Wednesday, December 15, 2021
“Treating good people well”
Klopp loses “enormously important” employees
Jürgen Klopp has to accept an exit that hurts the coach of Liverpool FC – even if it is not one of the stars on the field. With Mark Leyland one of Klopp’s coaching staff leaves the club. In Liverpool’s press, the process is interpreted as a muscle game.
Newcastle United has been financially the most powerful club in the Premier League since it was taken over by many billion dollar Saudi investors. The possibilities of the Magpies are unlimited. But before the major sporting attack can start, the worst-case scenario must first be avoided: In the gray present, one is fighting against relegation. A new coach came with Eddie Howe and now they are poaching at the very top – at Liverpool FC. “Newcastle flexed its muscles to poach the Liverpool coach – despite Jürgen Klopp’s pleading,” announced the “Mirror”.
Jürgen Klopp lost a member of his coaching team, Mark Leyland, to the budding upstart. And that hurts Klopp. “Mark has been here longer than I have been and, with his game analysis and his individual work with the players, he is an incredibly important member of our team,” said Klopp, “with his post-game analysis and the analysis he provides for the players, with the players and all those things. “
“Very important”
In July 2020, after Liverpool won their first league title in 30 years, Klopp praised the influence of its analysts, who usually do not appear in the limelight. “They are not in public, but they are extremely important,” said the world coach at the time on the club’s website. “We will not forget your contribution.”
In Newcastle, Leyland will work again with Eddie Howe, both of whom were under contract with Burnley FC, before Leyland moved to his club in Liverpool in 2013. The “super guy” was now striving for the “next step in his career,” said Klopp. “In Newcastle he had the chance to take on a more senior role that we couldn’t offer him here.” Klopp and his assistant Pep Lijnders would have liked to keep Leyland, but would have given the long-term employee their blessing for the change.
“Good people should be treated well”
There is already a quick reunion on Thursday: Then Leyland will return to Anfield in his new role with the new club. That’s not a problem for Klopp. “We could have said to him: ‘You can’t start there for three or four weeks.’ But in the football world everyone knows everything anyway. ” There are not many secrets about Liverpool football either, a “football brain” is enough to decipher it. And there was also a completely different consideration not to put obstacles in the way of the former Liverpool fan and later analyst Leyland: “Good people should be treated well, and we did that with Mark.”
Leyland and Howe now have to come together quickly: In 16 games, Newcastle United, who should have a great future so desperately longed for by fans and investors, collected just 10 points. “Newcastle don’t have infinite time to get out of this situation and after us they’ll meet City and United if I’m 100 percent right, so it won’t be much easier,” said Klopp. “So we expect them to fight for anything. We have to make sure we’re ready for this fight. Thank goodness we’re playing at home in Anfield.”
The Magpies are on the penultimate place in the table, the relegation rank is three points away. It is extremely unlikely that you will get these points until the end of the first half of the season: Because Klopp is right, in addition to Liverpool FC, leaders Manchester City and the stabilized Manchester United of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ralf Rangnick are waiting in the remaining three games.