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho. In the wake of his bombshell announcement on Friday that he is running on fumes, approaching the limits of his energy, which means he must retire at the end of the season, there has been so much praise that it is reminiscent of traffic from Wenger. after finally leaving Arsenal. “I don’t need to die anymore because I know what it’s like,” he said.
The retrospective focus on Klopp’s brilliant nine years at Liverpool has the potential to hamper the generation of momentum as he looks to go out with a bang. It is something he must fight. Then again, Klopp knows only one way – to fight every day, giving everything.
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The 56-year-old has won the majors at Liverpool, although certainly not in the amounts he would have liked. Ferguson’s main regret at United was that he only collected two European Cups. Klopp would have made it three at Liverpool if they had won the pair against Real Madrid. As for Klopp’s league title haul, he was fortunate enough to join Guardiola’s City machine. Liverpool’s result of 97 and 92 points in 2019 and 2022 respectively would have been enough for glory at almost any other time.
Klopp is aiming to add to the seven major honors he has won with Liverpool before he leaves and the team will be fighting on all three domestic fronts – as well as the Europa League. In the show-us-your-coins in English football betting, he tracks Ferguson, who finished with an amazing 38, Wenger (17), Guardiola (16 and counting) and Mourinho (11).
The statistics show that Klopp has the third best points per game record in Premier League history – behind Guardiola and Ferguson, in that order; in front of Mourinho and Wenger. His winning percentage of 60.7 in all competitions is higher than any other Liverpool manager. But it is in intangibles that Klopp scores so highly.
The style of play, the intensity, created such buy-in from the Liverpool crowd. For the most part, his team was competitive and fun to watch, and that should never be taken for granted. His approach to pressing has reformed the English game.
Above all, however, we come back to the connection. This is why Klopp is so admired in the red half of Liverpool and is admired, however grudgingly, by fans elsewhere. Do his touch crises affect the latter? Yes. Do they want that kind of heart-on-sleeve passion in their dug-out? Also, yes.
With Klopp, it wasn’t just about imposing himself on his club, which is what everyone does best, although that is of course a factor. This is how he influenced the spirit of the greater community, the city of Liverpool, to use a powerful sense of identity and integration.
“Being an honorary scouser is probably the best thing I could have ever achieved in my life – it’s fantastic,” Klopp said on Friday. “The way these people deal with difficulties is an example to me. I learned a lot here.”
Klopp gets Liverpool, mainly because his values match those of the city. An incurable romantic, he likes to paint his teams as plucky, hardworking outsiders against those with more money. He did it at Dortmund with Bayern. And for Bayern then, read City now. It’s a move that usually plays well and has highlighted the restoration of Liverpool’s aura of confidence.
When Klopp announced that he would be retiring because he thought his “energy level was limitless and now it isn’t”, the temptation was to look for another explanation, a more controversial one. But there are no holes in his story. It is authentic, consistent.
Wednesday night was a replay at Fulham, after Klopp’s side progressed to the Carabao Cup final. Liverpool supporters were unfurling a banner that said: “Imagine it’s us.” So how was it? “There are worse situations, for sure,” Klopp replied. But then it was straight into the stress of a pile of loom-up fixtures. “Imagine it’s us and we have to play all the games we have to play,” he said. “That’s not as fun as watching them.”
Wenger used to say: “Physically, you have to be an animal in this position.” It always gets you at one stage or another. Guardiola needed a year off after Barcelona in 2012.
The question that carries the real scrutiny is still why Klopp told the world now. The idea is to give Liverpool all the time and clarity they need to plan ahead but it’s certainly gone early with the news. Klopp doesn’t want the rest of Liverpool’s season to be about him. So good luck with that, Jürgen. The more realistic hope, perhaps, is that the players are engaged in this longest salvation.
The obvious parallel is Ferguson’s announcement in May 2001 that he would spend the following season at United. It was a mistake, and the Scot later admitted: “A lot of players put their tools away.” He would, of course, do a U-turn in January and stay until 2013.
When Ferguson called it a day for good, it was a sudden announcement with just two games of the season to go. Mourinho’s departure in the Premier League is not worth watching because he has never been in charge of them but with Wenger, he also made a sudden announcement, even though there were seven games of 2017-18 to play.
Klopp’s farewell tour begins on Sunday against Norwich in the FA Cup. It will be loud and emotional. Just the way he likes it.
