Liverpool supporters have a maximum of five more home games with Jurgen Klopp in charge - just three more in the Premier League.
The charismatic and much-loved German will depart the dugout at Merseyside for the final time on May 19 in what promises to be a very emotional day at Anfield - whether there’s a league title to be won or not. Supporters are in no doubt of the impact Klopp has had on the football club during his eight and half years in charge, and likewise, Klopp is in no doubt of his love for the club.
“I love absolutely everything about this club,” he said upon announcing his decision to resign in January. “I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything.”
“This is the best club in the world, I don’t care what other people think,” he gushed when on an open-top bus parade that saw an estimated 750,000 people line the streets of Liverpool - the day after losing the Champions League final.
That parade was in recognition of the two domestic trophies won in 2022, but also acted as a celebration of the Premier League title two years earlier, when no such party was allowed.
Klopp and Liverpool supporters will be hoping for another parade next month, for which multiple potential dates are currently being assessed by the local authorities depending on Liverpool’s end of season and Europa League participation.
After that, attention will turn to the new manager and Klopp’s replacement, with the favourite for the role being Sporting’s Ruben Amorim. Indeed, several reliable Portuguese journalists have reported that talks between the Reds and Amorim’s agent will take place this week to secure an agreement for the end of the season.
Amorim, though, or any other manager isn’t on the minds of most Liverpool supporters. They are much more focused on the here and now, Jurgen’s farewell, and savouring every moment of the German in charge of their club.
Liverpool’s club statistician, Ged Rea, sums it up, telling FourFourTwo: “I couldn’t care less, we have seven ‘cup finals’ to win [in the Premier League], a Europa League to win.”
Up until a fortnight ago, Xabi Alonso was the favourite for the role of Klopp's successor, and while that would have been the romantic choice and perhaps kept the fanbase in a positive mood, Rea isn’t so sure it’s a problem.
“Alonso might not be ready for Liverpool,” he muses pragmatically. “In five, six, eight years, when he’s in his late forties, he might be perfect for the role.”
What then, of Amorim? "I don’t know enough about him,” admits Rea. “But then I didn’t know enough about Rafa Benitez - and look how good he was!”
Benitez, arrived at Anfield in 2004 having won the La Liga title and UEFA Cup in the weeks before with Valencia, but he was still a relatively unknown name to the layman Liverpool fan. Amorim is perhaps similar, with his Sporting side currently top of the league and in the Portuguese Cup final.
“There are people in situ at the football club who I trust, with the expertise and knowledge to make what they feel is the best appointment for the football club,” says Rea, who is nonplussed about who will replace Klopp.
Jurgen Klopp’s replacement at Liverpool could win more
Interestingly, Rea admits that Klopp’s successor could lead the club to a more successful period in terms of trophies:
“We might end up winning more trophies with a new manager because we might get a luckier manager; Klopp generally in his managerial career has been unlucky, but everything could be different [for the new manager].
“But we will look at these times as the best ever, even though we didn’t win as much [as we should].”
What’s clear, though, is that it takes a special character to manage Liverpool Football Club, or at least to be successful at doing so.
“You’ve got to be more than a football manager to be manager of Liverpool Football Club,” says Rea.
“You’ve got to be a socialist, you’ve got to understand the city, you’ve got to be able to say the right things, to be an ambassador for the whole region - and I just wonder if, at 39 years of age, has Amorim got that now to be that man?”
We could well be about to find out, if reports from Portugal are correct. For now, though, most Liverpool supporters aren’t looking at that.
“I’m not concerning myself with any of that,” says Rea. “I’m too busy dealing with the emotion of Klopp going at the end of the season to even deal with thinking about a new manager.
“I’m only bothered about Jurgen now.”
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