I know from some wonderful years working in Liverpool what it means to have a manager who connects with supporters in the way that Jurgen Klopp has done.
Very few managers have done that in that special football place. Jurgen is a passionate, emotional man. The city is full of passion and emotion. The two have been a most wonderful fit, these past nine years. And though it took Jurgen two or three years to get going, the spectacle has been wonderful, too. Edge-of-your-seat football. I speak to a lot of football people and with due respect to Manchester City, most prefer watching Liverpool play to City, with their slower, more precise build-up.
For me, Jurgen’s pivotal moment for me was selling Philippe Coutinho in 2018, buying Virgil van Dijk, Allison and still having a large chunk of loose change. That summer’s business took Liverpool from a team that was threatening to one that was going to be a rival to anyone and everyone.
It’s been about more than the football for Jurgen. He’s led the club through some difficult times for us all – I’m talking about the challenges of Covid – and he was the right man for those challenges. He proved himself to be a shrewd and articulate leader in those dark times.
It’s quite understandable that comparisons will be made this weekend with Bill Shankly, another passionate manager who had that same connection with those supporters. But Jurgen discovered a very different Liverpool Football Club to the one that Shankly found when he arrived in 1959.
Few managers are able to connect with Liverpool supporters the way Jurgen Klopp has done
The turning point was when he signed Virgil van Dijk (left) and Alisson (right) several years ago
There have been a number of comparisons between Klopp and Bill Shankly (pictured) recently
Shankly was building from the foundations up. He walked into a club that had been drifting in the Second Division for five years and it was he – more than anyone else – who made it into the monster which it is today. Shankly laid the foundations for my own Liverpool manager, Bob Paisley, to take the club on to incredible heights which I don’t believe they will ever repeat – simultaneously dominating Europe and the domestic league. Yes, Manchester City are a very good team and the dominant domestic force of this era, but they’ve won one Champions League.
Some are making the argument that Jurgen’s achievements have been greater than Bill’s because he has been up against the wealth of an entire Gulf state, in Abu Dhabi-funded Manchester. No. I respectfully suggest that any such suggestion is nonsense.
Jurgen under Liverpool’s have certainly been outstanding, given that his nine-year net spend has been £254million, compared with Manchester United’s £888m, Chelsea’s £835m, Arsenal’s £696m and City’s £692m. But today’s Premier League clubs are buying from all over the world. Liverpool have a Brazilian, a Japanese, an Egyptian and a Hungarian in their ranks, to name just four. For Bill, and Bob, it was Great Britain and Southern Ireland, with the exception of Bob signing Bruce Grobbelaar, a Zimbabwean, and Craig Johnston, an Australian.
As Jurgen leaves and his achievements are pored over, talk will turn to which of the Liverpool managers we are discussing was the greatest. To which I ask: How are you judging greatness?
There is only one measure, of course. The list of trophies you’ve won. And that is what leads me to say that despite Bill and Jurgen’s huge accomplishments, you can look no further than Bob: winner of three European Cups and six championship trophies in nine years, the same span as Jurgen. Bob took a very good team and made them into truly great team. He should be remembered – in my opinion – as the greatest Liverpool manager by a country mile. Simple fact.
I can’t say I’ve got to know Jurgen. I’ve met him a couple of times over his years at Liverpool, shook his hand, and I actually gave him a cuddle before the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in March. I wanted him to know how much it had meant to me to see my old club competing for the title again and winning one for the first time in 30 years. There have been many indelible moments through the last nine years, though the 7-0 spanking Liverpool gave Manchester United last season was special because I was there! And of course there, the comeback game against Barcelona in 2019 was unforgettable.
There are challenges ahead for the club now. Even when Pep Guardiola walks away from City, the financial muscle of Abu Dhabi will mean that they remain a formidable opponent. But for this weekend, the red half of Liverpool can allow itself to reflect on the manager who has reenergised Anfield and taken the supporters with him on the most wonderful ride.
Klopp has had plenty of success at Liverpool, but inherited a much worse side than Shankly
But you can look no further than Bob Paisley, who took a good team and made them great
Klopp has still reenergised supporters at Anfield and taken them on a wonderful ride
Ortega saves the day
People talk so much about small margins, but it’s transpired that the destination of the Premier League trophy might hinge on Stefan Ortega’s right leg, five minutes from the end of normal time in the Manchester City’s penultimate game of the season.
If Son had put that ball away on Tuesday night, we would be talking about Arsenal being champions this year, come Sunday. Instead, Ortega makes himself as big as he can and the rest will probably be history.
We’re talking a whole nine months and it’s down to that. That shows our game, with all its unpredictable beauty, in a wonderful light.
Stefan Ortega has essentially put Manchester City on the verge of winning the Premier League
His save from Son Heung-min on Tuesday was the difference between City being in charge and Arsenal having the advantage
VAR can still work – with AI upgrade
I don’t see VAR being abolished, despite the Premier League debating the suggestion in a few weeks’ time, and I don’t want it to be. I’m not a technophile but my understanding is that AI will improve the technology enormously and remove the furore we hear every Monday morning when someone feels hard done to by VAR.
A foul on Anthony Gordon by Manchester United’s Sofyan Amrabat on Wednesday night left the Newcastle player’s sock torn, a red mark right down his Achilles – and still no official or VAR analyst saw it and awarded a penalty. We simply have to take the human element out of these calls because our referees now are just not very good.
Rather than get rid of VAR, let’s reduce the human input. I have to believe that VAR is here to stay and I hope that what I’m reading about AI developing on a weekly basis, it will make the system more or less bullet proof.
AI will help VAR improve, because the issue is that our referees using it are not good enough
Old Firm blues
A very, very bad week for me this week, given that I’m not a gambler. I was mugged off to have a bet with the obsessive Celtic fan, and an old acquaintance of mine, Rod Stewart on who would win the Scottish Premiership and ended up writing him a cheque for £10,000 last Tuesday, after watching my old club Rangers lose the Old Firm derby last Saturday.
I should have stuck to my instincts and not accepted that bet!