Shankly was transformative in a way that very few other managers have ever been for a club. Klopp has too, but a lot of the transofrmation these last 10 years or so have come from FSG and the club brass. Klopp was an absolutely perfect manager for this club, no doubt about it, but Shanks essentially built the club from the ground up, he turned Liverpool from an afterthought to an absolute powerhouse, united the fans in a way no-one else has since, and put in place a structure that would see continued success over two decades.
Klopp has been spectacular, and as many have pointed out - in a world without Oligarchs and oil states buying up clubs and cheating their way to the top, he would have dominated English and European football for the last 5 years. Heâs a legend, but doesnât enter into the conversation with Shankly for me.
Yeah thatâs perfect. One of my abiding memories of Klopp will be him celebrating after the loss in Ukraine to Real. It reminded us there is pride to be had in trying your hardest, doing well but coming up just short in situations where the can be only 1 winner. That sense of perspective is vital for a football club and its fandom to remain healthy otherwise you end up in a Real Madrid like situation where fans are grumpy and antagonistic to a league winning manager and group of players because their results in the CL werenât good enough.
WE SAW THE EUROPEAN CUP
MADRID HAD ALL THE FUCKING LUCK
WE SWEAR WEâLL KEEP IT REALLY COOL
WEâLL BRING IT BACK TO LIVERPOOL
The point about FSG is very well made, but this part is taken too far. We were definitely in a bad place when he took over, but at that we were still among the most succesful clubs in the country - 5 titles, with only Villa, Sunderland (6) and Arsenal (7) having won more - and only ten years or so from our last one. We definitely need someone like Shanks to pick us up, but he did that on the back of that historical success and a rich benefactor willing to bankroll his efforts to get us back to our place in the pecking order.
Yeah thatâs fair. At the time, we werenât thought of as a major power in football. Past successes fade quickly, just look at Leeds by the late 90s.
Man United were top of the food chain, and the game was changing rapidly at the time. More money was coming in, European comps were in their infancy and soon to become a major factor in the game. It was definitely a âright place/right timeâ situation, but still, Shankly was so transformative itâs hard to imagine anyone approaching that in the modern era. Klopp probably the closest from a Liverpool perspective, Ferguson from an overall one, though Man United were always condiered a major power in the English game, and always had plenty of money and high-profile players, so maybe not?
I think it was Peter Robinson who was credited as saying that he operated constantly looking over his shoulder at Utd nervously waiting for them to figure out how to run a club of that size and wasted potential correctly. Itâs amazing that 50 years later we are still having the exact same conversation about them 
with 100% win record, it is clear that our greatest ever manager must surely be Sven-Goran Erikson
We played good football 
too.
Criminal that Brendan Rodgers isnât on the original list. Does no one care about wonderful human being character anymore?
While Liverpool were funded adequately by FSG , we still had to contend with teams being funded by illegal money , crooked decision making etc etc during Kloppâs era. I do believe that plays a part in the overall rating of Kloppâs time at Liverpool.
Had it not been for the cheating scums , Klopp would have added atleast 3 EPLs more. And not to forget the rotten luck we had against Madrid in UCL and getting screwed over at Europa by Sevilla and the refereeing.
Agree with everything except the ârotten luck against Madridâ. If youâre talking about 2018, it wasnât âluckâ- we were robbed, to a certain degree, as Ramos should have been sent off. However, Karius gifted Benzema that first goal- possible concussion notwithstanding.
It was our own incompetence in front of goal that cost us the 2022 final. Everyone says that Courtois had a blinder, but he wouldnât have been able to make those saves if the shots were tucked away in the corner and not straight at him.
While Karius couldnât do a lot about baleâs worldie , he could have saved his other goal. Ofcourse the concussion explains a lot. Both the two howlers wouldnât have happened if he wasnât concussed. Thatâs the bad luck I was referring to
Ramos should have been sent off though and we were robbed to a degree.
I was addressing the idea that Shanks picked us by himself. The âheâ in that sentence is referring to Shankly and the considerable financial support he received to rebuild the team, spending what was big money for a first division team while in the second division.
William Barclay and John McKenna.
Both appointed in 1892, the former overseeing the administrative side, the latter taking care of matters on the pitch.
Hereâs why Iâm giving this answer:
Everything we have done as a club has been built on this foundation. Without them, no Shanks, Paisley, and all the rest of it.