A STATUE AT ANFIELD? FRANKLY, I’M NOT SHANKLY
Comparison to legendary boss does not sit easy as Klopp bids emotional farewell to the club and city he fell in love with
JURGEN KLOPP was not uncomfortable with the question but perhaps uneasy with the thought.
It was put to the departing Liverpool boss that one day he may be immortalised alongside the club’s greats with a statue outside Anfield.
“Do I think I need it?,” he said. “Definitely not. I am not sure what Bill (Shankly) or all the other guys thought.”
It was quickly put to Klopp that Shankly’s statue was not erected until long after he had passed away. He responded: “Well then they have another 40 years to think about that.”
The 56-year-old German is now predicting how long he will live.
To be fair, he’s got most of his predictions right since arriving on Merseyside in October 2015.
He said he would turn doubters to believers and deliver a title in four years. A Champions League was won in 2019 before the 30-year wait for a league title was ended in 2020.
A Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and two League Cups would follow.
It is why Klopp will be now spoken in the same breath as the likes of Shankly in these parts as he prepares for his final game in charge tomorrow at home to Wolves. But while he may lap up the emotional farewell, the comparison is another to sit uneasy with him.
“It’s part of folklore,” said Klopp. The Reds boss then added: “Bill Shankly didn’t do it alone. I understand that from the outside point of view, people might see it like that but, as Bill probably did think, alone would have been impossible.
“From his boot room, the guys who supported him in that time they all took over, boom, boom, boom.
“They were all there before but it was all about Bill in the city. It’s all about me, so who spoke about Pep Lijnders? Now he goes out and will conquer the world and people will realise ‘ah!’.”
Shankly’s boot room did spawn the careers of more great managers
like Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. But Klopp’s backroom team will move on – assistant Pep Lijnders will bid to be his own man at Red Bull Salzburg while others will find new jobs.
Yet what Klopp can’t deny he has in common with Shankly is the connection with the people of Liverpool.
Football is a common language in a city where it is red or blue, but one which working class and left-wing politics bring people together.
“The people, the city, you couldn’t do what Bill did in each city in the world,” said Klopp.
“You need someone that understands it is the power of unity, the power of togetherness, we give our all, we see what we get for it, we overcome obstacles and difficulties, and Bill was obviously the right man to do that.
“For me it was No.1 choice, for whatever reason, it’s not really explainable. I just thought that is the one I want to have.
“What we did, together with the people, we restored the belief and the togetherness.
“People enjoy winning but fighting for it especially. It is part of our history here that we really get hit hard and get up again.
“It was not a plan but it is how people are here.
“I’m not a socialist but I come from there. I understand life like that. I fitted so well. I didn’t have to change a bit, that was the biggest blessing.” Klopp feels he has to go now and has put it down to the need for a break. But surely he’s going to miss the late winners and the drama that comes with managing the Reds.
“It’s my life so I might miss it,” he said. “But I need to have a look on the other side.”
The red half of Merseyside will certainly miss him.
“The way people in England see it you have to either love Liverpool or hate Liverpool,” he said.
“Obviously it was very easy for me to fall in love with the club and the people. It is a special story.
“Could it have been more successful? Yes. With me? I don’t know.
“I do not see where we could have done this, or that, and then this or that would not have happened. I am super happy with my time here.”