LIVERPOOL — Jurgen Klopp knew the Premier League title, and his dream of a glorious farewell as Liverpool manager, was gone. A 2-0 Merseyside derby defeat against Everton at Goodison Park last month left the team still with a mathematical chance of winning the league, but as much as he is a romantic, Klopp is also a realist.
Twenty-four hours later, defending champions Manchester City had the opportunity to take advantage of Liverpool’s slip by winning at Brighton. City and manager Pep Guardiola have been a constant thorn in Klopp’s side throughout his eight and a half year reign at Anfield, and the 56-year-old had no appetite to stay at home and watch his rivals on TV — they would win 4-0 and leapfrog Liverpool in the table — so he went to the pub.
At 6-foot-3, Klopp is an imposing figure, easily recognisable with or without the baseball cap he often wears. On this day, however, he was in no mood for selfies or autograph hunters as he walked to The Freshfield, the pub less than a five-minute stroll from his home in Formby.
The seaside town 10 miles up the coast from Liverpool makes for a tranquil spot. Klopp’s road is lined by towering Scots pine and sycamore trees all the way up to the squirrel sanctuary that butts against the sand dunes. It’s a nice escape from the intensity of the title race, that physically and psychologically draining nine-month, 38-game battle to win the Premier League. But what happened at The Freshfield epitomised the unique bond that Klopp has forged with his club’s supporters and the city of Liverpool.
“My son was here and the last thing we wanted to do is to watch City playing,” Klopp said. “So we went out and in that time we were there, I think 20 people just came to say ‘Thank you’ and I was really not in the mood. I wanted to apologize for the night before because I know what it means to the people. And the response is, ‘No, forget that. No, no, no. Thank you for what you have done.’
“It’s crazy how the people in Liverpool people are. It’s exactly what I learned here.”
Klopp will take charge of Liverpool for the final time when Wolves visit Anfield on Sunday, and tickets are already being sold online for more than £1,400 ($1,775). The most expensive ticket, purchased through official channels for a Premier League game at Anfield, is usually £61 ($77).
Klopp has revived Liverpool since arriving at the club in October 2015. He has won every major trophy, with the exception of the Europa League, at least once and the team’s title win in 2019-20 ended a 30-year wait to become champions of England again. But his impact has gone beyond the confines of Anfield.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones said in January, days after the manager announced his decision to step down at the end of the season, that Klopp was the “dad of the whole city,” while Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, told ESPN that the former Borussia Dortmund coach is “as revered in the religion of Liverpool football club as the Pope is to Catholicism.” One Liverpool source said that Klopp “made Liverpool cool again,” drawing more positive attention to the city than any of its high-profile figures since the Beatles in the 1960s.
To outsiders, Klopp can be a divisive figure, one who has been punished on a number of occasions for berating match officials during games. He can also be tetchy on camera or if he believes that his right to privacy away from the game has been denied by fans or paparazzi. But he is also perhaps unique in the Premier League era as a manager who has forged a sense of unity and affection like no other between himself, his players and the club’s supporters. Sir Alex Ferguson did not manage that at Manchester United and Guardiola hasn’t achieved it at Manchester City, but at Liverpool, you would waste a lot of time trying to find anyone with a negative word to say about Klopp.
“He lit a fire under the place when he arrived,” Dan Morgan, the author of “Jurgen Said To Me: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool and the Remaking of a City,” told ESPN. “The best way to describe his time as manager is that it has felt like being at a kitchen party after everywhere else has closed.”
