Jurgen Klopp has departed as Liverpool manager and he’s left the Reds in fine shape. But what will he do next?
[ MORE: Jurgen Klopp’s career records, Liverpool stats ]
Speaking at the International Coaches’ Congress in Germany, Klopp was asked about recent links to taking the England job after Gareth Southgate stepped down.
Klopp distanced himself from that job and it doesn’t seem like he will get back into management anytime soon.
“At the moment, there is nothing at all in terms of jobs. No club, no country,” Klopp said. “England? That would be the biggest loss of face in the history of football if I said I’ll make an exception for you.”
He was then asked about getting back into the game.
“Let’s see what it will look like in a few months. Nothing is coming through at the moment,” Klopp said. “As of today, that’s it for me as a coach. I didn’t quit on a whim, it was a general decision. I’ve also coached the best clubs in the world. Maybe we can talk about it again in a few months. I still want to work in football and help people with my experience and contacts. Let’s see what else there is for me.”
Is Klopp calling quits on his coaching career? It kind of seems like it. It’s almost as if he’s lining things up to be a technical director or sporting director somewhere for his next step in the game. Now that would be intriguing.
How good was Klopp’s final season at Liverpool?
Since Klopp left as Liverpool manager at the end of the 2023-24 season he’s been hanging out in the Spanish island of Mallorca and having a lovely time. He’s also reportedly been reached out to by U.S. Soccer about their vacant position but Klopp does not seem ready to get back into management anytime soon.
Few expected Liverpool to be in the title race at the start of last season and until late in the season there was a chance they could win four trophies.
Liverpool won the League Cup but were knocked out of the Europa League at the quarterfinal stage by Atalanta. They also got knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United in demoralizing fashion in extra time in the quarters as hopes of a wild quadruple in Klopp’s final season faded as spring arrived.
[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]
With the shock news that Klopp will leave Liverpool at the end of the season arriving in January 2024, there was extra focus on everything Liverpool do and their players seemed determined to send him off in style. It didn’t quite work out like that in the end but Klopp’s farewell at Anfield was still very special.
[ MORE: Latest Premier League standings ]
Jurgen Klopp on his Liverpool farewell
“I thought I would already in pieces by now but I’m not,” Klopp said at Anfield after Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Wolves on the final day. “But I’m so happy about you all, about the atmosphere, about the game, about being part of this family, about us, how we celebrated this day. It’s incredible. Thank you so much.”
“It doesn’t feel like an end. It just feels like a start because I saw a football team full of talent, full of youth, full of creativity, full of desire, full of greed. That’s one part of development. That’s what you need but obviously since a few weeks I got too much attention. But in this time I realized a lot of things. People tell me I turned them from doubters into believers. That’s not true. Wait, believing is an act. You do that yourself. I just said you have to. You did that. Nobody tells you now to stop believing. This club is in a better moment than, not ever, well maybe ever, I’ll have to ask Kenny. We have this wonderful stadium, this wonderful training center. And we have you, the superpower of world football. Wow. You (laughs as crowd sing to him again). We decide if we are boring or exciting. We decide if we believe or don’t believe. Since today I am one of you and I keep believing in you, I stay a believer 100 percent.”
“I saw a lot of people crying and it will happen to me tonight because I will miss people. But change is good. You never know what to expect but if you go with the right attitude into everything will be fine because the basics are 100 percent there. They are the team and that’s the new coach. And you give actually a s—- what you want me to sing, but I have an idea... I heard the song today a few times. Let’s see how the response will be: Arne Slot, la la la la la la. You’ve got a new manager. You go all-in from the first day. You keep believing and you push the team. And it’s not you, it’s we because I’m one of you now. I love you to bits.”
Klopp has also spoken in a Q&A event at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool in front of 11,000 fans, as he was asked by the host about the possibility of Liverpool winning two more Premier League titles retrospectively if Manchester City are found guilty of 115 alleged breaches of Premier League rules and are stripped of their previous league titles: “If you organize a bus parade, I’m in! How long it takes I don’t care.”
He also praised the Fenway Sport Group (FSG) owners for their steady stewardship of the club, development of the club off the pitch and giving him the time to build tremendous teams on the pitch.
“Can you imagine LFC as the club with unlimited money?” Klopp said. “Imagine Kylian Mbappe came here. Imagine Bellingham came here, Haaland. It is not us, it just does not fit. We won what we won and we did it the Liverpool way. We had hard conversations and other clubs didn’t do that in the same time.
“We built two new stands, a new training ground, we bought Melwood back – the dumbest idea I ever heard was that we sold it in the first place. The owners do what owners do. Surprise! The owners want to earn money. Sorry to tell you that. It’s not like they earn money on a daily basis: they invest something and that’s how the whole world goes.
“We should be really happy that we have these owners and not guys who bought London clubs and other stuff. I wouldn’t have survived a year at Liverpool (with them in charge). ‘Great development but not good enough, sack him!’ A year later: ‘Sack him’. Then finally they play football where people think they might be back and they sack the manager anyway. People always think the grass is greener but we have owners who really feel responsible for the club and work really hard as well to be successful. I felt supported. We did it as good as we could have done and I’m fine with it.”
Liverpool came up just short but they’re in great shape
Klopp didn’t get the fairytale ending he wanted but Liverpool still had an incredible comeback season.
The fact they were in the title race with Manchester City and Arsenal until the final two weeks of the season was a huge improvement on the season before. In the end, their defensive unit could not stay solid enough to let them hang in there with City and Arsenal and they did not make the most of their kind fixture list late in the season. But Liverpool are back fighting for the title and Klopp leaves them in a healthy place.
Their draws home and away against Manchester City told us that Liverpool are more resilient than we thought and they had what it takes to once again go toe-to-toe with City, and Arsenal, for the title.
But Liverpool’s defeat at Arsenal in early 2024 and late-season draw at Manchester United and defeats to Crystal Palace and Everton told us to hold back and that they aren’t totally ready for another title charge again.
They came up short but once again they have been in the title race. That is real progress this season. Even though Klopp didn’t get the fairytale ending many feel he deserved, he left Liverpool in a really good place.