By Steven Northover

In modern football, even in a club with the world renown of Liverpool, to be lucky enough to find a manager who ‘gets’ what the club was about - Jurgen Klopp was that for LFC. But it's so much more than that, it's the story of a man who spent his career building clubs, saving careers, and turning entire football clubs into 'Mentality Monsters'.

It’s 24th May 2004. Fans of FSV Mainz 05 are still nursing hangovers following the greatest moment in their club’s history. A 3-0 victory over Eintracht Trier, confirming the club’s promotion to Germany’s top flight Bundesliga for the first time in their history. Mainz 05 were never a big club, even in the lower reaches of the German football pyramid.  A perennial ‘also ran’, who were perfectly capable of staying ‘exactly’ where they were, never going up, but crucially never going down either.  

Credits : © Jürgen Jung wikicommons.

That was until three years earlier, when a certain striker turned defender was asked to become their player-manager. Jürgen Klopp had spent the majority of his playing career at Mainz, and his career matched his club. Not bad as such, but not great either. He truly understood Mainz. As a city, known for its annual carnival and general party atmosphere and as a club, small, even for a team in the  2.Bundesliga league, but very much willing to play the part of the plucky underdog.

Within a season, he turned Mainz from an anonymous midtable side, to a team that consistently challenged for promotion. It took Mainz 05 three seasons to get to the promised land. And ever since that successful 2004 campaign, Mainz have been a Bundesliga regular.

Dortmund Calling

His success drew admiration from a host of clubs across Germany, eventually leading Klopp to become the manager of Borussia Dortmund.  But Dortmund were an entirely different environment compared to Mainz 05.  Domination of the German Bundesliga had largely been interchangeable between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich for a generation. However prior to Klopp’s arrival, the club had finished 13th in the league.

Dortmund’s issues weren't something that could be eliminated with ‘vibes’ in the same way it had at Mainz 05. Instead, he began a root and branch revolution of the first team, building a team of raw but young and talented players. Whilst being unable to compete financially with the might of Bayern Munich, Klopp alongside his managerial team Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz used Dortmund’s extensive scouting network to find the players that fit the profile, but had been overseen by other big European clubs. Robert Lewandowski from Lech Poznan in Poland and Shinji Kagawa from Cerezo Osaka in Japan were prime examples of the scouting.

Credits : © Martin Davidsen wikicommons

All the while, the building amount of money was ploughed into redeveloping training facilities and the academy, allowing the club to build a core of extremely promising young German talent, effectively for free. This proved to be a masterstroke. Just within two years of Klopp becoming manager, Borussia Dortmund were back going toe to toe with not just Bayern Munich, but also the best teams in Europe.  Having won the Bundesliga twice, along with the DFB-Pokal, the DLF-Spercup (twice), Klopp's arguably only ‘failing’ was only ever reaching the UEFA Champions League final once, losing to Bayern Munich in 2014. 

Unfortunately, that loss to Bayern Munich effectively began the end of Klopp at Dortmund. Within a year, Lewandowski along with the highly rated Mario Götze had moved to Bayern Munich. Furthermore, Klopp’s relationship with the press and officials began to sour. He was sent off and later fined for abusing a referee, and despite winning the Super cup at the beginning of the season, Dortmund’s form kept floundering. In April 2015, he announced he would be leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season, with the aim of taking a sabbatical for a year.

Timing is Everything.

In October 2015, Liverpool played out a fairly uninspiring 1-1 draw with their rivals Everton. It would prove to be then manager Brendan Rodgers's last game in charge of the club.  Having come within a hairsbreadth of winning the league in the 2013/14 season, the club's performances and faith in Rodger’s abilities had slipped to an irrevocable low.  As such his sacking was not unexpected, but questions remained as to who would take over.  

Carlo Ancelotti, who had recently left Real Madrid, and Frank de Boer (the at Ajax) were amongst a host of managers linked to the job. The hot favourite, however, was always Jürgen Klopp. It wasn't just his big name that was a draw. Klopp's experience at both Mainz and Dortmund made him the logical choice to be Liverpool’s new manager.

Like Mainz, Liverpool had a renowned and passionate fan base, and were a city best known for its ‘personality’ and culture as much as its football. Meanwhile, like Dortmund, Liverpool were a footballing ‘powerhouse’ who had once dominated England and Europe, but were little more than a sideshow in 2015.  

Credits : © Mehdi Bolourian wikicommons.

As an added influence in Klopp’s decision, Liverpool were already well stocked with a number of gifted players that were seemingly just waiting for the ‘spark’ to get their careers going.Indeed, the likes of Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Joe Gomez and Divock Origi may have been bought in by Brendan Rodgers, but they were now Jurgen Klopp’s players. Under Klopp, Liverpool’s transfer strategy evolved into the same slick ‘talent finding’ machine that had been so successful at Dortmund. Gone were the days of  finding the best players that fit a position, and in came finding the players who best fit the team.

It didn't matter how many goals you scored or saved, or how many trophies you had won, or who you had played for in the past. Under previous managers, Liverpool became the either and ‘end point’ to someone's career where they had reached their own zenith, and didn't need to push on or they saw playing for Liverpool as a stepping stone, somewhere to play until someone ‘bigger’ came in. Under Klopp, that changed. If the players wanted to leave, then they were sold (notably Phillipe Coutinho). If they weren't able or willing to adjust to the new regime, then they were sold .

What was left were a core of very good players who could be moulded into the ‘mentality monsters’ that both Klopp and the fan base had been clambering for a generation

On training, James Milner said: 

“To see one of the young lads throwing up on the side of the training field in one of his first training sessions, that sets the tone, you know what you're in for. We had to adapt to that. It was ridiculous really. You saw the tempo and the intensity in that first game at Spurs.”