Emotions high as Klopp marks last Liverpool weekend
It will end in tears on Sunday evening. They will be tears of sorrow and thanks, flowing down cheeks of Liverpool fans young and old across the world as Jürgen Norbert Klopp, the man from the Black Forest, takes his leave of a stage that has left him both sated and shattered.
Social media has been awash with Liverpool fans saying they aren’t ready to see him go, they aren’t prepared to let him leave. In his eight-anda-half years at Anfield Klopp has been more than just a coach of a grand, old football team. He has been the soul of Liverpool Football Club, the essence of what makes the club different from so many others, the reason that one of the mantras that drives Liverpool is “This means more.”
Klopp has meant more than the seven trophies he won on the pitch, the man that former Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce said was a rare light in England. “We’re talking about one of the greats here,” Bruce told The Athletic. “I’ll miss him and the Premier League will miss him. Say what you like about him, watching him brightens up your day.”
This week, The Athletic published a series on “The Real Jürgen Klopp”, following his life back to the Black Forest in Germany, his blow-ups on the touchline, how he developed into a brand and how, above all, he was “Liverpool’s champion”.
“His is a story of success intertwined with setbacks, but he is a manager who did more than reawaken a club. He created a movement,” wrote Paul Joyce in The Times.
When he first arrived at Liverpool Klopp spoke of turning “doubters into believers”, a line he has revisited recently, saying Liverpool fans always believed, they just needed to be reminded of it.
His relationship with the fans has been one of compassion and understanding. Sean Cox, who was assaulted by Italian football fans in 2018 and suffered brain injuries that left him unable to speak properly or walk, met Klopp at Anfield in 2019 and the pair have stayed in touch. The Dublin man visits Anfield once a year and the two have become good friends.
Mike Kearney, the visually
impaired Liverpool fan who became a viral sensation after he celebrated Mo Salah’s goal against Napoli, then listened as his cousin leant over to describe the goal to him. Kearney was invited to the club’s training ground by Salah and met Klopp, who overwhelmed him with his energy and charisma.
“People laugh at the whole turning doubters into believers thing, but it’s true,” Kearney told The Athletic.
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool, believes there is a “spiritual connection” between Klopp and Liverpool. “I’ve never known a Liverpool manager that fans of rival clubs will at least say neutral things about. Yet he dovetails with Liverpool and Merseyside better than anyone I’ve known.”
As Klopp himself said not long after he announced he was leaving: “Being an honourable scouser is probably the best thing I could ever have achieved in my life it’s absolutely outstanding. The way these people deal with difficulties is a role model for me. I learnt so much here.”
Klopp leaves having taught as much, if not more than he learnt. “Football has never been purely an intellectual exercise and it has never been purely a professional pursuit,” wrote Jonathan Liew in the Guardian.
“At its best it is the background music to life, the backdrop to nights in and nights out and comedowns and breakdowns and hookups and breakups. Not everybody in the naveladoring world of football really gets that.
“Somehow, you always felt Klopp did. Liverpool are not my club and Klopp has never been my manager, but perhaps the greatest tribute you could pay him is that sometimes I wished he was.”
On Sunday the boss will be gone. He will give one last series of air punches, sigh heavily and know love, respect and gratitude. A final word from Kearney, the blind man who saw Klopp and believed.
“When all is said and done and the smoke has cleared, and he’s gone, we can only be thankful. Fans of other clubs might say you’ve only won one league title and a Champions League under Klopp, but they didn’t live it. We did live it and we had a boss time.”
MANAGER TAKES LEAVE OF A STAGE THAT HAS LEFT HIM BOTH SATED AND SHATTERED