BY GABRIELE MARCOTTI
Liverpool's Jürgen Klopp says every player in his squad will have an influence on the upcoming season.
Jürgen Klopp probably doesn't mind the image he gives off to the world. Smiley, jokey, animated, goofy, mad professor, fun-loving, dunking off a swing onto a children's basketball hoop -- it's part of his charm.
But he'll have you know there's steel beneath the big glasses and Irish Sea-wide smile.
In 2005, he was managing Mainz, who had just avoided relegation from the Bundesliga. One day, he called his best friend at the time, a midfielder named Jürgen Krammy, into his office to tell him he would not be extending his contract.
"So, there's good news and bad news," Klopp told him.
"What's the bad news?" Krammy asked.
"You're not getting a new contract."
Krammy looked stunned. They had been friends for a long time. "And the good news?" he asked, tentatively.
"Well, you can go and work with the youth team," Klopp said.
Krammy did not take it well, especially since Klopp knew how bad he wanted to continue playing and how much he still believed in himself. He turned it down and got up and left without adding a word.
Recalling that day, Klopp says he felt at the time that he wanted to run after him, to tell him that it was a joke, that, of course, he'd give him a new deal, that they'd still be friends. "But you can't do that," he says. "When you've convinced yourself of a decision you have to take it. And sometimes it's not what people want to hear. I like to be a nice guy until you can't be a nice guy anymore."
"The thing is, though, when you're in charge, you can and should get lots of advice from lots of people, but, in the end, when you take your decision, you have to make it alone," he adds.
To him, that's the key. Everyone contributes, one guy decides. Take Liverpool's much discussed -- and, by some, derided -- transfer committee of years past where, rather than a top-down decision from the manager, the process was collective.
"I don't think it makes sense to give one person all the power," he says. "And not just in football. That's why we live in a democracy ... hopefully it stays like this. It makes sense to put all the skills you have in the club to help you reach the best decision. It's how I'm used to working."
There's no passing of the buck.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says the buck stops with him when it comes to making the final decision on transfers.
"It would be very easy for me to sit here and if someone is not satisfied with a transfer, say, 'Sorry, but it was this guy [who wanted him]'" he says, pointing to an imaginary director of football or scouting coordinator or chief executive. "I sit in the chair and I need to make decisions."
It's the loneliness of the manager. A messiah one minute, an impostor the next. And for all the work you do, all the preparation, all the study, in the end, once your 11 men cross that white line, it's almost entirely out of your hands.
"It's the job, you have to accept it," Klopp says. "I can't score goals, but I can show [my guys] how to get into position to score goals. And I can't defend but I can show them how to organize themselves so the opponent gets into less dangerous positions. But yes, that's why I am lively on the sidelines, I try to have influence even during games."
Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers last October. That meant no preseason training and, with no winter break, little chance to work on what are two of his priorities: physical preparation and instilling the tactical concepts required for his counter-pressing. ("We played 63 games, too!" he's quick to point out, a result of Liverpool reaching the final of both the Europa League and the League Cup.) This season, it should be more of a Klopp team.
"For sure!" he says. "We tried our best last year and I'd say it was OK. But now it's different. It will be more 'our' team and hopefully everyone can see the improvement."
Liverpool have already signed seven senior players. Half a dozen, including Joe Allen, Jordon Ibe, Martin Skrtel and Kolo Toure, have left. But this group remains a work in progress, particularly as it's still a big squad.
"We will see, the development of a team never ends," Klopp says. "I don't think we'll have a lot, but I think we will have some changes on the outgoing side."
"What I can say, though, is that everybody who is in this squad after Aug. 31 will have a big influence on this club," he adds. "And if we win something, it will be because of the group. Everybody who gives 100 percent will play. Maybe not every week, but very often."
With another manager, it would feel like coach-speak. With Klopp, it does not. There's an evident warmth about him, a personal engagement. It's not hard to see why he quickly became a folk hero in Dortmund and is on his way, in less than a year, to doing the same at Liverpool.
When he decided to accept the club's offer, the first thing he did was watch the Hillsborough documentary. He says he knew about it, but felt he needed to do more. Then he grew more engaged, meeting the families and understanding more not just about the tragedy, but of the 27 year fight for justice that followed.
"I love this city for what they did in the 27 years after Hillsborough," he says. "The nonstop fight for justice, the way they all stuck together. At the memorial, I heard Evertonians talking about it and how they were affected and the respect that exists.
"You know, it's easy to say it's only football, but here there is so much more behind it," he adds. "In such an awful tragedy, we saw so much unity in a city like Liverpool. I don't think that's something to take for granted. There are many other places where it would not happen. That's one of the things that makes this city special."
For some managers, the top end of football is all they've known since the age of 16. Cosseted promising youngster to star player at big team to promising young coach at well-heeled club to top job: that's the progression. Klopp, mainly because he spent most of his playing days in the lower divisions, had to claw his way up. He worked as a bartender, he worked in a hospital, he worked in TV: in front of and behind the camera. In his early 20s, he decided to go to university and pursue a degree in Sport Science. In an interview with the BBC, his old university professor talked about how the 20-something Klopp effectively balanced three jobs: as a professional footballer, a full-time student and a parent of a young child.
Maybe he felt he needed a Plan B. Klopp tells the story of how when he left high school, his principal was somewhat down on his prospects.
"Let's hope this football thing works out for you, Jürgen," he told him. "Because otherwise ..."
Then he frowned.
"For someone like me, I always knew that I wanted to be a coach, but I needed something else too, because it's not easy," Klopp says. "You need a lot of luck and a lot of coincidences to fall into place to get a chance. So I knew I needed a serious education. I knew nothing about sports science, but as it turned out, it was exactly what I needed. It was the perfect preparation for me. It's like in life ... every book you read, every newspaper you read, every conversation with a smarter person you have ... of course you need it, it makes you better."
Whether all this actually makes Liverpool better on the pitch, which ultimately is what his employers care about, will be determined in the next 10 months or so.
In the meantime, Liverpool have themselves a manager who is willing to take responsibility and oozes infectious enthusiasm, while remaining steadfastly humble and aware of his origins. In many ways, that's a welcome change from some of his predecessors and colleagues.
http://www.espnfc.com/club/liverpool/364/blog/post/2920162/Jürgen-klopp-on-liverpool-transfers-and-coaching-in-espn-fc-exclusive-interview
