Klopp storms his way into the hearts of Liverpool fans
Liverpool FC: The End of the Storm (E, 99 mins)
Directed by James Erskine Reviewed by James Croot ★★★ 1⁄ 2
‘Somebody said that, football’s amatter of life and death to you, I said, ‘Listen, it’s more important than that.’’’
Former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly’s tongue-in-cheek quote was truly put to the test during the past season, as fans of the storied English football club hoped their three-decade wait for a league title might finally be over.
Used to continued success throughout the late-1970s and the entire 1980s – even overcoming the twin tragedies of Heysel and Hillsborough – the trophies suddenly dried up as first Sir Alex Ferguson’ s manchester United and then Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City overtook them. Under a succession of managers there were times when the team had come close, only to slip within sight of glory.
However, as British director and sports specialist James Erskine’s entertaining documentary End of the Storm reveals, anticipation had been building that the drought could be broken ever since the arrival of current manager Jurgen Klopp in October 2015.
The charismatic German brought a passion, commitment and tactical genius to the club, which to many fans was, ‘‘like a breath of fresh air’’. He also had a reputation for pushing boundaries and getting into troublewith authorities, as evidenced by a record number of Bundesliga red cards.
‘‘Howmany wrong decisions are you allowed in a game? Because, if it’s 15 you have one left,’’ he impishly recalls asking amatch official.
Klopp also admits, in one of his many hilarious direct-to-camera addresses, he wasn’t initially impressed by his new team. ‘‘I thought they all looked like Captain Picard,’’ he says, lamenting the ill-fitting uniforms. That was one of the first changes he made. ‘‘I’m not a control freak, I just think things should happen in a specific way.’’
That included recruitment of players including Sadio Mane, Virgil Van Dyke and Alisson Becker to solve specific problems, transforming the team into serious challengers and, in 2019, winners of Europe’s Champions League.
But, having narrowly missed out on the English title – again – Klopp and his team were desperate to taste Premier League success when the 2019-20 season kicked off in August last year.
As the manager grimly recounts, things did not startwell. An ever-present in the side the season before, goalkeeper Becker was injured in the first half of the first game. With his second and third-choice keepers having respectively succumbed to homesickness and a bike accident, Klopp had no choice but to call on Adrian, a shot-stopper who hadn’t played for 12 months and had only trained with them for four days. He proved to be inspirational, as Liverpool’s season got off to a flier.
As their high-tempo, ‘‘organised chaos’’ ran their rivals ragged and home ground Anfield once again became an impregnable fortress, even the seemingly unwanted distraction of the World Club Championships in Qatar couldn’t derail a seemingly inexorable march towards the Holy Grail.
But, just as they closed in on a record-breakingingly early confirmation, everything shut down, as Covid-19 swept Europe. Suddenly, life and death had taken precedence over football.
‘‘It was difficult to prepare for a game without knowing what would happen tomorrow,’’ Klopp admits of their final pre-pandemic match against Athletico Madrid.
As he, the team and fans waited and hoped for a resumption and feared that England would follow the Dutch and French in scrapping that year’s competition entirely, Klopp and his charges threw themselves into keeping them and their supporters occupied.
Storm documents their efforts, including Klopp’s admission that he had finally mastered the dishwasher, learned how to scramble eggs and attempted to overcome his fear of tying a tie.
Yes, nothing in Storm is particularly revelatory, but its conciseness, slick editing and clever use of comic-book style sequences make it superior to Amazon’s drawn-out All or Nothing looks at manchester City and Tottenham.
Hearing and seeing fans from around the globe, including Auckland bar The Paddington, adds an inclusivity and frisson that those insular, fly-on-the-wall docs lack. And, for all Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho’s antics and his players’ fear of him, he’s just not as compelling a figure, or as terrific a storyteller, as Klopp.
With his trademark Oakley glasses, salt-and-pepper beard and heartfelt views, he holds your attention, regardless of which team, or sport, you support.
Liverpool FC: The End of the Storm will screen in select cinemas nationwide today and tomorrow.