THIS IS MASSIVE NEWS! The entire city of Liverpool must be in complete shock and denial at this point as manager Jurgen Klopp has said that he’s LEAVING LIVERPOOL FC after the end of the season!
I…don’t even really know what to say to this news.
Despite being the longest-serving Premier League boss, the 2nd most successful manager in England over the last decade, and currently on top of the Premier League table with four chances at winning silverware this season, Jurgen Klopp has decided that this will be his final season in charge of the Reds. And, I really can’t say anything either than expressing my admiration of the man’s accomplishments.
To say that this news is shocking would be like saying Aphrodite is just pretty.
As I said in the intro, I really don’t know where to go with this news. I mean, not only is this the most shocking news story to come out of the Premier League this season given the fact that Jurgen Klopp is such a legend of Liverpool, but it also is coming at a time were Liverpool currently sit 1st in the Premier League, have a Round of 32 date with a TBD opponent in the Europa League, face Championship-fodder Norwich in the 4th round of the FA Cup this Sunday, and have a huge match against Chelsea in the EFL Cup later in February over who will be this year’s cup winner.
In other words, Liverpool are flying sky high at the moment…and Jurgen Klopp has just announced he’s going to step away. Talk about a season-changing event!
Now, Klopp stated that the burnout of managing Liverpool at the top level for just shy of a decade (he was appointed in October of 2015) was the reason behind this decision and that he was having these feelings for about a season and a half now, and I don’t fault him one bit for having those thoughts.
The man has not only implemented one of the most physically, mentally, and tactically demanding styles of play in all of football for an entire decade, but he’s also won just shy of everything a manager of Liverpool FC has the ability to win.
In his soon-to-be nine seasons with the club, Jurgen Klopp has won the FA Community Shield (2023), the UEFA Super Cup (2019), the EFL Cup (2022), the FA Cup (2022), the FIFA Club World Cup (2019), he’s finished runner-up in two successive FA Community Shield matches (2022, 2023), runner-up in two Champions League seasons (2018, 2022), runner up in the 2016 Europa League campaign, runner-up in the 2016 EFL Cup Final, he made the Top-4 in 6 of his 8 seasons in charge so far (and Top-5 in 7/8 season so far), and he’s finished 2nd in the Premier League three times.
And, of course, Jurgen Klopp’s two greatest achievements as Liverpool manager will always be his sides 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspurs in the 2018 Champions League Final and his side’s all-time historic 2019/20 Premier League win that broke the club’s 30-year drought.
To put a twist on what I said earlier, to say Jurgen Klopp has achieved tremendous success at Liverpool is to say that Aphrodite is just pretty. It’s an INSANE UNDERSTATEMENT!
The man will have a statue erected of him outside Anfield, the home of some of the most legendary, accomplished, and historic footballers, managers, and executives in the 200+ year history of the “Beautiful Game”, before the end of the decade, and that still will not be enough tribute for Jurgen Klopp. And I’m saying this as a Manchester United fan.
Jurgen Klopp pretty much saved Liverpool from falling into irrelevancy and mediocrity before the rise of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City; and, he has been one half of the almighty powerhouse (Man City being the other team) that has dominated English football in the post Man United (1990-2013), Chelsea (2000-2021…kind of as it’s really more like 2000-2019 with a random CL win in 2021), and Arsenal (1996-2016) glory periods.
So, I see why Jurgen Klopp is deciding now is the right time to step aside, yet I still wonder why he would announce this smack dab in the middle of a Premier League title charge, a European title charge, an FA Cup chance, and a month away from the EFL Cup Final? Unless this was going to be leaked by non-club sources, then I find the timing of this news a little strange.
But, anyway, that really doesn’t matter as what all that matters to Liverpool fans, players, assistant coaches, and executives is to cap off what has the chance to be most successful campaigns in Jurgen Klopp’s ninth and final season in charge of Liverpool.
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