Klopp interview / press conference thread

[Sugar Ape]

Interview Klopp gave to the Big Issue.

 

https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2018/10/jurgen-klopp-peoples-vote/

 

Jürgen Klopp:
the people’s vote

 

Jürgen Klopp has engaged not only Liverpool fans but the wider British public since he arrived at Anfield

 

It was on an otherwise drab early October day in 2015 when Jürgen Klopp’s wise-cracking, bear-hugging, fist-pumping brand of football management was introduced to the English public.

 

Since that memorable press conference, confirming Klopp as the new coach of slumbering Premier League giants Liverpool FC, the German’s full-throttle approach to the job and life in general has generated an unparalleled measure of goodwill.

 

Few who encounter him, in person, in TV interviews, or pitchside in a maniacal, celebratory charge along the touchline, fail to be charmed. The club’s supporters, of course, but also neutrals, the media, people who don’t like football, fellow managers, even rival fans – “Hate Liverpool. Love Jürgen Klopp” is a common Twitter refrain. And all without him winning a thing in 36 months.

 

Not that he hasn’t come close. The man tasked with restoring Liverpool’s place at the top of English football has fought and lost three finals with them already, including May’s Champions League encounter with Real Madrid. They followed defeats in three finals with previous club Borussia Dortmund, a statistic he good-naturedly beats himself with.

 

Despite those reverses, the German’s exploits with Mainz, taking them to a history-making promotion, and with Dortmund, briefly knocking Bundesliga rich kids Bayern Munich off their pedestal, assured his legend at home.

His participation in the global enterprise that is the Premier League ramped it up again. The plane carrying Klopp from Dortmund to Liverpool to succeed sacked manager Brendan Rogers was tracked by 35,000 people. Yet the man touted as a sporting messiah and future German president longs to be anonymous.

 

At that first press conference, Klopp was reminded of Manchester United boss Jose “I am the special one” Mourinho’s famous pronouncement on first coming to England. “I am the normal one,” Klopp countered. A good line, but he meant it too, the irony being that “The Normal One” became an instantly marketable slogan with which to further build his profile.

 

“You should live my life for a day,” he says now, downing coffee between commitments at Liverpool’s famous old Anfield stadium, three years this week since touching UK soil.

 

He’s not complaining. Other than walks on the beach close to home on the Sefton coast with wife Ulla and their dog, “a collie mix”, and occasional pub lunches, “I cannot go out much; my face is not made for that, but that’s no problem – I’m used to it.”

 

However, he adds, recalling the amiable mobbing he received in trying to reach the stage at a meet-the-fans event: “I don’t want to be the person they all want to touch. I’m a really normal guy. I don’t walk through there and make like this…” He raises his arms in the manner of a boxing champion milking his triumph. For a man who’s claimed he can’t act, he’s got a heck of a range.

 

Herein lies the Klopp paradox. He wants to be treated like anyone else, but it is his very ordinariness, his dislike of show and guff, his liking for smoking and drinking and plain speaking and plates of sausage and chips, that people like.

 

When he left Dortmund, Klopp recorded a message to the crowd at his last game because, biographer Raphael Honigstein says, he did not trust himself not to break down. According to former striker Norbert Dickel: “75,000 people were crying.”

 

How does Klopp explain this bond with supporters?

 

“I have no idea. But the thing is, I believe in relationships. I really think if you spend a lot of time with people and don’t create a relationship, life is a complete waste of time.

 

“In different things it’s family, it’s friends, it’s people you work with, and, in this case, one hundred per cent of course, the fans. But I never go out there and say ‘look, I am this or that’ and ‘please like me’. It’s about respecting them.”

 

Of his time in England, he says: “I love living here. It’s a wonderful country and everyone knows if the weather was better the whole world would make a holiday here.”

 

 

As a foreign guest, he says he tries to keep out of UK politics, but with little prompting brings up the subject of anti-immigrant feeling in Germany. “It’s always when things change in a way you don’t like, you don’t have a job, then you immediately have to blame somebody. That happens here, that happens in my country.”

 

Typical of Klopp’s mindset is his attitude towards the far right AfD party’s 13 per cent polling in the last German election. “Everybody thought, wow, what a big number. I took it really positively – 87 per cent didn’t vote for them. I can live with that. And I think it’s a bit similar here.”

 

Local journalists in Mainz are said to have scoffed when veteran defender Klopp, with no coaching experience and no qualifications, was appointed as their manager to his and everybody else’s surprise. Seventeen years on, Klopp says he shared none of those doubts. “It was never a problem for me to lead a group. I never thought about it. On Sunday I was a player, on Monday I was a coach.”

 

You sense the natural born leader the moment he enters the room. The photographer assures him it will take only a few minutes. “No,” Klopp corrects him. “A few seconds.” He’s joking. And he’s not.

 

Klopp’s will to succeed occasionally gets the better of him. Honigstein tells how, as a player, he screamed in the face of a team-mate for half a minute for conceding a corner. As a manager, he holds the record for fines in German football.

 

That zeal was nurtured by a father, Norbert, who, Klopp says, “was an unbelievable talent in sports. He learned the backhand of Stefan Edberg watching television – exactly the same backhand.

 

“He was not the most patient person so when I wasn’t as good as he wanted, it was quite uncomfortable. He was a natural coach, a hard one, rather a drill sergeant.”

 

A regular Sunday training routine, when Klopp was “five or six, on the football ground in my home village”, involved racing his father from the touchline to the halfway line.

 

“If your father’s not in a wheelchair you have no chance, but he didn’t give a little bit. He was ‘voop!’ and I was: ‘Why are we doing this?’ And we did it until I beat him.”

 

How long did that take?

 

“Six years. Only six years.” He laughs heartily. “One of my biggest strengths as a player was speed. He made me a quick player. He educated me every day.”

 

Since arriving in England, journalists have made hay with his willingness to answer honestly everything put to him, despite his reluctance to be drawn into politics – Brexit (“it makes no sense”), the UK’s need for foodbanks (“beyond belief”), you name it. “We can talk about anything,” he assures me, but is said to feel uncomfortable sounding off on subjects like austerity given his own extreme affluence.

 

He’s known hardship – playing for a struggling German second division side, with a wife and young child, sometimes unsure he would be paid – and he gets the importance of their team to the many fans at the wrong end of the financial scale, wherever in the world they may be.

 

Do clubs now regard fans as merely consumers?

 

“No. I’m sure it feels like that sometimes but it’s so difficult to do it the right way for everybody because people want us to spend money in England.

 

“It’s completely different to Germany. In Germany, you get a player who’s transfer free, you get a lot of praise. In England it’s like – no money, no interest.”

 

A man of the left, Klopp is sympathetic to complaints about high ticket prices and welcomed the decision by club owners Fenway to withdraw a proposed increase after a mass fan protest in 2016. But he is also pragmatic. “If you say, come on, let them all get in for £1, it’s difficult. We have to earn money so we can spend it. I don’t think the situation is perfect but I don’t think it’s getting a lot worse.”

 

He understands, too, the frustration of fans feeling alienated by the clubs they support. “Social media makes it difficult to get close to the fans. Twenty years ago, a famous player could live the life of the people. If you saw a player out, and next day you told somebody, they would say: ‘Yeah, nice story.’

 

“Now we need to be a bit isolated because the world doesn’t give us the opportunity to go outside. We try to change it. We do what we can to come closer [to fans].”

 

To that end a friendly with Italian side Torino at Anfield in August was declared “the people’s game” by Klopp, with events in nearby Stanley Park, players interacting with fans and, post-match, the manager making the day of many an excited child attending their first game. “It was nice and we will do that again and again and again.”

 

Klopp took flak for seemingly criticising the £100 million signing of Paul Pogba to Manchester United two years ago, then overseeing a spending spree by Liverpool this summer. He says he was misunderstood, insisting now: “If money decides alone about success then I’m out, and that’s the truth. The only thing is, when everybody is able to spend, we have to, because it’s my job to make the team successful.”

 

Liverpool’s owners will continue to spend, no doubt, but the manager says funds are not unlimited. “The first day everything was on the table. The owners said: ‘Whatever you need you can have.’ But it was always clear we have to do it step by step. We are not owned by a country,” he says, perhaps with a certain other Manchester club in mind.

 

Klopp is contracted to Liverpool until 2022 and the expectation among fans, media and the club’s owners is that trophies will come. What words might Norbert have for his son were he around?

 

“He was always proud when I played for Mainz and I was not a good player. Unfortunately he died the year before I became a manager but I’m Christian and believe he now has the best position in the world to watch it all.

 

“I know he is very proud, but if he was still alive we would have a few discussions, probably about my beard. And probably after the [Champions League] final he would not have found the right words – he would have told me why we lost it, so not too cool probably.

 

“Oh, he was a fantastic lad and he loved me to bits. I know that. But he would have told me: ‘Don’t lose six finals in a row.’”

[Sugar Ape]

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[mattyq]

This is funny

 

 

[Guest]

 

[Thoth]

With Liverpool top of the league at Christmas for the first time since 2013, the Reds' boss gave Sky Sports a Christmas gift of an exclusive interview with Vinny O'Connor to talk candidly about how he's finding the top job at Anfield.

 

The pair discussed how the Klopps celebrate Christmas, how he's enjoying life in the north west - apart from the weather, of course - Liverpool's 2018 and what the future will hold for the German.

Liverpool Christmas Number 1

Position	Team	Points
1	Liverpool	48
2	Manchester City	44
3	Tottenham	42
4	Chelsea	37
5	Arsenal	37

Here's what the Liverpool manager had to say...

What's your plan on Christmas Day?

In your country, it's celebrated on the 25th, but in Germany, the 'holy evening' is the 24th. So for the 25th, I asked the boys how they want to do it. We know we have to train, that's it, but I'm flexible enough to say 'come on, tell me about your traditions'.

 

We will train early in the morning and then the boys go home, have their Christmas Day traditional things with the family, then we meet again late in the evening and go to the hotel ahead of the Newcastle game.

It's already a challenge to deal with a home game, but an away game is something you cannot really do as families should. I know people don't think about it, but players in that age group have a lot of little kids, so we try to make it as comfortable as possible.

What do you miss most about being home at Christmas?

The holiday! We usually had it off in Germany. I know my colleagues in Germany are planning on going to some warm-weather places, or skiing or stuff like that, our kids were old enough so we didn't have to think too much about what we did on the 24th, we went somewhere either warm or cold and had a good time together.

I don't really miss it, it's not a big problem, I think Christmas is such a wonderful time and I still have time to have it here, but I imagine for the players, people involved in football with little kids it's not cool. For 15 or so years you are involved in football, 15 years with no real Christmas, that must be hard.

Klopp spent seven years in charge at Borussia Dortmund 

For all the guys in the stadium, involved in the ticket office, the stewards, there are so many people who do their jobs so how can I moan? For me it's ok, but for many people, it's not so cool.

What's the best thing about living in Liverpool?

I enjoy everything apart from the weather! It should be winter but it's still autumn until March probably, and everything else is really cool.

If you have the right people around you, you could pretty much live everywhere. Family isn't a problem, our sons, our friends love it as well, Liverpool is an enjoyable city, and if you don't have my face you can go out and have a lot of fun.

Everybody I know who has visited me in the past loves the city, loves the stadium, loves the club, so everything is good but I don't think too much about it.

My life feels natural, more and more, and the better the language gets, the more and more for me you are with all the people around, all the traditions and it's nice. It was a conscious decision to come here, and it has worked out well.

Could you stay at Liverpool beyond 2022?

I don't want to think that far ahead. If you write that already, a lot of people will speak. Everything is good at the moment, but still, 'Klopp didn't win anything'.

I haven't won anything so that's part of the truth, we don't have to think about 2022, it's a long way to go. In the summer, there will be people who say it's the best time for me to go if we win something because we will never win anything again, there will be other people who say I have to go if we don't win anything.

Jurgen Klopp signs his contract to manage Liverpool with chief executive Ian Ayre.

As long as we all enjoy the ride here, and I mean all - from the owners, the players to the supporters, to everyone around the club - we can try it and try it, but at the moment if one of those groups isn't happy any more, then we shouldn't stretch it and say 'come on, try to do it'.

It's a good time, and 2022 is a long time so I don't have to think about it hopefully, everything will be fine and then we can think about that.

What was the high point of 2018?

The high point was probably making Champions League qualification, or coming into the hotel in Rome after reaching the Champions League final was not too bad either. It was a nice reception.

If we could have finished that competition at that moment it would have helped, we would have had two weeks more holiday! And not the frustrating moment in Kiev. But the whole season was nice, we enjoyed it a lot, there were lots of good moments.

Klopp celebrates with Sadio Mane after Liverpool secure a Champions League final spot in May 

That's the thing about working with a good football team, you have a lot of good games and good results. The Champions League was so exciting, the pressure in different games, winning 3-0 at home to Manchester City but when we had to go there for the return game everyone knows it means nothing, but we did it there too.

It was the same going to Rome with the 5-2 and you think ok - it's nothing. The game starts like it starts and you have that up and down in the game, so that was all pretty special. It was a good season, I enjoyed it a lot.

We go for everything, that doesn't mean we get everything, but we are now in three competitions, thank god, and in a really good moment. We will try to get everything as long as we are in the competitions.

What can Liverpool fans expect from next year?

I hope more development. The boys developed in an outstanding way, there are a few things which were clear before because we all get older but in this age group it's not older, just more experienced, so that always helps for the next year if you're smart enough to use it, but the boys are.

 

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Highlights from Liverpool's 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier League.

I should expect a few more special games like in the last few games, it's unbelievably intense, it always feels like the decisive game

[Guest]

 

[Arl arse]

 

[Guest]

 

[Sugar Ape]

 

[Thoth]

 

[Numero Veinticinco]

What a mover. 

[Arl arse]

 

[FieldingMellish]

Skip to 6:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsW3xrcB-c

 

[Bjornebye]

I love the way he said "welcome" at the end. 

[FieldingMellish]

 

[Anubis]

Klopp going all Norsefire in his program notes....

 

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/337274-jurgen-klopp-bournemouth-programme-notes

 

“The good thing is we already know this. I do not use social media but a friend showed me a statement made by Spion Kop 1906 earlier this week and, for me, it captured everything that this club is about. The most important line said ‘Unity is Strength’ and I can think of no better message at this time.

 

[FieldingMellish]

 

  

 

[FieldingMellish]

 

 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Klopp after the match today: I don’t have to play – I only sit here and say dumb things, so that’s easy.

 

Same as we’re doing on here then, only difference he gets paid to do it.

[kemskem]

Ask dumb questions, get dumb answers.

 

He should have an earpiece with Sir Kenny giving him 'answers' so he doesn't have to bother.

[FieldingMellish]

 

[FieldingMellish]