When Bill Shankly made his shock announcement 50 years ago, he at least waited until after winning the FA Cup before blowing up the news cycle. Perhaps Jurgen Klopp considers Chelsea such easy meat in the League Cup final the timing of his announcement did not weigh on his conscience. There is never an ideal time, of course, to deliver or receive a decision of such clock-stopping magnitude.
Comparisons across eras rarely get to the truth of things, yet Klopp’s departure inevitably invites us to put into perspective his impact as Liverpool manager, which means rating him in the list of all-time greats with Shankly and Bob Paisley.
In terms of bullion won, it is a quick kill for Paisley. He reigned as long as Klopp, nine big years, pulling in three European Cups, one Uefa Cup, six league titles and three League Cups. The difference is, Paisley inherited Shankly’s creation, the beginnings of a winning machine that would dominate the landscape for two decades.
When Shankly stuck his shaven head into the Boot Room for the first time in December 1959 Liverpool were a fixture of the second tier. In his second full season he ended a five-year exile from the First Division. The similarities with Klopp are striking. He recognised the power of community and made the same connection with the supporters that Klopp would repeat 55 year later.
The atmosphere that makes Anfield the temple it is today was all Shankly’s doing. For 90 minutes on a Saturday he made Anfield the property of the people. It was as much their home as the terraced housing surrounding it.
The connection with the fans pumped an extra thousand volts through the likes of Roger Hunt, Ian St John and Ron Yeats (you wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night), creating the same kind of bond around which Klopp bases his own approach. The team and the fans are indivisible.
Those who dismiss this as hocus pocus have not witnessed a night under lights at Anfield. Just ask Barcelona what that felt like when Divock Origi hit the fourth goal to knock them out of the Champions League in 2019 having won the first leg 3-0. Liverpool would go on to win the trophy for the sixth time in Madrid against Spurs.
In any other era winning the European Cup would represent the apotheosis. Not in the era of Manchester City and their state-backed reshaping of the territory. No. Klopp’s greatest achievement was staring down Pep Guardiola’s creation to win the Premier League for the first time the following year.
He had already demonstrated his capacity for disruption by pushing City all the way in 2019, scoring 89 goals and lodging 97 points, a ridiculous return by any measure except City’s. Guardiola’s creation won out by a single point. They could not resist the following year, however, when Liverpool bridged a 30-year hiatus to their previous championship. The 99 points racked left City 18 adrift in second.
In the context of the period, nothing tops that. Shankly created the modern Liverpool, winning three league titles, the FA Cup twice and the Uefa Cup over a 15-year period.
His work defined the era, and his going split the atom just as Klopp has. But he was up against rivals governed by the same circumstances. The big dogs of the day, Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton and City, briefly, generated broadly similar revenues from broadly similar gates giving broadly similar life chances.
That is not the same today. Guardiola makes jokes about United, who have been halved by City’s rise. Chelsea have thrown a billion at the challenge and are labouring. Arsenal too have spent massively to catch up and are still trailing. Everton might yet end up being relegated for the first time so insane did their recent spending become in the attempt to ascend. But none have the same wind at their backs as City.
There might yet be a retrospective check applied when the Premier League eventually hears City’s defence of the 115 charges laid against them, all denied, for financial irregularities. Failing that, Klopp stands as the only institution to bring City down and to come back for more.
He did so by renewing the club’s social contract with the people of Liverpool, harnessing the power of tradition at a legacy club, and building a team in his image, an impassioned, skilled ensemble brave enough to take on the world. And he could yet sign off with the quad that proved beyond City. Good look to the next bloke in.
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