End of an era at Liverpool FC
Klopp is puzzled as to why no one believes his intentions
May 20, 2024, 1:28 p.m
Jürgen Klopp has long been a legend in Mainz and Dortmund, and he also shaped an era at Liverpool FC. This becomes abundantly clear when he leaves. The 56-year-old gives the traditional club some good advice – and speaks meaningfully about his personal future.
After a folk hero farewell that will probably be remembered forever at Anfield, Jürgen Klopp’s very last dressing room speech was also deeply moving. “I just want to say that I love you,” said the outgoing German team manager to Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and all the other Liverpool FC players who have grown so dear to him: “Thank you for this ride! It was incredible. I’m proud to have been a part of it.”
At the end of nine highly successful, but also extremely draining years, Klopp personally ushered in the turning point. “It doesn’t feel like an end, it feels like a beginning,” said Klopp, and he promised: “If you approach it with the right attitude, everything will be fine.” Even in his third coaching position, Klopp leaves behind an almost unattainable legacy – he left his future completely open.
“I really need to recover now,” said the 56-year-old. There will be opportunities for him after his time in England, but I’m not sitting here and thinking: Maybe I’ll do that in a few years. The reporters “don’t even have to look at which clubs are currently available”.
He doesn’t know exactly “why nobody believes that I probably won’t be a coach anymore,” said Klopp. He understands it, “because it seems to be a drug”: After all, everyone comes back and works “until they’re seventy years old.” Does that also apply to him? “I always had the idea that I wouldn’t be able to do this for that long.”
Guardiola: Klopp ‘played a very important role in my life’
In his opinion, he is leaving Liverpool FC in good shape and in good hands. “This club is perhaps in the best condition ever,” said Klopp after his emotional farewell to Anfield. The “basics” are “100 percent” there, Klopp called the team “full of talent, with young players, with creativity and greed.” And he highlighted his successor Arne Slot.
“Imagine the next season starting and you don’t wait to see what happens. You greet the new coach the way you greeted me. You go ‘all in’ from day one,” Klopp shouted, and he agreed red “I’ll Never Walk Alone Again” hoodie and an Arne Slot vocals. The Dutchman comes from Feyenoord Rotterdam.
The fans especially celebrated Klopp, who in nine years with Liverpool won, among other things, the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 – and in the process became Pep Guardiola’s permanent rival. “I will miss him very much,” said the Manchester City team manager after his team had just won their fourth consecutive league title. “Jürgen played a very important role in my life,” Guardiola continued.
Klopp is leaving a huge gap in Liverpool, something he had already done in Dortmund and Mainz. He didn’t rule out a return to the coaching bench, but: “I have to be all in. I have to be the spark, the bundle of energy,” said Klopp: “I have to be all that – but I’m empty.”