Sean Clansey explains how Liverpool’s manager has a point to prove this season.
Jürgen Norbet Klopp. A name familiar with football fans worldwide. The man who revolutionised Borussia Dortmund and is preparing his tools to replicate that with a very poor Liverpool squad of late.
Liverpool Football Club boasts the achievement of being one of most successful clubs in Europe. And on their way to doing that they’ve racked up hundreds of millions of loyal supporters, far and wide. That’s a bigger following than most country’s populations.
And I can guarantee you, put my house, my life savings, even my life on the fact that every single one of those devoted fans absolutely love the bones off the man; and rightly so. I mean the man oozes class. He’s got everything you need to take over the footballing world: charisma, intelligence, resilience and he’s just a down-right nice guy in general.
All this had been proved at his last successor; Borussia Dortmund.
Dortmund had endured their worst Bundesliga season in 20 years when Klopp arrived from Mainz in 2008. The club, the players and the fans were all in need of an urgent lift. And who better to deliver that than Klopp?
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Having gone through three managers in the 2006/07 season, the club needed reassurance and stability; and that’s exactly what Klopp gave them!
Having spent 7 years at Dortmund, Klopp left with a very respectable trophy cabinet of 2 Bundesliga league titles, 2 DFL- Supercup titles, 1 DFB- Pokal title, a Champions League runners up medal and back-to-back German Football Manager of the Year awards.
However, the manner in which he left has fans not 100% confident with their new manager.
When Klopp left Borussia Dortmund in May of 2015, he left as a fallen hero. The fans, the board and the players alike were all devastated to see him go, and yet Klopp left under the cloud of a near-disastrous final season.
His Dortmund side spent the whole of winter flirting with relegation and were even rock bottom of the Bundesliga table at one point. Dortmund gradually hauled themselves back up, finishing a disappointing 7th at the end of the season.
But it’s safe to say this Dortmund side was a shadow of its former self, and no one was to blame except our beloved German.
And now here he is, hoping to revive his tatted managerial reputation, with a Liverpool side which shares a lot of the same problems Dortmund did pre-Klopp.
Jurgen Klopp is normally described using adjectives along the lines of eccentric, energetic and entertaining. However, recently he has also picked up a less desirable description – ‘unlucky’.
This has come about due to the fact that the last 5 cup finals Klopp has been involved in, his team has come out on the losing side. That includes 2 finals he lost with Liverpool last season.
Is this unwanted record down to luck? Or is it due to his lack of experience? Or possibly his managerial abilities? Or maybe it’s just a fluke?
Whatever it is, I’m sure Klopp will have plenty of chances to refute that record next season. Because after all, he does have a point to prove to a lot of supporters and I for one, am very excited to see how he goes about doing that.