A couple of days on from the shock news of mein held mein kumpel Jürgen Klopp announcing he will be leaving the club in the summer, thought I'd leave a small tribute. Didn't write anything on Friday as my head was all over the place. It still is I guess, but it has at least sunk in now, how much we need to appreciate these next four months of football.
No matter what is happening either on or off the pitch, with Klopp on your side it was guaranteed that it would work out favourably. The famous quote that he turned doubters into believers... but actually it wasn't even belief - it was something more than that. Conviction. Invincibility. It is going to be very strange not having that comfort blanket - cocksure that we are Klopp's reds and we will beat anyone, so bring it on.
But at least we get to experience that for a little longer. Then when he has left it's not over. The squad he assembled, Liverpool 2.0 is still here, and we have to thank him for not doing a Fergie and leaving his successor with an aging squad. It could have been very easy to throw in the towel last year and leave the rebuild to someone else but as with every decision he makes he has done the right thing. But those players will shape someone else's system, not Jürgens, and that's sad.
He's not dying although you'd be mistaken for thinking otherwise, but I suppose it is the death of Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool. And if you want to grieve that, that's understandable.
For me, the departure of Klopp feels like we're losing something from the game, not just us at LFC but the Prem and English football in general. He's a shining light in the downright odd and tribal and unfair and nasty spectacle that is modern football, and I'll love the game just that little bit less for not having him around.
Thank you for the memories Jürgen, the best years supporting LFC in my lifetime and never to be replicated. Looking forward to making a few more between now and the end of May. And if it doesn't end up with a few more trophies in the trophy cabinet, that's completely fine too. The journey is enough. Either way we'll go into it with conviction and invincibility and see where we end up.
"Just try, if we can do it, wonderful. If not, then fail in the most beautiful way."
Will miss the guy tremendously.