Jurgen Klopp shrugged off his date with history on Friday and insisted he does not deserve comparison with Liverpool’s iconic managers of the past.
Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Sir Kenny Dalglish were all name checked by the current incumbent on an emotional day at Anfield.
After ending the club’s 30-year wait for a league title in such spectacular fashion, hundreds of thousands of Liverpool supporters around the world would doubtless disagree with Klopp’s modest appraisal.
But with Shankly and Paisley’s incredible achievements both having been marked by posthumous statues being built at the stadium they called home, Klopp is in no rush to follow their example.
Klopp said: “They all got that when, I think, they were not here any more. I want to live for 30 or 40 years so I am not interested in statues, for sure not in my lifetime!
“I am the manager of this team and we won the league so people see this as positive I can imagine. I am very positive about that as well but you don’t have to compare me with these iconic figures.
“I don’t know exactly how long Bill Shankly was at the club but I know where he picked them from in the Second Division, then Bob already was the assistant and took over and won pretty much everything.
“Kenny Dalglish played for this club, became the manager, player-manager and was immediately successful as a manager which is incredible.
“For my point of view there is no comparison possible. I’ve been here for four and a half years, I came from Germany and tried to do my job, loved the city, loved my job but there is no comparison possible or needed.”
A year after winning the Champions League, and coming so close to pipping Manchester City to the title, Klopp was basking in the adulation of his supporters and the game in general on Friday.
And while the Reds manager expects a tough title defence next season, he insists that a team that has won 37 and lost one of its last 40 league games, will “not stop.”
Klopp said: “I don’t know, what is next?
“The last 13 months were pretty special for us, that’s absolutely true and I’d like to involve the year before that because it was an incredible football time in my life, winning so many points was absolutely exceptional and I didn’t experience it before.
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“I couldn’t be more thankful to be part of that but the consistency the boys have shown is so exceptional I can’t describe. I – and we – will not stop, that’s it.
“We will not stop, we will stay focused and we see the opportunity. But ‘Will not stop’ does not mean we will win everything, we just want to improve because the other teams are good already and will improve.
“City are absolutely exceptional. I can’t promise we will win something but we will try everything to improve and I think that is possible because there are football parts to improve.
“The consistency is difficult to improve – if we could keep that it would be nice because even the games we lost were not bad.”
Liverpool fans will have to wait until Thursday to see their new champions in action, by a nice twist of fate in a visit to Manchester City, the team whose title they have taken.
The championship success has Klopp’s adoring pubic daring to dream again after three decades in the wilderness, at least as far as title success has been concerned.
And, as he basked in their adulation, the German was in no mood to stifle those dreams of fans, or players, alike.
Klopp said: “I feel very close to the city even when I cannot go in the city! Four-and-a-half years now, and I have not been, at least not a lot. From the first day it obviously clicked with the people, the welcome for me was great.
“I knew about the expectations but I felt immediately the people wanted to give us time.
“I love the way they see life. I love the way they want to be different, are different but in a very good way, how they are really common, the Scouse soul.
“We have a common idea and common dream. We have big dreams and we’ve always had them – that doesn’t mean we can fulfil them but we have to give them a proper try and that is what we have done since we have been here.
“Not more, and it will never be less, and the more people dream the more important and stronger it gets.”
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3fZC7Ec
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