This is a good point. Not receiving the rewards that your work deserved, after pouring your heart and soul into it, has to be such a deflating experience.
If you give your all and lose to a better team, that’s sport. You can still draw satisfaction from that, regroup, and try again. But the Man City case is different, and all the usual norms of sport - try again, work harder, work smarter, train, prepare, scout better, coach better, etc. - wear incredibly thin against such systematic cheating.
They have a world class coach and a world class squad, so on a sporting level it is a huge task to overcome them. Then when you add in the financial padding, so that mistakes become irrelevant, and injury and loss of form become irrelevant too, it gets ridiculous.
When the authorities fail to take them to task, or are defeated on technicalities when they try to, as in Europe, I could forgive any man in Jurgen’s shoes a certain melancholy having given your prime peak professional years to fighting the good fight.
Still, I want to retain some romanticism, even if it is all but impossible given what the game has become. And the romantic football lover in me wants Jurgen to end on the highest note possible, riding on the top of a bus in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring and appreciative fans, preferably with the Premier League trophy on show, and a couple of others too.
I agree with that. But Klopp still got rewards though. Bar the EL, he has won every possible trophy for us. Ok, he could have won two or three league titles, and with a little bit more luck, two more CL trophies. But ultimately, his time will be remembered as an immense period of success, especially when considering how mediocre we were before he came in.
The sportswashing project down the M62 can’t take the above from him. His trophies are genuine and well-deserved, contrarily to Guardiola’s, whose successes will always be tainted with suspicion and doubt about how he got them, whatever he’ll say.
Any new manager will face a daunting task to live up to Klopp’s record. In my humble opinion, it’s impossible and I’m preparing myself to never see such a fantastic time again with this club.
Most genuine supporters will know this well how hard it will be, and Xabi or whomever will come in will enjoy a lot of goodwill and time to work on the club, whatever the early results.
But do I expect that we will reach similar heights once Kloppo is gone, and a similar bond between the new man and the supporters/the city? To be honest, my answer is a clear no. Klopp has even outpaced Shankly and Paisley in terms of consistency of getting results. Who after him can do the same? Maybe in fourty years again or something…
I believe if Xabi leads Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title over Bayern Munich, he will then come to Liverpool. The Man City obstacle to the Premier League title should be the next mountain for him to overcome to continue his growth. And we are set up for Xabi to prove himself with our team, youth and structure left by Jurgen.
Hope I am right.
I mostly agree, but at the same time I have a big “What if?” in mind if it is Xabi.
What if we are about to hire the next generation’s preeminent manager?
What if, besides the trophies and being a top leader and human being, one of Jurgen’s greatest gifts to LFC is bowing out at the perfect time?
What if Jurgen knows full well that Alonso is coming up the hill, so he is handing over a talented squad, with many years left on the clock, ready to be taken to new heights under Alonso?
Statistically, because Jurgen is so good, it is likely we will take a step back. I agree with that.
But sod that! I’m going back to the romance of the sport, because we have to keep that alive, and what if Jurgen has paved the way for the best coach of the next generation to boss it all?
Younger, full of energy and ideas, former world class player, connected to the city and club, etc.
As others have said, Alonso is the clear choice, the only remaining question is will be come?
I think he will be considering between continuing his project at Leverkusen vs. coming to us. This is in the understanding that Real, Barca, Bayern are not going to give him the time and space to build and develop like we would.
Ideal timing for both clubs and managers would probably be Klopp for one more season and then Alonso, but things change quickly in football and you can’t plan these things out. I think (and hope!) Xabi will opt to take the ambitious route and join us this summer.
I agree that coaching Liverpool can be frustrating given the ecosystem we are in. I understand that Klopp is truly unique for his dedication and determination to invest nearly a decade for paltry returns. But Xabi can move to another club with a better prospect of trophies after a couple of years if he finds himself in a dead-end. His stint at Liverpool will be his biggest selling point as he will be operating at a higher level in a more competitive situation.
Managing any club other than Bayern in the Bundesliga is a hopeless task. Xabi may yet not win the league, there’s a long way to go, but even pushing them this far is a major achievement.
He’s doing well at Leverkusen. In fact they have a realistic chance of a treble this season (Bundesliga, Pokal and Europa). If he is going to leave (and I think this is already decided one way or the other) there is no way that they can announce this before the end of the season. After all, they could very well be playing us in the Europa.
Absolutely agree nothing will be announced until the end of the season. I was just making the point that I think Alonso will either come to us or stay at Leverkusen at the end of the season, over the likes of Barca or Bayern.
The only obstacle is if Alonso thinks it might be too soon or too much of a risk to his career.
I’d just like someone who has a bit of experience in winning trophies. Don’t really mind who although if Alonso wins a trophy this season he would be a good option. I would rather not get a Brendan Rodgers type again.
My grandad used to call them theory coaches. Very few demonstrators these days, although there’s much more staff these days and the manager or head coach doesn’t have to do everything (I can imagine it’s much more important at the start, when you have to implement your principles).
Can imagine FSG at the time being seduced relatively easily by the likes of Martinez and Rodgers, after their experiences of Hodgson and Kenny. They can talk a good game. That said, I do think Martinez is very decent, but works more international now.
Luckily, the club has matured over that time, at least I hope that there’s enough football knowledge left in order to make the right decision and be attractive enough as it is. A new head coach coming in will surely be interested who is the sporting director or what do we have in mind there.
Incredibly important as someone like Xabi will not be able to put in a single thought over Liverpool summer dealings and stuff until May. And some things have to be prepared earlier. Hopefully we make an appointment soon, a right one.
It is the inevitable result of the increased availability of coaching courses and understanding of the importance of “getting your badges”. For all the good things its done to increase the standard of football, it’s produced a lot of charlatans who think good grades in a course are an equivalent of experience managing a group of 30 young men and getting them on the same page.
I still cringe at listening to interviews with Phil Neville expressing his sense of disrespect at not getting good jobs because “he has a binder” (the coaching course equivalent of your master’s thesis). These guys take the equivalent of one linkedIn learning course in psychology and leadership and then act that and their binder makes them ready to become the next Trapatoni. You can hire a good coach and bring them with you. You cannot hire someone to fill in for your lack of actual lack of gravitas and respect your personality affords you when addressing well paid young men with their own incentives.
I wasn’t saying he wasn’t. Just that he was at a stage of his career where being chewed up by the politics of the club to the point of meaningful underperformance wouldn’t negatively impact his chances of getting another good job.
