'What you are to do without me I cannot imagine'
Jurgen Norbert Klopp is too modest a man to echo the words of George Bernard Shaw but Liverpool fans will be asking themselves that question after the surprise announcement that the club's most successful manager in a generation will step down at the end of the season and take a break from football.
Counting the World Club Cup, Klopp is joint fourth on the all-time major trophies list with Kenny Dalglish (5), one behind Bill Shankly, both men whose departures also rocked Anfield. He may only have secured a single league crown but it was one the club were desperate for.
Dalglish was, and still is, revered for his success on the pitch and in the dugout, but in terms of charisma and relationship with the supporters, the German more resembles the man who moulded Liverpool into a force in the 1960s/early 1970s.
Like Shankly, the intensity of effort in turning a struggling ship around appears to have taken its toll and Klopp (56) cited tiredness as a major factor in his decision.
Both the club and Premier League will miss him as a highly capable manager, who posed the only genuine challenge to Pep Guardiola’s Abu Dhabi-funded Manchester City hegemony until Arsenal last year, and perhaps even more as a character.
The hearty chuckles and beaming smiles, the air-punching passion, the bear-hugs for players, both his and the opposition. Outspoken (some might argue particularly for his team’s benefit) and often argumentative. Though rarely with Pep, their rivalry apparently built on mutual respect, in contrast to the bitterness seen between the likes of José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger.
In a world warped by money, Klopp comes across as both principled - he was one of the first managers to condemn the 2021 Super League proposals his owners initially endorsed - and relatable, witness his warm welcome of Irish fans Sean Cox and Dáire Gorman to Anfield.
Klopp took over as Liverpool boss in October 2015, replacing Brendan Rodgers, who was fired 17 months after Liverpool squandered a glorious chance to win their first league title since Dalglish's 1989-90 side.
Appointed Mainz manager shortly after retiring at 33, the man with "fourth-division feet and a first-division head" had attracted international attention when he led Borussia Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 and a Champions League final the following year against Bayern Munich, who poached their best players and have won the German league ever since. They had parted ways after a seventh-placed finish in 2013-14 but Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group put their faith in statistics showing Dortmund had had a particularly unlucky campaign.
If Klopp's results could be measured, his magnetic personality was the intangible. Articulate in his second language and never afraid to express an opinion, he was a media darling right from his unveiling: He called himself "The Normal One" in contrast to Mourinho, promised "emotional football" and despite pleading for patience also suggested it might take four seasons to deliver the long-awaited championship success. He was nearly right, it was five in the end.
He said then that "the intensity of the football, of how the people live football in Liverpool, all the Liverpool fans around the world" was what had attracted him to the job. "It is not a normal club, it is a special club." The kind of statement that makes supporters of other clubs roll their eyes but it struck a chord with fans for whom one League Cup in nine seasons represented severe historical underachievement.
The remainder of that first season brought 'gegenpressing’, an eighth-placed league finish and defeat in the League Cup final. A memorable run in the Europa League that featured victory over Manchester United in the rivals’ first and only European meeting and a thrilling comeback win over old club Dortmund ended in a disappointing 3-1 final defeat to Sevilla, a game they had led at half-time. But FSG had seen enough to extend the contracts of the manager and his staff to 2022, which raised some eyebrows.
Fourth place and a return to the Champions League was secured the following year and Mohammed Salah signed that summer to play alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
It was fourth again in 2017/18 with defence still a problem and 38 goals conceded but the squad continued to evolve, Liverpool spending a sizeable chunk of the €135m Barcelona paid for Philippe Coutinho on Virgil van Dijk in January and hammering Premier League champions Manchester City on their way to another European final. That was lost 3-1 to Real Madrid, extending Klopp’s record in finals to 1/7, but the unfortunate performance of Loris Karius prompted a goalkeeper world-record €72m fee for Roma goalkeeper Alisson.
The number of goals conceded dropped dramatically and it seemed the final piece of the puzzle was in place. Klopp's men led City by seven points early in 2019 but finished second with 97 – enough to win the league any top-flight season except the previous– after Pep Guardiola’s side won their final 14 games to claim the title by a single point. The 2-1 January defeat at the Etihad was Liverpool’s only loss in 38 games. For supporters waiting 29 years it was cruelty beyond imagination.
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Redemption came in the Champions League, however, in the form of an Anfield comeback to rival Istanbul 2005. A Barcelona team featuring Lionel Messi and former favourite Luis Suarez had won the semi-final first leg 3-0 and the hosts were missing Salah and Firmino through injury but the unbackable favourites were sensationally beaten 4-0, thanks to doubles from Divock Origi and Gini Wijnaldum. It was a scarcely plausible script written by Klopp, the self-professed "football romantic. Destiny felt on Liverpool’s side now and they defeated Spurs 2-0 in a forgettable final, breaking the manager’s supposed hex in deciders and adding a sixth star to the Liverpool crest.
Glorious as that was, the trophy the fans yearned for most was the league. And it was on its way. Liverpool scorched out of the blocks again but this time City couldn’t keep pace. Their lead at the top of the table was 13 points with a game in hand by the end of December, just after Flamengo were dispatched in the Club World Cup final. Liverpool equalled the all-time record for consecutive league wins (18) in February 2020, having taken 79/81 points, and defeat to Watford in their next fixture ended a 44-game unbeaten streak. By the time the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March, two days after their Champions League elimination by Atletico Madrid, they were a record 25 points clear.
Klopp said at the time that "If it’s a choice between football and the good of the wider society, it’s no contest" but if the campaign had been cancelled, as happened in other countries, it would surely have been confirmation Liverpool were jinxed. The Premier League recommenced in June though and Liverpool had the distinction of being both the earliest (with seven games to spare) and latest (25 June) champions. Their finishing total of 99 points was second only to Manchester City’s in 2018-19.
The 19th title was finally secured after 30 years and the celebrations were only slightly spoiled by the lack of fans. "People have said to me ‘My God, you are a champion in 2020 when no-one could celebrate’, but I see things the other way around," said the manager. "That is what this year has shown us: enjoy the good things, as long as they are there. In a very tricky year for the whole world, we have created some highlights for our supporters, for ourselves, for our families and our friends. So in that way it’s been a very special year."
The title defence did not go well. Seven goals were conceded to Aston Villa in October when Van Dijk was also ruled out for the season through injury. Roy Keane memorably dubbed them "bad champions" and Liverpool needed a late rally – and headed winner from keeper Alisson against West Brom – to finish third.
But 2021-22 saw Liverpool back in contention for multiple trophies: Chelsea were beaten in the League Cup (first since 2012) and FA Cup (first since 2006) finals by his "mentality monsters'" but Real Madrid again proved the Champions League nemesis and the league again ended in the agony of another one-point win for Man City, 93 to 92 this time. The losing tally was the eighth highest points total of all time.
Mane left for Bayern Munich in the summer and a bizarre season of inconsistency followed. In March, Liverpool beat Manchester United 7-0 then lost to Bournemouth, who they had scored nine against in August.
The fifth-placed league finish was Klopp’s lowest since his first season. Liverpool looked to be finally paying the price for FSG's relative frugality after years of outperforming their balance sheet. The manager appeared tired and tetchy and was banned for two games in May after accusing referee Paul Tierney of having something "against" Liverpool.
It would not have been a surprise to see Klopp go last summer. The fact that he stayed for an apparently successful summer rebuild that currently has his team back on top of the pile makes it a shock now.
"For me it was super super super-important that I can help to bring this team back on to the rails," he explained on Friday. "It was all I was thinking about. When I realised pretty early that happened, it's a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters and all that, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome."
The timing is odd. Alex Ferguson’s stated intention to retire overshadowed Manchester United’s season in 2001-02, which only picked up when he reversed it. He left the definitive departure until after winning a final title in May 2013. Klopp says Liverpool’s owners have known since November though so maybe they felt the news was about to come out.
Some players will have signed because they wanted to play for him and may now be questioning their futures but he also took a chance on now stars like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. Klopp has been the only Liverpool manager every current player has known and the club will hope that they are highly motivated to help him finish on a high with a second league title or other silverware (the Europa League final is in Dublin in May...) Not to mention impressing his successor, who will have a tough task, even if Salah is sold and the money spent as wisely as the Coutinho windfall.
When he departed Dortmund, Klopp reportedly said that "it's not important what people think when you come in but what they think when you leave".
Even if Liverpool end the season empty-handed his reign will be judged positively. But he will not want the legacy to be: ‘Great manager, should have won more but Manchester City and Real Madrid were better’. It should be a final few months as fascinating as the last eight and a bit years.
