TWO weeks ago, I wrote an article in the Independent on Sunday, detailing the problems at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers.
I realised the conclusion especially would make grim reading for Liverpool supporters. Having spoken to a lot of reliable sources before its publication, it became clear that Fenway Sports Group had been directed against recruiting Jürgen Klopp if Rodgers were to leave.
In the days that followed, further conversations proved the assertion to be absolutely true. FSG admitted three years ago, upon appointing Rodgers, that a group of shadowy sounding “pre-eminent advisors” had led them to the Northern Irishman. The same people were wary of Klopp — mainly because of his forceful and unpredictable personality.
In these conversations, I argued Rodgers had made mistakes but also that, fundamentally, Liverpool was not set-up to achieve success; especially not when middle managers below him were reporting back to the United States, as revealed in today’s Daily Mail story by Neil Ashton.
It seemed unfair and undermining to Rodgers, who nevertheless could have found a way to rise above the structure, a structure which as many were keen to point out on my Twitter feed this morning, is like any other business.
It made me wonder about other businesses. I could not think of any where 45,000 people inside a stadium have an opinion on the boss’s work as well as millions more watching at home. Ultimately, only one person’s opinion will get tested every weekend so the responsibility of being a football manager is unique — or comparable, at least, to the Prime Minister. And there can only be one of them.
Rodgers was guilty of playing the game too much — of being a company man. When something is wrong and change is required, as proven by Bill Shankly and to a much lesser extent in terms of clean execution, Rafael Benitez; a Liverpool manager needs to be unreasonable.
Perhaps Rodgers was just too inexperienced to deal with it all. It was his fourth role in four years as a football manager but at Reading he lasted only a few months. When Shankly arrived, Liverpool was his fifth job in a decade and for Benitez, it was his seventh in 11 years, although with Benitez by the end it was obvious the whiplash of bad experiences past and present had made him paranoid and dysfunctional.
Pragmatists don’t last long at Liverpool. Critics describe it as too emotional a place but it can be an unbelievable strength, too. League championships and European Cups have been won when managers have embraced the emotion of the city and surfed it. The momentum has created an awesome wave, too powerful for others to stop. Rodgers’ best season came when he rode that wave; scrapping his tedious ‘death by football’ theory, recognising that Liverpool were at their most dangerous when they counter-attacked because it was an approach the crowd identified with: the anger, the energy, the ruthlessness and then, the chaos that followed.
This thought led me to Klopp. If Liverpool’s owners were considering sacking Rodgers and if Klopp was available and interested in the position, it would be negligent if they did not at least speak to him. They would not be fit for purpose. What if the advice they received was mistaken? Maybe, it delivered to preserve the interests of the individual or individuals rather than the real interests of the club.
That Klopp is likely to be revealed as Liverpool’s next manager on Friday at the latest reflects incredibly well on FSG and shows that they are learning who to listen to. For too long, Fenway have attempted shortcuts to the top, often going around the houses when the gaps have been there to cross the road. They have spent huge sums on potential creating the impression Liverpool are in the big league when it comes to transfers only for the reality to be revealed in a wage bill that has decreased at the same time, thus creating an unrealistic expectation.
Klopp is FSG’s most ambitious move since taking ownership in 2010: the most ambitious managerial appointment since Benitez was taken from Valencia 11 years ago. It proves they are serious about winning.
You will have read elsewhere what Klopp is like. While Rodgers spent a night at the end of his first week in charge of Liverpool grinning for photographs in Garlands nightclub with Ian Ayre, I imagine Klopp to be the type of fella to go topless in the middle floor of the Krazy House while Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name blasts enthusiastically from giant amps nearby. Preprandials of FAXE would get sunken further down Wood Street in The Swan.
Klopp is from the other side of town. Things are about to change at Liverpool. Klopp will be like no other manager the club has ever had.
Since Benitez left, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and, of course, Rodgers have been Liverpool’s manager. While Dalglish was recruited from Anfield’s hospitality suites, Hodgson and Rodgers — though opposites in character and style — were managers that Sunderland may have had a realistic chance of appointing.
Upon Arsene Wenger’s retirement, Klopp would have interested Arsenal. Had Chelsea already sacked Jose Mourinho, Klopp may have gone there. Klopp — a two-time Bundesliga winner — raises Liverpool’s profile. Liverpool aspires to be in the Champions League.
They have a Champions League manager.
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
Klopp in the Krazy House. Brilliant.
I’m getting aroused. Mid – table manager replaced by one of the top 5 in the world. Fergie recently rated Kloppo as number 4 (no doubt because he hates Rafa).
It’s gonna be a good three years!
A song almost writes itself..
The chorus of lets go to the hop by Danny and the juniors becomes lets go Jurgen Klopp.
The kop would be bouncing to this
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EeObPCMR8
Link there for the kids who dont know the tune.
Cant wait for this fella to come in its going to be a laugh whatever happens.
For some reason I always get that song and this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufbom2jBMdE
mixed up. Maybe we could add an extra line:
“Goals & Trophies home & away,
Jurgen Klopp is here to stay”
Thinking about it now, that may be the curse of Jive Bunny……..
Cracking article, great read!
That Neil Ashton article from this morning is an absolute mess though. Just bad.
Spot On Si , have not been this excited about a new manager coming in since Rafa. He’s an elite level manager and like u say FSG are finally waking up.
Well done to FSG for showing the ambition to get Klopp.
I would still like to know who these ‘advisers’ are. The like of David Dein is Arsenal to the bone, and doesn’t want Liverpool to finish above Arsenal. So I hope the rumours he was one of them is false.
Hopefully alot more then 3 pal.
“only for the reality to be revealed in a wage bill that has decreased at the same time” – wage bill has increased year on year though as per the accounts and is now pegged to levels as required by FFP re: our income levels.
Can’t wait for his first bust up with Mourinho!
Thats not Klopps MO to get into that “mindgames” bullshit – from what I have seen, any bullshit from Mourinho will be met with a haughty laugh and wave of indifference.
#pyro #teambus #wegoagain
Hold on to your pop and crisps boys and girls, it’s going to one hell of a bumpy ride but one I am really looking forward to……
I will follow this man to the jaws of hell or league 1
Exciting. Btw, these quotes are wonderful. They are just quotes:
http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2015/10/07/the-german-mourinho-jurgen-klopps-10-best-quotes/
If the man likes (and plays) like heavy metal, then the man is good enough for me.
:)
Just read those quotes. Fits us “like an arse on a bucket”. This guy is good.
Sounds funnier when translated into English, but it’s actually a pretty common idiomatic expression in German. Saying something “passt wie arsch auf eimer” is basically the same as saying that it “fits like a glove.”
I don’t want to sound churlish, but this is all a case of more by accident than judgment, imho. There may well have been characters within or connected to LFC eager to point FSG away from Klopp, but even so it was virtually impossible for them to ignore him once the decision to eject Rodgers had been made. If we think kudos is due to FSG for making the right decision eventually (regardless of how we got there), then let’s give it to them, but let’s not pretend this heralds a new era of thinking bigger and acting bolder just yet.
Rodgers had a net transfer kitty of 25mill per year for three years and less money to spend on wages than his immediate rivals. Klopp may be able to do a better job of working with one hand tied behind his back than Rodgers did, but whether that is enough to make a material difference to how successful we are is another matter entirely.
I’m prepared to be convinced by FSG, but pitched against the economic might of City, Utd and Chelsea, we still are still searching for a miracle regardless of who is in the managerial hot seat. All we’ve done is upgraded on the miracle worker.
Brownie, If you can’t be enthused by the prospect of Klopp signing and forget about FSG for just one minute then you should really think about giving football up. You’re not getting the thrills you should be. I enjoy reading your comments usually but you need to remember that miracles happen. I’d take an Arabian sheik over FSG but that’s not gonna happen any time soon. YNWA
Every situation can benefit from the input of a monitor evaluator.
I am enthusiastic about Klopp, but I’m also – I hope – realistic about what I think he can achieve given the current constraints. The focus of the article is FSG and what Simon and others perceive to be a more positive and ‘thinking big’ approach from our owners. I’m just saying I don’t believe they’ve earned that characterisation. They may in time, but not yet.
I can see that now Brownie and to be fair you’re almost certainly right about him being an upgraded miracle worker. However, let’s ride the crest of this wave before it swallows us up. Need to appreciate the happy moments in their full splendour when they happen at LFC. We’re getting a top top manager – there’s no doubt!
That’s true enough, no doubt. I think I need a drink.
Brownie. I think FSG may be changing a bit. I very much doubt they’ll go all Abramovic or Sheikh Mansour on us as I’d guess the one principal they’ll stay true to, till the end, is living within our means. I’ve tried to work out how much LFC will have in the bank come the summer and I think it could be as much as £75m to spend, net. It’s kind of worked out (loosely) on the return to profit in 2014 based on the decline in previous years losses plus new tv money plus the obligatory £30m plus the year on year growth.
Among other things though, my guess is they’re changing. They’ve done ok off the pitch in commercial terms and the ground capacity is finally gonna increase. I’m gonna leave the identity of the club out of this and say where they haven’t done well is the football side. Regardless of 13/14, our transfers have been poor and we haven’t really progressed. Their policy isn’t working. Some would say it never could. I believed it could work but only after 4 or 5 years when the ‘value’ actually became ‘valuable’ but then I believe any old shit because I still feel we have to try something different. Anyway, I’ve set the scene enough to make my point now.
Look at the transfers. After the initial Torres money frenzy of their first window we bought 7, 8, 9 £m very young players for 2 years. (all failed except PC and DS). Sturridge seemed a slightly different buy. He was cheap, it was clear he scored goals when he played but was seen as a risk. I think that would appeal to FSG in the same way in their first few years the only experience they brought in were loans (Sahin, Toure, Moses and Cissokho).
That’s our image of their policy i.e value. I’d question whether it still applies. Last season saw a shift. We actually paid for some experience in Lambert. Lallana was no Aspas, ILori or Alberto. He was top price and importantly Prem proven, as was Lovren. Markovic was £20m and seemed to be a half way house between the 2 policies of young foreign, therefore cheap, potential v Prem proven which you pay more for. Then there’s Balotelli who comes into the Sturridge category. Point being, they adapted / half scrapped their policy that was the corner stone of their philosophy.
This year has moved further away. Benteke, Clyne and Milner. Obviously Milner was free but his wages mark a shift. DS gets a wage but only now he’s proven for us, like Suarez. Milner has come straight in on £150k (or close to) I know he was free but that soon mounts up at over a million every 2 months. None of the former are cheap nor unproven and all prem proven. Firmino, may be foreign and young but he wasn’t cheap and he’s a Brazilian international. Ings is the dream. £7m ish, young, good and prem proven. Obviously, there’s Can, Gomez and Origi but that’s just sensible. I think it’s clear the policy has completely changed. Lovren is not ‘value’, haha.
To conclude, I think they want to succeed and they learn from their mistakes. Ok, learning doesn’t always mean succeeding but it’s clear they’re looking to improve. Possibly being let down a bit by the committee. Again, I believed Rodgers might have worked. Hands on and energetic. Football management seemed stale to me with your Redknapps, Allardyces and Hodgsons et al. It didn’t work (though reasons are debatable). What’s to say they don’t recognise that and are changing their vision of what our manager should be too. They’ve tried for him 3 times now, supposedly. How do we know this whole keeping Rodgers in the summer thing wasn’t because Klopp said, I need a few months off. Seems unlikely given Rodgers backing but Firmino could well suit Klopp’s style. I doubt Gary Mac and So’D would have had long contracts. Their appointments struck me as odd at the time and I said on here they seemed like short term appointments. Maybe this was a very viable option all along. Maybe they’ve been pretty shrewd. We don’t know. All we do know is we’ve got Klopp, a world class manager. So, I can’t see FSG going mad on transfers and wages but I do see them as searching for success rather than thinking after the Everton game – we might need a new manager and guess what, that German fella keeps telling the tabloids he likes the English prem. What a stroke of luck.
I hear you, and don’t get me wrong: I don’t for a second think FSG are not interested in seeing LFC be successful. I genuinely believe they see the club as more than just another commercial enterprise to add to their portfolio, but I do still take a different line to the op ed in that Klopp’s arrival is more a case of stars aligning in our favour than a signal FSG have decided to go big.
Klopp is about as good a manager as we could hope to attract given where we are as a club right now, but without a change in the level of investment made by FSG the brief is identical to that given to the previous manager:
“Mr. Klopp, if you could just see your way to performing a football miracle at some point in the next 4 years, that would be most appreciated.”
If they hand him 100mill net to spend in the summer, I’ll be more than happy to eat every one of these words.
Haha. It’s funny coz it’s true: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/liverpool-fans-demand-to-know-why-potential-new-manager-hasnt-turned-things-around-20151007102688
The club wouldn’t have £100m and can’t spend that much anyway. My £75m was probably over optimistic. I know how FSG think to an extent from intuition. They won’t increase the debt. They’ll say, if £450m has bought us this load of shit then it doesn’t make sense to put the future of the club at risk (and mess our personal plans up) for the sake of an extra £70m or so. Besides, if FFP was the reason they bought the club, above all, then bearing in mind it still applies they’d look pretty stupid if they got sanctioned.
Regarding Klopp. Surely, he fits the FSG model perfectly. He won’t be complaining that we’ve only got £25m to spend. He’ll relish it. He’s been their number 1 target for a while and quite rightly. It makes sense. They obviously know that. We have to give them some credit.
Haha, unfortunately, it’s good that mate. Thought I was reading the comments section on here for a minute. We have to change. 12th man? We’re part of the disease, not the cure.
must be fucking great being you
also the net spend is completely misleading as i am sure you are well aware. The net spend was £25M give or take BUT that is not what Rodgers had to spend though. He spent £300M give or take. The fact that players where sold to finance it is another argument.
He was unable to persuade Suarez and Sterling to stay.( I personally think Klopp will be a bigger draw card but we will see.)
He had the money and he pissed it away.
I wish him well but i am glad he has gone.
If we’re discussing FSG and their commitment to LFC’s success, it’s the gross spend that’s completely misleading and net contribution to transfers that counts. They had 125mill come into the club courtesy of just two players who developed under Rodgers. Why should we ignore that when assessing what level of investment FSG made? The reality is that we’re in catch-up mode as regards the EPL’s near perennial top 4. Given what they spend, what makes anyone seriously believe a 25mill a year investment in players (on lower wages) will help us close that gap?
Maybe that’s all FSG can afford with stadium development, etc.? Fair dos if so, but I’m just making the point that this doesn’t tally with talk about FSG starting to think like the owners of one of the world’s biggest football clubs.
It’s fucking ace being me, by the way.
Great article. In many ways, FSG came to Liverpool and like someone moving to a new city to be accepted they joined the country club. Ian Ayre is a club guy. He’s chummy. He does deal. Does he know football? F’off. Does he know football. His CV makes Brendan Rodgers’ look like Wenger’s.
Part of what I think hamstrung Rodgers was this aversion of continental players. He abided Lovren because he was proven EPL material. We forgot to by Schneiderlin with him. Of course, Rodgers only plays DM’s out of panic. Foreign is bad. Stranger. Whatever. Not welcome at the club. Hodgson. Solid bloke, good family, won’t rock the boat.
I can imagine Ayre’s panic at a lunatic German coming in with all sorts of ideas and torn jeans and track suits. At the club? Das ist nicht gut.
Too easy an argument to create. A shadowy cabal warning against Klopp? Perhaps. What about a committee of analysers possibly believing that Rodgers was the hot young kid on the block, with contemporary ideas, able to build a lasting legacy because of his age.
Everything happens for a reason I believe. So what, Klopp was rejected 3 years ago? Perhaps it was, at that moment in time, not meant to be. Could this be the right time for Jurgan to succeed?
We always hear that it’s not the destination but the journey, and the journey BR led us on was, no need to disagree, extremely thrilling at times.
Rafa was rejected three years ago, too. Somebody poisoned the well.
Praying that FSG don’t mess this up like the last nomark from Swansea that they forced on us.
I bet Klopp won’t have a 180 page dossier on how to never have won anything.
Or talk about changing the most succesful club in England’s philosophy.
Or he won’t talk about how bad the playing staff is and stress it may take 5 years to get in the CL.
Or struggle to get the world’s top players to move to Liverpool.
I bet he doesn’t take 5 games to get a win.
All in all Klopp would be an oustanding appointment. A world class manager for a world class club.
Please FSG don’t let Ian Ayre mess this up.
You need more cuddles Mick.
It all seems great, Mick. But there could be a player revolt and a down-toolsing like Souness suffered. Double fitness sessions won’t go down well with a number of them.
I can’t wait for the clear out. FSG are going to wet themselves seeing so much shite come off the wage bill.
I doubt FSG will be too pleased with resale values of most of them, that’s for sure.
The players must surely feel like lottery winners at the possibility of playing for a charismatic succesful manager like Klopp, especially after signing for a wet lettuce like Rodgers. Klopp will at least get players back to their form at their previous clubs, but surely he will vastly improve them. With 1 or 2 top quality additions in January things
could be outstanding,
Klopp will be a legend for us.
Here’s hoping there’s no snags.
I doubt FSG will be too pleased with resale values of most of them, that’s for sure Paul.
But the players must surely feel like lottery winners at the possibility of playing for a charismatic succesful manager like Klopp, especially after signing for a wet lettuce like Rodgers. Klopp will at least get players back to their form at their previous clubs, but surely he will vastly improve them. With 1 or 2 top quality additions in January things
could be outstanding,
Klopp will be a legend for us.
Here’s hoping there’s no snags.
Anyone who thinks we have a mass clear out coming next summer is missing the point of why Klopp was the best candidate for FSG.
First, he isnt interested in transfers per se which leaves the committee to do its thing. Second, his reputation is to develop players. Third, he has operated within club structures with tight financial constraints.
Klopp will be fully aware of what we have and what he can see in those players. He wouldnt take the job if we needed a 10 out, 10in summer in 2016 or if he didnt think he could work with them,
I’d pay an extra 5 pounds a month to have Mick’s comments narrated lads.
£5? Is that all ya door hinge
Jurgen Klopp ole
Jurgen Klopp ole
He’s come to the Kop
To take us back to the top
Jurgen Klopp ole
(You’re welcome ).
Surely “I wanna be like Jurgen klopp” to the tune of David Watts by the jam would make a great tune.
It’s a Kinks song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGrniCrIHGg
It is. But The Jam did it as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTBl-Xq2auY
“I *wish* I could be…”, surely?
Doesnt have to be word for word Brownie…
Klopp’s appointment is everything the players at this club need, and most of what the fans and club itself need, at the moment. The only elephant in the room is the removal of Edwards, Klopp must wrestle the ultimate power away from this man, he is a cancer on our club.
Spot on Si, there’s a world of difference between appointing a manager of the calibre and reputation of Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers. One screams ambition tempered with economy, the other murmurs, it whispers, it says this is where we are at boys, don’t get your hopes up too much.
There may have been very good reasons for appointing Brendan Rodgers, Klopp wasn’t available, the books needed balancing and FSG may well have thought that the fans needed to readdress their expectations whilst the books were balanced. It could well be that a title push wasn’t part of the plan in the short term, they were trying to achieve success on the cheap but not that much success, not enough to raise the fans expectations sky high again.
Now that the books are balanced and Brendan’s serve his purpose maybe, just maybe, FSG have felt able to reassess. Unlikely, I know, but think about it: Kenny’s replacement was either Brendan or Bobby Martinez, Brendan’s replacement is Jurgen Klopp: a world of difference.
My view of Brendan Rodgers was, and is, that he was a good coach but a poor manager. You can teach people how to play football, but you can’t make them footballers. Technical skills are fine, but they won’t win anything for you: you can teach people how goals are scored, but you can’t teach them how to score goals. Brendan has no tactical skills and a bewildering idea that a good footballer can play anywhere on the pitch. Some can…
It’s too soon to declare that they’re ‘learning’ – they hired a man who was notorious for spending colossal sums on mid table players no one else wanted who were almost never able to adapt to not being the big fish anymore (Bentley, Bent, etc).
When that individual did exactly the same thing here (Carroll, Downing, etc) they acted surprised and fired him.
Then, to prevent millions of pounds being subject to the lunatic whims of a delusional individual and the wanker fans who cheer that kind of mental behaviour on ‘coz eighty years ago we signed a player from the third division who was good’, they stole a notion from US sports and created a committee – a group of people that would act as a circuit breaker against egotistical imbeciles with delusions of scouting grandeur.
Then they hired a manager, who, if certain people are to be believed got around that mechanism by forging some kind of quid pro quo system with said committee and wasted even more on mid table players no one else wanted, who can’t adapt.
I’ll believe they’ve learnt when we start signing players top sides want, when we start competing on wages at the top end.
Fascinating article from Simon. One thing though. I read Neil Ashton’s article in the Mail earlier and it’s a snide, duplicitous piece of journalism from a writer I usually admire. Not so long ago, I recall an article from him praising Southampton’s analytical/performance dept to the high heavens – and from memory, there are an awful lot more staff there than at Melwood. (I imagine they work in air conditioned offices as well!) It gives the distinct impression that the knives are out for Liverpool in tabloid land so now’s the time for all Reds to get right behind Jürgen Klopp’s new revolution and fasten our seatbelts. Something tells me it’s going to be quite a ride.
“I recall an article from him praising Southampton’s analytical/performance dept to the high heavens”
Southampton’s analysis department is way beyond ours, they utilitse some fairly interesting propreitary solutions whereas Liverpool are basically confined to off the shelf packages and data – the same information and simplistic analysis that any club with a few quid has access to.
I’ve head dealings with Mr Edwards and tbh I’m surprised he’s still here, he’s massively behind the curve of the industry and I’d be surprised if Klopp doesn’t ask the owners to show him the door.
so reading between the lines he didn’t buy the shit you were selling and now you post cryptic hints on fan sites. pathetic. if you have evidence that he is massively incompetent then lets see it. Otherwise it stinks of bitterness and sour grapes.
Oh look, it’s a Liverpool fan jumping to bizarre conclusions, being wildly hysterical and hyperbolic – whatever will they come up with next.
For the record, however;
http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=304635.0
What skills was Mr Edwards department seeking?
Was it programming, artificial intelligence/computer vision or formal mathematics training? The kind of thing Southampton would have used to develop their training ground monitoring system that Ashton was so effusive about, the same techniques Guardiola apparently uses for real time analysis?
Nope, it’s prozone, amisco, sportcode and excel – off the shelf tools for a club that is, I’m afraid, devoid of innovation.
I wouldn’t let them clean my mouse, let alone ‘sell’ them anything.
Here we go lads to the tune of “Another brick in the wall”
We don’t need no Jose M
We don’t need no sheik control
No mumbling Croydon’er sucking up
Rednose leaves us kopite’s alone
Barrel rednose leaves us kopites alone
All we need is Klopo – Klopo on the wall
All we need is Klopo – Klopo on the wall
We don’t need no Jose M
We don’t need no sheik control
No mumbling Croydon’er sucking up
Rednose leaves us kopite’s alone
Barrel rednose leaves us kopites alone
All we need is Klopo – Klopo on the wall
All we need is Klopo – Klopo on the wall
Sic bruv
Their hand was forced. If they had shown up with Rodgers mk II in the shape of Monk or Howe,there would have been lynchings.Had to go big
How long before the Klopp loving media turns to shit because he (probably) gets us on the upward path? Will he get two years, or will we be seeing constant xenophobic drivel along the lines Rafa and Suarez suffered because they were a threat to the status quo?
[f5][f5][f5]
My only worry with Klopp is that his style (gegenpressing) can look great when it’s great (Real Madrid managed by a certain Jose Mourinho), but it can look shit too. Like Wimbledon back in the 80s. Let’s hope for more of the former than the latter.
This is an appointment we can all get behind.
It’s exciting to be a red again! Can’t fucking wait for Tottenham. Away end. Going mental!!!
Last 5 against Spurs: 5-0-0 (aggregate score 18-4)
How can you top the AVB thousand yard stare? The water spraying off the crossbar from Flanno’s masterpiece?
Personally, I’d rather watch Klopp geggenpress Mourinho into the ground. I really thought Rodgers was going to take it to the eye-gouging c#nt in the semi-finals, but it wasn’t to be. Did get a great vine of Hendo staring down Costa, though.
(Speaking of Henderson, how about that backheel nutmeg in the 5-0? Hope we see more of that Henderson under Klopp).
Paul tomkins has pulled that Neil Ashton article to pieces, ignore that article it’s nonsense.
I thought I was going to be the last fan standing who was behind Rodgers, I made a lot of excuses for him. All the time I argued why replace the man if we can’t guarantee better.
I’m certain that’s happened.
Can’t wait for it all to start.
Has no one suggested changing the lyrics to Blitzkrieg Bop? He looks like the kind of guy who likes the Ramones…
I’m as gaga for Kloppo as the next gent, but what worries me most is value.
Value is what saw the Willian deal linger just long enough to attract attention. What saw 2nd choice Bony replaced by Balotelli.
Not supporter fantasy land here, but realistically, are we going to see Klopp watch on as Ian Ayre tries to nickel and dime for players like Salah and Konplyanka?
And, while we’re at it, are we going to see the end of this age limit on targets. Milner was an exception, but are we going to see the end of the rule?
We moan about Rodgers’ defensive set-up, but we have to acknowledge that he wanted to organize Ashley Williams as the defensive leader with Vorm and Ryan Bertrand. Will Klopp suffer the same constraints?
You’re not seriously suggesting that Rodgers total ignorance of defending was because he didn’t get Ashley Williams & Co?
A tad too much negativity on here. Nothing is guaranteed, that’s true. But FFS it looks like we are getting one of the most sought after managers in Europe! Let’s be positive.
FSG have done the right thing and disproved all those who said they just want a lapdog as a manager. Klopp is no lapdog. He tells it like it is. The man is one emotional roller coaster who fits in perfectly with the crowd and Liverpool as an emotional no nonsense city. That’s 2 sides of Shankly’s ‘Trinity’ in place – bring the team on board and Klopp has the potential to create something really special. At the very least it will be one hell of a ride while it lasts.