WHEN KLOPP MET ROBBIE
IT is Liverpool’s biggest game in a decade. In the build-up to the Final, we went to the heart of the Anfield revolution with an in-depth, passionate, no-holds-barred interview with the man behind it, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. Here the German speaks to Live
FOWLER: As a player and a fan I can appreciate your genuine passion. KLOPP:
I do what I love, I really do, and that’s the biggest thing. When I passed my A levels, the school head said in front of all the other students: “I hope you do something in football otherwise I’m not optimistic for you!” FOWLER:
How did that go for you? KLOPP:
It was really hard. It was really hard in that moment I can tell you. But I sit here today and I can train a club like Liverpool ... it still feels like a f ****** sensation. It’s unbelievable! FOWLER:
That brings me on to another thing – Liverpool means something more than a football club to you. I think you are a perfect fit because your philosophy helps you get the people of this city. KLOPP:
It’s the other way round too. Yes I felt something special when Mike Gordon (Liverpool’s co-owner) called me. I was not ready, I thought it made sense I had one year off. But I really knew, okay, that is one club I cannot say ‘no’ to. FOWLER:
You’d surely have your pick of clubs though, there were others. KLOPP:
Of course there were other clubs. FOWLER:
It is documented Manchester United made an approach, so why Liverpool? KLOPP:
I love the history. I really am a football romantic. I knew I probably can help. They maybe really need me in this time. I know what I’m good at. When they told me about the problems they had I thought ‘Okay, yeah, I am probably the really right manager for that club’.
A little thing. Liverpool is a world-class brand, big, big, big, but in Melwood, you know it Robbie, it is still a family, nothing else, and you can go in and feel that. I have to develop and improve, sure, but I don’t want to go into the office in the morning to wear a tie. That is not me.
So when you see the pictures – and I realise it as well, by the way – I look still like a player ... that’s not cool but that’s me. I go in with a baseball cap and they still respect me, I don’t have to act in a specific way. They took me like I am, they didn’t ask me to do anything else, so I could focus from the first day completely on football.
It is a football club. A FOOTBALL club. I had talks with other clubs and they didn’t sound like a football club. It sounded like marketing, image, you need to sign this, you need to sign that. And I thought wow, that’s not the game I love. It’s all part of football but it cannot be the number one, two, three, four, priority. First of all please try to improve the game we play. And that’s what I am good in. FOWLER:
Shankly’s beliefs are similar to yours, he always believed in a common effort delivering a common reward that everyone shares in, but he was prepared to take the burden of delivering that. KLOPP:
I can take the pressure, I really can take it. That’s very important. Another little agreement with my players: For the good performance, they are responsible. For the bad, I am responsible. That is important. Football players need someone around who is there for them in the decisive moments and I really feel that is my job to do. FOWLER:
I like the support you give to players. We had a fantastic keeper, David James, but he was given the tag Calamity James, which affected his career. I’m a big fan of Dejan Lovren and you protected him. KLOPP:
It’s true sometimes players get unfairly treated. Two positions that are really, really difficult to play for Liverpool: goalkeeper and centre-half. It’s like you can never be good enough, whatever you do, they still say “We need a world-class replacement.”
The Tottenham game I was angry. It wasn’t I was saying, “Boys, never mind it can happen, forget about it.” Not even one per cent of that. I was really angry.
I took Dejan off after 25 minutes and didn’t speak to him afterwards. But then a few days later I saw him waiting
for my talk. “You took me off after 20 minutes,” he said. “Because you were bad,” I said.
But I said to him I think he’s a world-class centre-half, 100 per cent. Yes with weakness, concentration can happen from time to time, could be harder here, whatever.
I am convinced about him. So he hears I think he’s a world-class centre-half and that maybe helped him. Players need help in these moments and they need a clear opinion. They respect me, so if I think they are good then
they start thinking themselves they are good. FOWLER: Little things like that go a long way for players. I know how much it helps them. KLOPP:
Yeah but it came from him because he needed to know by himself. It’s not that I go around telling everybody how fantastic they are.
I expect really hard work, and I expect they are mature, that they are ready for the fight out there.
It’s not that it’s easy. We now play Real Madrid...