Jurgen Norbert Klopp joined Liverpool five years back when the Merseysiders were mostly finishing outside the Champions League places and the morale was down. Now, we are one of the top clubs in the world and back on our perch.
The German manager, in his first interview, claimed that the Reds need to change from doubters to believers and he said that in four seasons, he would win at least one trophy for the club.
We all know what happened next. After four full campaigns with the former Borussia Dortmund boss, we have won the the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the Club World Cup and finally ended the 30-year drought to win the league.
All of the above was possible because Klopp was made for Liverpool and Liverpool were made for the charismatic manager, which is what life long Red supporter Anthony Quinn has explained by pouring his heart out in the book – Klopp: My Liverpool Romance.
Born in 1964, growing up, Quinn was able to witness the legendary Liverpool teams that conquered Europe and England consistently but since 1990, it had been a painful ride that made him wonder whether the Reds would lift the league trophy again.
That impossible dream came true because of Jurgen Klopp, who is absolutely loved by the Anfield faithful.
The author did an interesting comparison of the ex Mainz boss and Liverpool legend Bill Shankly. Reading the book will give you an insight about how similar the personalities of the two greats are. One of the most important facts is that both the geniuses were cherished by every club they managed and never got the sack.
Quinn talked about Klopp’s life and career as a manager in a way that the German would probably want him to cover his biography. How the Kaiser helped Mainz earn promotion, how he managed to knock Bayern off their perch with Borussia Dortmund and how has he turned things around at Liverpool.
The style and substance in the way his teams have played football over the years is now admired world over and he deservedly won the FIFA Manager of the Year award last year.
The author further talks about learning and bouncing back from setbacks and the never giving up mentality of the Reds under the leadership of the 53-year-old manager. We lost the Europa League final in 2016 (Basel) and in turn failed to qualify for the Champions League. A year later, Klopp helped us book a place in the Europe’s elite competition.
In 2018, we lost the CL final against Real Madrid in a heart breaking manner but learned from the experience and did everything right to win the 6th European Cup last year. Moreover, in 2019, despite losing only a single game in the entire league campaign and after registering 97 points, we could not lift the Premier League trophy. However, the mentality giants bounced back in 2020 to seal the title in record time.
They say that the final hurdle is often the hardest and the long awaited title triumph had the biggest twist when the season was suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic with Liverpool just two wins away from becoming champions. The book closely follows the 3 month break that finally ended in June and the Reds were able to complete the job with 7 games remaining
Klopp: My Liverpool Romance is intriguing and it will not bore you for a moment. After all, it is about a charismatic and entertaining personality, who has not had a dull moment in his career.
