Jürgen Klopp couldn’t hold back the tears.
After a montage of the highlights of his reign in Liverpool shown on the M M internal big screen
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It was the last date of Klopp’s farewell excursion and his adored enthusiasts enjoyed it.
It all started with a video message from James Bond actor Daniel Craig: “In the few precious moments I spent with you, I said, with my hand in the middle, that I would stick with this guy anywhere. Thank you for what you’ve achieved at Liverpool. ” Football Club. It’s been quite an adventure. Your ability to overcome barriers and get to the heart of issues has encouraged me and millions of others around the world. Wherever you go and whatever you do, I wish you and your circle of trust. Relatives there is still no joy.
There’s music via singer Alfie Boe and Liverpool bands Lightning Seeds and Zutons, but the main event was a Q&A with Klopp hosted by comedian John Bishop and LFCTV presenter Peter McDowall.
Looking tanned after a week in Mallorca following his departure to Anfield, Klopp didn’t hold back when asked about Manchester City’s 115 Premier League fees for breaching monetary regulations and whether he felt he’d had enough from Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group. Chelsea owners have reached out to the club following their decision to sack Mauricio Pochettino, and also revealed that he had had “good talks” with his successor Arne Slot. Here’s the most productive of them.
Klopp: “I told him what we hadn’t communicated, he’s on the list!TNT (Sports), we don’t talk about the kick-off at 12:30, we don’t communicate about the referees. We don’t communicate about Man City or monetary things, I don’t know why?VAR, we’re not communicating about that.
It was Bishop who brought up the issue of Manchester City and the allegations they face, referring to Pep Guardiola’s side beating Klopp’s Liverpool in the title by a single point in the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. The comedian had asked his Instagram enthusiasts to ask the outgoing manager.
“It’s come up time and time again,” said Bishop. You leave this club after winning the Premier League once. There might be a court ruling that means you’ve won the Premier League 3 times. . . »
Klopp: “If you organise a bus parade, I’ll take part!
“It would possibly be the game we played against Manchester City, where the ball was well before John Stones cleared it (on the line in the 2-1 defeat at the Etihad in January 2019). City then won at Burnley with the ball. over the line at the same distance. Can you be more unlucky?It’s just a fact. It’s not like I wake up at night thinking, “Oh my God, 11 inches!”I am sorry! Rodri’s handball against Everton (when no penalty was awarded in February 2022), come on!But I’m still a satisfied man. If I came here this afternoon and said goodbye, would you be in a different mood if you won the league 3 times?The relationships we’ve created are independent of trophies. They are based on trust, friendship and the things we have experienced together.
Klopp: “I don’t understand it. This is simply the world we live in. Can anyone believe that Liverpool is the club with infinite money?Kylian Mbappé is coming here. Jude Bellingham is coming here. Erling Haaland is coming here. It’s not us People can judge me for the finals I lost, no problem. I don’t care. We won what we won and we did it the Liverpool way. That’s how I see it. Owners are smart people. We had complicated conversations, and the other clubs didn’t do what we did at the same time. We have built two new bleachers and a new educational field. We bought Melwood (for the women’s team); The dumbest concept I’ve ever heard is that we sold first.
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“Landlords do what landlords do. Homeowners need to make money. I’m sorry to tell you that. It’s not that they’re making money on a daily basis: they’re investing in anything and that’s how the overall total goes. We deserve to be satisfied to have those owners and not the guys who bought London clubs. Imagine if you hadn’t survived a year in Liverpool (with them). Send it back, a year later, eventually, them (Chelsea). ) play football and everyone thinks, ‘Oh, maybe they’ll come back,’ and they fire the coach anyway.
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“Elsewhere the grass is greener. We have owners who feel guilty about the club. Are they the most productive in the world?I can’t say, I don’t know the others, but they also worked very hard to ensure our success. “. I felt supported. If others claim that if they had supported me more, we would have won more, I have no idea. We did it in the most productive way possible and that’s fine with me.
“Most of the time, we choose the right transfers. I don’t forget a player who thought, ‘Wow, if I had known, I wouldn’t have signed him. ‘They’re young and they’re under pressure. Sometimes they are. Very expensive. If the aggregate loses confidence in a player, the coach has to be the one behind the player because I can’t just buy the ‘it’s useless’ like other clubs have done, by the way. Buy a player for £80 million, and then send him on loan!You have to be much more mentally coherent than the rest of the world.
Klopp: “I spoke to him. “
Bishop: “How did it go?”
Klopp: “! No, he’s a smart guy and it was a smart conversation. I’ve talked to almost every member of the new control team. He’s a very smart coach.
“Arne or whoever, he has my number and he can call me, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
“Now there will be changes. Different people guilty of other things are the right solution. It’s not that I wanted to do it that way (to have so many responsibilities). It evolved in that direction and a lot of things ended up on my desk.
“We’ve created a very smart foundation for the next coach, so the club can go from there. What you leave behind is really important. The team is smart. There will be some adjustments and the youngsters will come, so no one has to worry. “about the club. I need to look at Liverpool and think: ‘Wow, they won again, fantastic’.
Klopp: “A lot of other people don’t understand me when I say I’m low on energy. It’s not that I can’t get up in the morning. As a Liverpool manager you can’t do it at 90 per cent. You have to be as sensible as you can be in your game and I’m not anymore. I can’t be here as a passenger.
“Announcing it early (in January) was important. Imagine we were playing Wolves (on the last day), families were walking around and I was like, “By the way, they’re going to fuck me. “The club would be in trouble. When you’re at the level of a club like this, you have to make sensible decisions and that’s what I did. Was it absolutely fair and we couldn’t replace the moment? The season isn’t the best, it’s a foundation. We’ve already helped the new coach not to win everything so he can get things done.
Klopp: “Normally a manager is sacked at the end of his tenure, but if a manager leaves, like me, it’s different. What you did here tonight, no other club in the world would have done. If another club had done it nine days after the last guy left, it would have been empty. I heard I’m the third “Scouser” to sell this place. Paul McCartney, Jamie Webster and now me.
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“I don’t think the human race is cut out to get as much attention as I’ve gained in the last few weeks. I wasn’t in a position to get that much love. Actually, it’s hard. I’ve known myself for longer. , almost 57 years old, how can you believe that something like this has happened?If my more productive friend were in the same situation, I’d sit there and think, “He’s probably a smart guy. “But unfortunately, you’re talking about me and I can’t figure it out. It was great but complicated. Somehow they got me out of there.
“The decision to come to Liverpool, as well as marrying Ulla, was the most productive decision of my life. It was incredible. I came here when I was almost 50 years old. I had enough friends, but I made friends for life. If it were easy to leave, what would you say about the time we spent together?It’s hard to leave and that’s the way it deserves to be. Let’s not be dissatisfied that this is over, let’s be satisfied that it happened.
Klopp: “To the Premier League champions and not having that as a parade (due to the pandemic). It’s ridiculous. In some ways, it’s a bit like Liverpool going through him.
Klopp: “I would say maybe I can’t do it anymore, but what do I know?I once had a four-month break and then along came the lovely woman from Liverpool. I’ll be turning 57 soon and I don’t need to just sit back and have a look to be informed about golf. I’ll be back here to watch the games, there’s no doubt about that.
“I heard that Pep Guardiola might resign next year. Carlo Ancelotti won’t do it for another 10 years. The next world-class coaches are here, so give them a try.
All proceeds from the occasion were donated to the Liverpool Foundation, the club’s charity. Klopp will remain as ambassador. The evening ended with his friend Campino, the lead singer of the German rock band Die Toten Hosen, leading a definitive rendition of Klopp’s song on stage.
“Music, football and life. Thanks a lot. I have nothing more to say. If you’re going to sing a song, pass it on,” he added.
(Top photo: John Powell/Liverpool FC Getty Images)