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Liverpool fans are a very select breed. There is a certain partisan, fiercely protective element that goes to extremes as far as supporters are concerned.
From supporting players, managers and everyone connected with the club to the end. It is comprehensive.
In these very pages of This Is Anfield some nine years ago, I put together an article outlining the case for keeping faith in Brendan Rodgers – resisting the allure of a German manager who had just finished the campaign in his homeland on a downward spiral and failed to deliver European football.
I cited Klopp’s inconsistencies as Dortmund faltered in their final season and fell back on the rosy nostalgia of Liverpool’s title near miss in 2014. I wanted to believe.
I was wrong. So bad. Alas, it is precisely that defensive and passionate outlook that Klopp sensed was ripe within Liverpool’s fan base – across Merseyside and around the world.
He knew the fans cared, deeply. The Reds have been lost at sea for so long, but the fans have lost none of their resilience.
Once Klopp appeared, delivered his message in stark, concise simplicity, the heart was tugged. The link was forged.
A journey to fight the biggest beast
The big German has since likened the moment of learning of Liverpool’s interest to the thrill of catching the rapture of a high school crush who wants to know more. Love will always only be on both sides.
It’s hard not to get too capricious and overly anecdotal when thinking about Klopp’s reign, but the beauty of his tenure – and the reason it lasted so long in the ephemeral minefield that is modern football – is that it was so deeply personal for everyone. and every fan.
The dust hasn’t settled yet and won’t for some time, despite Arne Slott’s swift and respectful confirmation as successor.
Klopp’s Liverpool dynasty has been a real rollercoaster ride from the start, and it will take a long time to realize that the safety catch has been reattached and the tsunami of endorphins is now over.
The pace of full-throttle football, gegenpressing hearts on sleeves and ruthless late wins reflect the frenetic speed at which the years have flown by.
Liverpool’s steady upward trajectory under Klopp has had the sweet but sour effect of trapping us all in a time vacuum.
Everyone will have a Klopp story; a depiction of that era and how it marked a certain period of their lives in time.
Like previous generations who followed Liverpool in the 1980s, turning the global football landscape red and channeling fervent support, Klopp’s reign planted the seeds that would sprout and bear fruit for years to come.
And the numbers, the statistics… they’re crazy. Klopp won the draw as Liverpool manager, far exceeding the expectations first set on that foggy day in October 2015, as he delivered his now famous ‘skepticism of the faithful’ ethos with his Saturday tan still fresh and his accent slightly more Germanic .
It is true that Klopp and Liverpool could have had more. There should have been more, in all likelihood, given the 115 charges still hanging darkly over Man City’s head.
The Klopp era set out to face the biggest beast English football has ever seen.
Liverpool did just that, beating Pep Guardiola’s City and denying them European honours, as they finally found the ingredients to bring the league title back to Merseyside for the first time in 30 years.
He will always be Liverpool
It speaks volumes that Klopp and Liverpool determined that the only way to really beat City to the Premier League was to become relentless on an unprecedented scale, destroying the rest of the division and sealing the most coveted trophy of all with seven games remaining.
It will always be a consolation for Klopp and the entire fan base that the final game played at Anfield before the Covid-19 shutdown – a 2-1 win over Bournemouth – ended up being mathematically the game that gave the Reds the much-needed points to become champions.
That victory – a record 22nd successive home victory for the Englishmen – moved Liverpool 25 points clear. Twenty-five points ahead, at the beginning of March. Allow it to sink in again.
Klopp is leaving English football completely burnt out, he said himself. Reaching such heights, even when facing a formidable rival with questionable funding, is as draining as it is physical.
And yet, as always, Klopp managed to get this right. There will be no slow, awkward, heartbreaking fall. Where the results stop coming, the action loses its ferocity and Liverpool sink further down the table – all the while Klopp’s trademark beaming smile grows shallower, a little less brilliant.
There will be none of that. Klopp goes down on top, after a whirlwind season in which he took silverware and came a hair’s breadth away from another run at the title.
Klopp may walk away with significantly fewer honors than his counterpart Guardiola, but he got everything the City boss really wanted. The leader of the group of brothers, who stood as a living, breathing extension of the stadium around them, hearts pulsating as one.
Klopp acted as the conductor of the boiler room at Anfield on a weekly basis, bellowing songs and folklore from the past while recording history in real time.
He was adored, respected and praised. He breathed life into a sleeping giant, and he did it all within the club’s means; he provided something to believe in – he made the people happy.
His first team boasted the likes of Jordon Ibe, Connor Randall and Jerome Sinclair. His latest team sheet featured some of the biggest names in world football, brought to elite level as a product of his coaching.
Klopp has gone through all the hard miles and now he deserves the world.
Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and top-flight rivals like to see themselves as Julius Caesar figures at the head of an empire, but they all fall short of the lasting impression Klopp’s personality has left on the game.
The Leonidas of football, leading his Spartans into battle with every one of them ready to die for him at the first command.
Klopp will be remembered as many different things to many people.
For me he will always be that feeling of security in the Premier League. He will always be those first few years back among European royals when something special felt like it was brewing; he will forever be that rain-soaked street in Porto full of singing Kopites huddled under a canvas tent, that quiet afternoon in Shevchenko Park.
He will always be that corner who gets out quickly and the English title comes home. He will always be the reason we called a loved one and shared the tearful moment of acknowledging that the wait is finally over.
He will always be Liverpool and Liverpool will always be Klopp.
Jurgen lives forever.
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