It has been a tough few days for Reds fans as they watched Klopp take his final stand at Anfield on Sunday.
It’s never easy seeing coaches and players leave after successful periods. But with the German it was always going to hit harder. He’s been one of the most charismatic and loved managers in Liverpool’s history.
The AXA Training centre simply won’t be the same without he and his coaching team.
You can tell just how good Klopp was in the fact that rival fans are so pleased to see him go. As one of the most high-profile pundits around, Man United legend Gary Neville is one of those rivals. And with Jurgen now on his way, Neville has given his honest assessment of the former Liverpool boss.
Gary Neville shares final thoughts on Jurgen Klopp
It has been a difficult period for Neville and United fans like him. Although they fared well against them this season, Klopp and Liverpool have dominated the rivalry recently.
This was apparent in some disastrously big defeats for United over the past couple of years. Who could forget the 7-0 demolition in 2022/23, or the consecutive 5-0 and 4-0 battering’s the season before. Joyous times.
For those defeats and more, you could understand if Neville simply hated the sight of Klopp. And writing in The Overlap newsletter, the 49-year-old admitted that he was delighted to see the Liverpool manager leave.
“From a Manchester United perspective, I was delighted to see Jurgen Klopp go at the weekend!” says Neville. “I want United to be successful and there’s no getting away from the fact that when your rivals have great managers, it makes the task a lot harder.
Yet let’s be clear that the Premier League is losing not just one of the great characters of our generation, but also one of the great managers.
“When he came to England in 2015, we were in the midst of a period where I felt, for all the money that was chucked at the Premier League, we were in a barren spell, well behind the rest of Europe. Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012 and then no English club managed it until Klopp did in 2019.”
Gary Lineker shares rumours of what Jurgen Klopp will do next
As Klopp embarks on his first days outside of Liverpool in almost nine years, he must be feeling a little strange.
For the Liverpool squad – and probably the fans too – it perhaps hasn’t hit home yet. But Jurgen is no longer in charge at Anfield.
We’re sure that the 56-year-old is feeling slightly different. He’s known this has been coming for a while and no doubt has some plans, or maybe is simply enjoying having no plans at all.
Before long though, we expect that Klopp will be back. Whether he’s a manager or not remains to be seen, but we think he’ll be back.
Gary Lineker clearly does too, with the pundit this week sharing a ‘rumour’ he’s heard about the German heading back to Borussia Dortmund. From there, maybe rivals like Neville will finally be able to appreciate and get on board Klopp’s greatness without pettiness getting in the way.
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