It’s Wembley and there are people on the pitch again. Jürgen Klopp made it happen. Before Liverpool’s manager led his players up to lift the Carabao Cup, he left instructions that every member of the team’s match-day staff be involved in the celebrations at the podium on the field.
Klopp wanted them in the pictures captured for posterity, for the unsung heroes’ personal albums and memory banks, and also for the story it told the world. Klopp’s message was of all being in it together. Everyone contributed to victory. Klopp wanted that appreciated.
His players did not need reminding — they value the staff — but here was the celebration of the team behind the team. Physios and full backs, analysts and attackers formed a rolling maul of a merry party on the pitch.
Klopp’s all-for-one ethos echoes the famous story of the Nasa cleaner explaining his job to the visiting president John F Kennedy: “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” The kit man is helping to put a midfield man on the winners’ rostrum. It’s about being driven by a collective vision. The camaraderie never lies. Liverpool’s unity is unarguable.
Klopp is this blend of heart and head, emotional yet also thinking of the best way to show it. His pride in his staff led him to these instructions. His connection with Liverpool is intense. He kept hugging members of staff on the pitch. His bond with the players is huge, coaching them, encouraging them, believing in them, selecting them, then embracing them.
Advertisement
Klopp’s kinship with the Kop is clear when he turns to them, like a conductor, eliciting more noise. It’s there in his words. “It’s not a problem if the manager leaves. If these people would leave — our supporters — that would be a problem,” Klopp said on Sunday night. “But as long as they are the way they are, Liverpool Football Club will be fine, and that’s the most important thing.”
Fine. The use of that word was surely by chance but it resonates with the fans’ chant: “I’m so glad that Jürgen is a Red; I’m so glad he delivered what he said; Jürgen said to me, ‘You know, we’ll win the Premier League, you know,’ he said so; I’m in love with him and I feel fine.”
They feel fine and also, inevitably, slightly forlorn. Their inspiration leaves. For those fans hoping, praying that he will change his mind, well, this level of emotional intensity Klopp radiates cannot be maintained. He is powering towards the finishing line. Only 90 days remain, and that’s assuming Liverpool reach the FA Cup final. Back at Wembley. More people on the pitch?
Only Klopp himself knows the pressure on him, physically and mentally, and also the demands in time and emotion on his family. He is a father, a grandfather and a husband as well as a football manager. And so he rides hard and fast on this epic final furlong.
He should still beware the impact of the sudden stop, the adrenaline still flowing but with no outlet, the sound only of silence. Klopp is intelligent, he will have plans; family, friends, perhaps a spot of punditry, before returning to management. He is still only 56. The great Carlo Ancelotti is of an age the Beatles sang about and he’s still going strong at 64.
Advertisement
It will be fascinating to see where Klopp goes next. Because Klopp was meant for moments like this, masterminding what happened at Wembley, building the team, the squad, the staff and the culture cherished on the podium, and then standing as one in front of the fans, singing You’ll Never Walk Alone.
As Liverpool celebrated — and it was interesting to note Klopp’s players hardly swigged the champagne, as they have three other trophies to chase — his broader impact on English football should be celebrated. When Pep Guardiola came to England in 2016, the BBC asked me to make a short film about what Manchester City and the Premier League could expect. Intense work ethic, unique vision, discipline, standards and shared vision for starters.
I also talked of how the FA needed to invite Guardiola to talk to young coaches at St George’s Park. The same is now needed of Klopp. He’s far too busy to start delivering seminars on the art of management but the game can look on and learn.
They’ll see a manager who strikes the right balance between fire and ice. He was praised for his boldness in throwing on the kids against Chelsea, ending up with three teenagers and five academy players, but this was not an emotional response, not a gamble.
He believed in Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns, James McConnell and Jarell Quansah. You don’t win anything with kids? Rich kids, no. Hungry kids, yes. Liverpool’s kids have the right character, they’re disciplined and believe in each other.
Advertisement
Klopp showed what can be achieved by building behind the scenes, and working with good academy directors such as Alex Inglethorpe. Other managers give youth a chance but Sunday’s events will surely make this process even more popular, especially in an era of Profitability and Sustainability Rules. Maybe, also, other managers will not bemoan long injury lists, but simply get on with it and play the kids.
Klopp showed the importance of managerial defiance and the value of on-field leaders. Chelsea had none, really. Liverpool started with three international captains in the six defensive positions: Virgil van Dijk (Holland), Andrew Robertson (Scotland) and Wataru Endo (Japan). The youngsters coming on had good guidance around them (though Robertson went off after 87 minutes).
On a negative note, Klopp should have shaken the hand of the referee, Chris Kavanagh. He should have risen above his understandable frustration at Kavanagh’s two obvious mistakes: not punishing Moisés Caicedo for his reckless challenge on Ryan Gravenberch, and being swayed by Stockley Park in deeming that Endo’s decision to stand his ground impeded Levi Colwill’s ability to track Van Dijk, for the disallowed goal.
He could have shaken Kavanagh’s hand, pointed out his errors and then highlighted them again in his post-match utterances. He didn’t castigate Caicedo. Klopp, overall, remains a huge force for good, an inspiration, an innovator, and he will be missed by many in English football, not just at Liverpool.
