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Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The Liverpool legend gave his final post-match interview following a 2-0 Premier League victory over Wolves.
In football, not many managers ever get to go out on their own terms. Not many managers leave with the fans and owners still desperate for him to stay. Not at a top club; not in the Premier League; not after nine seasons in charge.
That made Jürgen Klopp’s final match in charge, the reaction of the fans, and the sendoff following Sunday’s final game of the season so much more unique. A departure the likes of which has rarely, perhaps almost never, been seen.
“I don’t think it’s normal,” Klopp said following the match, a 2-0 victory over Wolves and his final game in charge of Liverpool Football Club. “I knew for a long time already that our relationship was pretty special, I love that.
“How I said, these people [the supporters] are the superpower of this club; these people keep the club going; these people push the club; these people carry the club through difficult moments. These people are the club.
“We had a really good time together, nine years. Nearly a decade—absolutely crazy. Kids in the stadium, kids of the staff, they don’t know another manager. They think I was always there and will always be there, and now I’m gone.”
In the more than three decades since the the Premier League rebrand, Klopp departs the fourth-longest serving manager. Only Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Alex Ferguson at Man United, and David Moyes at Everton served longer.
He won the league after three long decades of struggle. He won the club their sixth European Cup. In another era—or with just four more games going their way—it could have been three of each and a historic quadruple.
Beyond the results, though, it always felt as though Klopp was the perfect fit for Liverpool, and that rare fit along with the success and a desire to always play aggressive, attacking football endeared him in a way few ever have—or will.
Now he’s gone, and an era is ended, and it’s understandable perhaps if few know quite how to deal with that—an entire fanbase grappling with the cruel nature of linear time and working its way through the stages of grief.
There will be more Liverpool football. There may be success in the coming years. There will be new songs and cup runs and dreams of glory. But it’s hard to imagine that there will be another Jürgen Klopp any time soon.
“I had moments during the week it was not great and during the game the last minutes were tricky,” Klopp added. “But today felt more like a start than an end because I saw a wonderful team and I saw a wonderful team on the way.
“I love you all and everything about the club, but it’s time for me to go. But it’s not burning behind me, and that gives me a good feeling. I know I can come back. From when the game finished, I’m a Liverpool supporter, and I love that.”
