00:00 Well, we're today met with some quite shocking news really. Jurgen Klopp announced he's leaving
00:06 Liverpool at the end of the season. What did you make of the news and how it's been received
00:14 by the world of sport as well as football?
00:16 I think everyone sees this bombshell news, don't they? Nobody seen it coming whatsoever.
00:24 If I'm being honest, I think if there was going to be any news on Jurgen Klopp's future,
00:28 maybe he was going to sign a new deal. Obviously he signed a deal a couple of years ago and
00:33 he talks about how he still has the energy to rebuild Liverpool. Just reading between
00:38 the lines what he said, he's almost like he knows Liverpool are back and he knows his
00:43 squad's going to get better. So he's forced to leave it here. I'm comfortable leaving
00:47 it here rather than walking away at the end of last season thinking, 'Right, you know
00:52 what? I've done my part and brought all this success. Someone else can take up the baton
00:57 now and do it and start from scratch.' It might take a couple of years and get their
01:02 own ideas in place. But instead he's built a squad in the midfield, maybe a midfield
01:07 especially that needs replenishing. Maybe there might be one or two holes in the squad
01:11 but there's no real major surgery needed to ever replace him. But as I say, bombshell
01:17 news really. I don't think anyone whatsoever expected it. You only have to look at the
01:21 media coverage now that's coming out. Just because of the sort of figure he is at Liverpool.
01:27 Huge news. The older ones certainly, the video clips going around, Bill Shankly left the
01:36 club in 1974 and kids around Anfield are absolutely shocked at the news. I think that will be
01:42 similar when it filters through to the schools around the city today.
01:46 Let's just talk about his time at the club. You could argue maybe it's statue worthy or
01:54 to name a bit of the training ground after him or a road or something like that. Because
01:59 Liverpool are a club that really honour their legends and icons of the club. If you could
02:04 think about three big moments of Jurgen Klopp's time, would you have any that stand out?
02:11 I think the first one for me, I'll be honest with you, is the Crystal Palace game in his
02:17 first season when Liverpool got beat 2-0 and fans were walking out after 10 minutes to
02:25 go and Jurgen Klopp was turning around thinking, 'What is going on? Why are fans leaving?'
02:30 He almost had to say to fans, 'This needs to stop now. This is a new Liverpool. You
02:36 don't do that anymore. We've still got 10 minutes to play.' I think that's when fans
02:40 really maybe started buying into what he wanted. Obviously everyone knew the reputation he
02:46 came in with, what he'd done at Dortmund. He had this 'I'm the normal one' press conference.
02:52 It was nice but I think he realised, 'If I'm going to turn things around, maybe I need
02:57 to get everyone on board, including the fans.' Because yes, it's on the players to give the
03:03 fans something to cheer about but when he's looking at that and the fans need to give
03:08 the players a boost as well, he's looking and thinking, 'What's going on?' That was
03:11 a real size magnolia for me and maybe one that people might think about. Then obviously
03:16 you're looking at the trophy wins, aren't you? The Champions League in 2019 when he
03:21 beat Tottenham after a devastating defeat against Real Madrid the year before and then
03:26 the Premier League title win in 2019/20 which unfortunately was behind closed doors because
03:34 of the COVID pandemic. You've seen the scenes after it at Anfield. Ends the 30-year wait
03:41 for a league title, first Premier League title to beat Man City as far as they did.
03:46 It was an absolutely monumental achievement. Those are definitely the three but I'm sure
03:52 there's many more that could rattle off and many fans will have them.
03:56 We've seen throughout football and English football history that when a big figure leaves
04:01 a club, let's take Sir Alex Ferguson for example, that things aren't as steady as they were.
04:08 Can Liverpool fans be relaxed that they're going to get the next appointment right? What
04:13 does it mean for Liverpool's future now that he's going to be leaving at the end of the
04:17 season?
04:18 Yes, this is arguably the second biggest moment of FSG's tenure at the club. The first one
04:26 I think was appointing Jürgen Klopp because they'd been in charge for five years at that
04:31 point and they hadn't got it right. They sacked Rui Hodgson, they appointed Kenny
04:36 Daglish, done okay, and then they brought Brendan Rodgers in for his second in the league
04:41 and then they dipped massively. So to bring Klopp in was a real coup at the time it felt
04:46 like and they've got to get this one right again, as you say. We've seen clubs' managers
04:54 leave and they've just nosed that out completely. Liverpool have already had that period in
05:00 the 90s when they were the dominant force and they went to mid-table fodder almost.
05:07 Then obviously Gerrard Scholey helped that Rafa Benitez and then they had another patch
05:12 and Daglish and Rodgers here, it was okay. But Liverpool need to get this one right and
05:19 maybe some people are looking at Pep Lindsay as the natural successor but it's been announced
05:24 that the assistant manager now will be leaving with Jürgen Klopp as well. So it's going
05:28 to be a brand new set of coaching staff who come into Anfield and you're going to be FSG
05:35 now. You'd like to think, they've had an idea in mind, you might replace Klopp. You would
05:41 like to think there's continuity plans. You look at St Brian for example and Graham Potter
05:44 left when he got Roberto Zerbi. Not many people are there to remember Roberto Zerbi but he's
05:49 arguably an upgrade. Okay, it's going to be hard to upgrade Jürgen Klopp but Liverpool
05:54 need to have had three years to the ground and had some potential candidates already
06:01 pencilled in who could replace Klopp if for any moment, like now, he was to leave.
06:06 You felt obviously when Steven Gerrard had the Aston Villa job, obviously it didn't work
06:12 out but that maybe was a natural progression, sort of pencilled in as you say for him to
06:17 take over when Klopp left the club. Xabi Alonso is looking at the book he's favourite. We've
06:23 seen clips of Mourinho saying he's going to be such a good coach because he's worked under
06:27 so many different coaches. He's doing fantastic in the Bundesliga. Who can you see being that
06:34 man to replace him? How happy would Liverpool fans be if it was, for example, their former
06:39 midfielder? I think you can understand why he's the favourite candidate. He's doing an
06:44 unbelievable job of Bayer Leverkusen in his first managerial job but you'd have to say
06:50 is he ready? Is he a step too far though? Because for all of us, Bayer Leverkusen is
06:57 a big club but how much pressure has it been on to deliver? If he comes into Liverpool,
07:01 his ream of work to be to challenge for titles, to challenge for Champions League, is he ready
07:07 for that? He hasn't been at Bayer Leverkusen for all that long. It's not like he's been
07:11 there four, five, six years. He's been there, what, the best part of 18 months maybe? That's
07:17 not very long in a manager's career whatsoever. So it's a difficult one for Liverpool to get
07:25 it right. Anyone who takes it has got big booster fill. Steven Gerrard is probably out
07:30 of the frame now. He's obviously gone to Saudi Arabia, rebuilding his reputation and it's
07:35 a new deal there so he could almost rule that out. Roberto D'Abbia is someone that will
07:41 look at anything and try and get him in. Will he want to leave Brighton as well so early?
07:47 Will he fancy himself to think, 'You know what, I'm going to try and upset the apple
07:52 cart at the Premier League. I'm going to try and finish the top four and then maybe challenge
07:58 for titles'. A bit like Unai Emery has done at Villarreal. Obviously if Unai Emery is
08:03 still at Villarreal, maybe we look at him and think, 'We'll go and get him'. So it is
08:10 an interesting one and then you look at people like Julian Nettlesman who's took the Germany
08:14 job now. He's been tipped for Liverpool before because of his connections to the Red Bull
08:19 franchises and they play a very similar high octane style to Liverpool. I don't want to
08:29 say clear candidate but could we get a bit of a left field one as well? Someone who's
08:33 already in the Premier League? They went and got Brendan Rodgers from Swansea. Could he
08:39 go and get him? I don't know, maybe it's a bit too early. They are only 12th in the
08:45 league but the form of Man Utd is proving himself. He plays a style that's very high
08:49 octane and it's started to come to the fore a little bit. Do you take a risk? Do you go
08:56 and look for someone who maybe is doing well in City or in La Liga or in the Bundesliga?
09:06 I don't know. These are all the facets that FSG are going to have to weigh up. I don't
09:12 think they'll be making a quick decision personally. I think they'll be being very objective, being
09:19 very measured about who they go and get in. But it's going to be so hard to replace Jadon
09:27 Klopp and whoever does it, they'll have to fall back on the Liverpool fans and Liverpool
09:31 fans will have to realise Jadon Klopp's not here anymore. We've got to maybe change our
09:37 expectations a little bit for the early stages while things adapt etc. But I imagine FSG
09:44 will want to manage it, play a similar style to Jadon Klopp so that they aren't affected
09:49 too much.
09:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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