This morning I woke up and scanned my RSS feeds as I normally do. I didn’t anticipate watching a 30 minute video while getting my kids ready for school, but the news that Jurgen Klopp is stepping down at the end of the season became my focus. I wrote about my love for Liverpool in 2020, but it’s worth restating how much Klopp means to the city and the club. He completely transformed a massive club that had been underachieving for decades. His man-management, technical ability and leadership are all superpowers that make Liverpool one of the toughest clubs to play against and one that nearly anyone would want to play for.
Soccer has quickly become of those most important, least important things in my life, and I credit Klopp for a lot of that. Not sure any manager can step in and do what he did for the club, but I’m grateful that I got to experience it over the past decade. I just hope they can write the perfect ending to this story over the next few months. They’re currently first in the Premier League, in the Carabao Cup Final and still alive in both the Europa League and FA Cup. What an amazing opportunity.
Because I can’t write so good, I’ll leave you with these words from the great Roger Bennett:
ROG ON KLOPP LEAVING LIVERPOOL ✍️
❝The news is overwhelming. Partly because there were no hints of the manager standing down early. Two years remain on his contract, and the announcement totally blindsided us amidst the ambitious wonder of a quadruple chase, arriving after… pic.twitter.com/BulmjzKq9Q
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) January 26, 2024