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Klopp says goodbye to Kop

How Liverpool will deal with his legacy — and Shankly's


Liverpool are a football club defined by their managers  considerably more so than others. The club’s identity was formed by the leadership of Bill Shankly in the 1960s; the long shadow of Shankly defines the image of football management to Liverpool fans. He was a man of stirring rhetoric who empowered the Kop stand, and who believed in community and socialism. It was he who demanded Liverpool play in an all-red kit. It was he who installed the famous ‘This is Anfield’ sign in the players’ tunnel. For Liverpool, the manager is more than just a manager, and Shankly instilled this expectation.


There have been an array of successful Liverpool managers in the Shankly mould. Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, and Rafael Benitez all brought the required charisma to connect with the Kopites. But none has embodied the ideals of Shankly, and by extension the ideals of Liverpool football club, like Jurgen Klopp. Shankly was Liverpool in the 1960s. Jurgen Klopp is Liverpool in the modern era.


Or rather, will be, until the end of the season. The mid-season announcement that Klopp would be leaving Liverpool has sent shockwaves through English football and in particular the Reds fanbase.


Before Klopp, Liverpool felt like a club in desperate decline. Anfield looked shoddy, and so did the Melwood training pitch. New owners in Fenway Sports Group brought much-needed investment, but the management of Brendan Rogers had yielded only near misses. They had never won the Premier League  a truly shocking fact considering the stature and heritage of the club. Leicester City had won more Premier Leagues than Liverpool FC.

As soon as Jurgen Klopp was announced, the appointment just made sense. Observers could tell immediately that he fit the Shankly mould. Klopp is inspirational and charismatic. He is an influential tactician; a proponent of the entertaining Gegenpressing style. The connection between Klopp and the Dortmund fans mirrored the connection between the best Liverpool managers and the Kopites. Both Dortmund and Liverpool are traditionally left-wing, working-class clubs. They both sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. The list goes on.


Of course, Liverpool’s socialist heritage is difficult to acquiesce with the ultra-capitalist institution of the Premier League. Regardless, Klopp has delivered the results Liverpool craved. The club has won everything there is to win under Klopp’s stewardship. They are top of the Premier League. He is adored by the fans and the city of Liverpool at large. So why would Klopp leave?


He cites burn-out, and it’s hard to disbelieve him. There are very few jobs more stressful than football management. Perhaps Klopp knows his regard in Liverpool can only go down, being so stratospherically high. He can leave now, potentially on the high of more silverware, knowing that his legacy will forever be intact. His replacement, whoever it may be, will be presented with the most attractive impossible job in football.

For decades, Liverpool has wondered how to replace Shankly. With Klopp, they came the closest to filling Shankly’s long shadow — and now they must go through the process all over again. 



Image: Wikimedia Commons


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