He arrived as a “normal guy” from the Black Forest, will leave as one of the most extraordinary managers in Liverpool’s history, and now just wants to have a little chance to live a normal life again, while he still has the chance.
Fair play to Jurgen Klopp for having the assuredness and inner strength to put his hands up and say that the game has taken its toll on him, and that he needs a break.
Football is such a brutal industry that does not look too kindly on anyone — particularly players, but also coaches and other staff — admitting they are finding it tough.
Maybe — hopefully — having one of the Premier League’s greatest managers bow out with such honesty and declaring he is “running out of energy”, will, among the many trophies and the way he transformed Liverpool into one of the world’s leading clubs once again, be one of Klopp’s lasting legacies.
Klopp said that right now, after announcing he will step down at the end of the season, he is not thinking about managing another club at all – that he certainly won’t return to another in England, seemingly ruling out a dramatic unveiling as Pep Guardiola’s replacement when the Spaniard steps down at Manchester City…
He could, of course, walk away from football altogether, do a spot of punditry, buy a comfy pair of slippers, find a warm fire, start an allotment, join a Bridge club.
In his first ever press conference at Liverpool he said he was just a “normal guy” from the Black Forest and announced his departure from the club nine years later saying, “I don’t want to wait until I’m too old for having a normal life.”
Such has been the all-consuming nature of his near quarter-of-a-century in management, Klopp does not even know what normal things there is to do. “I will find things,” was all he could think of when asked in his press conference on Friday.
“Whatever will happen in the future I don’t know now,” Klopp said. “No club or country for the next year. No other English club ever.”
And, regardless of whether they lift all four of the trophies they remain in contention for or win nothing at all, the German ruled out a U-turn similar to the one Sir Alex Ferguson made before embarking on another 11 years at Manchester United.
Still, when the season is over and after Klopp has had plenty of R&R, you suspect that he will not be able to resist a return to the dugout. Most of those who have been bitten by football cannot shake the bug.
Only recently I was speaking to a young manager starting out in his career who said that, after retiring from playing, he spent time pondering his options but in the end realised he had to keep going in the game.
If Klopp decides to return, the football world is his oyster.
Many didn’t believe he could improve on his achievements at Borussia Dortmund and then he rocked up at Liverpool in 2015 with his heavy metal football, roused a sleeping beast of English football and tamed it with some fabulous players, some stunning performances and an array of silverware.
The most likely route back, given what Klopp has said, is the Germany national team. The DFB — the German Football Association — made Klopp its priority target last year but, unable to convince him to leave Liverpool, appointed Julian Naglesmann instead.
However, the country’s poor form has barely been alleviated and Naglesmann only signed a short-term contract until the end of this summer’s European Championship.
Klopp remains close to the DFB, returning several times a year to give lectures on the Association’s Fussball-Lehrer training course — the country’s mandatory, elusive coaching qualification and a course that Klopp came through as a young aspiring coach.
It is rare for a manager to succeed at club and international level. Indeed, many coaches believe the two fields have departed so drastically that they require completely different skillsets. It would represent an intriguing challenge for Klopp, away from the unrelenting day-to-day demands of club football that have depleted his resources.
Klopp leading his country into the 2026 World Cup is not the most unlikely of scenarios. Expect DFB officials to be in touch about the prospect.
If Klopp does decide that, after a sabbatical, he has enough left in him to plunge back into club football then he will be the one deciding where he goes.
Real Madrid will be one option. Carlo Ancelotti, three years into his second stint, is 64 years old and won’t be able to continue indefinitely.
It seems unlikely that Klopp would tempted by riches on offer at Paris Saint-Germain, but another alternative would be staying closer to home and taking on Bayern Munich.
Much remains a mystery, even in Klopp’s head, about what he will do next, but one thing for certain is that another extraordinary chapter awaits if the guy from the Black Forest decides he’s done being normal.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/PbeGUpu
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