Jürgen Klopp stops – does the intoxication lead to a big hangover?

It was love at first sight between this “German Guy” from the Black Forest and the legendary Liverpool FC. Jürgen Klopp seemed almost shy on October 9, 2015 when he gave the first press conference at his new club – in English. A bit bumpy, but it was Klopp’s charisma that captured this club within minutes and five simple words: “I am the normal one”. An allusion to Jose Mourinho, who likes to introduce himself bluntly as “The special one”.

Know where you come from, know where you want to go. Those were always Klopp’s guidelines. It is his closeness to the people that inspires his followers. A “normal” guy, but with a clear plan. He asked for patience. And they had the followers.

Jürgen Klopp kissed the giant LFC awake – like he once did at BVB

The proud LFC had become a sleeping giant. The last championship title was 25 years ago. The fire was still there, but almost smothered under the great history of this club. Among the greats Bill Shankly, Steven Gerrard and Ian Rush. But now there was this normal guy from Germany. And he had a large gas can in his luggage.

Six months earlier he had announced his resignation from Borussia Dortmund. He trained the Westphalians for seven years. He built a fortress out of a pile of rubble and at times even overtook FC Bayern as number 1 in Germany. German champion, double winner, Champions League final. Klopp’s years in Dortmund were a blur.

Cheered on by this coach, sometimes empathetic, sometimes with bared teeth. A drug that addicted all fans and players. Addicted to this team’s games, addicted to what Klopp always called “full throttle events”. “He has incredible pace [dt. Tempo, Anm. d. Red]”If you don’t go along with it, you’ll be a bit lost,” said his captain at the time, Sebastian Kehl, in an interview.

Klopp doesn’t create an atmosphere, he is the atmosphere

Even today, the fans in black and yellow rave about the games and the atmosphere when Klopp was coach in Dortmund. And as it happens when you get drunk, the big hangover usually follows. And that is exactly what is to be feared at the LFC.

Klopp’s departure from BVB led the club into an identity crisis that it has still not fully mastered. “Perhaps it would have been better to replace the entire team rather than the coach,” said BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke later. As quickly as this coach can pump an entire club full of positive energy, he quickly runs out of it when he’s gone. Klopp doesn’t create an atmosphere. He is the atmosphere.

The parallels between Dortmund and Liverpool are great

He kissed Liverpool FC awake. Over a few years he built a team that won everything there was to win in England and Europe. In 2020 he brought the port city the first Premier League title in 30 years. The Champions League a year earlier. He placed identity figures like Jordan Henderson next to ball artists like Mo Salah. A well-oiled machine powered by the legendary stadium at Anfield Road.

The journey together ends on Sunday. Klopp’s last walk into the dressing room, his right hand on the coat of arms above the stairs in the players’ tunnel, as tradition would have it. After that it will be quiet in the city of the Beatles. And the silence will be deafening. Cold turkey, an empty gas can.

The parallels between Dortmund and Liverpool are clear. Workers’ associations, big stories, stuck in the present, woken up again by Jürgen Klopp. The LFC fans can only hope that the hangover won’t be as bad as in Dortmund.