Jurgen Klopp’s shock exit leaves Liverpool insiders questioning the future

Liverpool has had its share of shock managerial departures. Those old enough to remember July 12, 1974, still recall the wave of despair that swept Merseyside when Bill Shankly resigned.

The day in 1991 that a broken Kenny Dalglish left the club, his mental strength undermined by the aftermath of Hillsborough, left the entire city stunned. Jurgen Klopp’s announcement that he will exit the manager’s post at the end of the season is on par with those two extraordinary moments.

Managing in the Premier League is an exhausting business and the 56-year-old’s style of working is emotionally draining. At least twice during his nine-year tenure at Anfield those close to the club worried that he was close to walking away. Even last summer there were low-key whispers that he might not last the coming season. Curiously, though, this surprising news came at a time when everything seemed to be going so well.

The team are top of the Premier League and have booked a place in the Carabao Cup final. If this sort of announcement had come a year ago, with Liverpool underperforming and a huge rebuilding job on the horizon, few would have been surprised.

Why now? Why not wait until the summer? They are the first of many questions.

Uncertainty may well cloud the rest of the campaign. What will Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold be thinking? All three are entering a contract negotiation phase with their deals expiring in the summer of 2025.

Earlier this week, sources close to the club were relaxed about the possibility of the trio staying, suggesting that there was no sense of panic and the club were bullish about retaining their best players. Will that change now?

When Klopp arrived on Merseyside, the set-up behind the scenes was very different. Michael Edwards was the sporting director and, along with Mike Gordon, one of the owners, formed a triumvirate with the new manager that worked smoothly. Klopp and Edwards balanced each other’s weaknesses.

Edwards has been gone for two years. Gordon had a spell where he was less involved because he was given the task of trying to sell the club. Power became centred on Klopp. This process may have contributed to his exhaustion now.

Fenway Sports Group, the owners, never intended to have a manager with so much control. The question is redundant now but might a better support network have prolonged Klopp’s shelf life? Instead, they are being presented with a situation that is similar to when Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United and Arsene Wenger departed Arsenal.

Those clubs had become almost an extension of the manager’s personality. No one could come in and fill their shoes. You fear for Anfield’s next incumbent.

There have been signs of the pressure telling. The former Borussia Dortmund boss has always been spiky. Some will point to his increasing tetchiness with referees and reporters but there’s part of his combative character that is up for a fight at the first sign of a slight.

His smiling demeanour obscures this but there is a feeling that, especially in the past two year, Klopp has become a more exacting taskmaster to staff.

A rest will do him good. Liverpool, meanwhile, will start almost from scratch. The owners will aim to find a sporting director first and then move on to the manager.

There will be a huge emotional hole for the fans. Klopp connected with the supporters in a Shanklyesque manner. There was nothing contrived about it.

During a long interview at the height of Covid, I asked whether the German looked at the adulation bestowed on Liverpool managers and relished the prospect of becoming an Anfield hero. He was shocked and shook his head. If he had known that he had to fill the shoes of Shankly and Dalglish as a flagbearer for the city, he said, he would have turned down the job. He did not expect the additional burdens.

As it happened, his politics dovetailed with those of the most ardent section of the fanbase and the conduct of Klopp and his wife Ulla during the pandemic – giving large handouts to essential workers – brought him even more love from the locals. The supporters want their manager to be a man of the people. Klopp fulfilled that role beautifully. He deserves to stand with his two predecessors in the Anfield pantheon.

The other truly great Liverpool manager was Bob Paisley, the most successful of them all. Paisley lacked the personality of the others but Klopp will hope to have one thing in common with him. The Northumbrian told the world he would step down a year before he left. Pundits suggested it would leave him a lame duck. Not quite.

Paisley crowned his final days in 1983 when his team stormed to the title after winning the League Cup. Klopp, whose sole Premier League-winning triumph was marred by the empty grounds of Covid, would love to emulate Paisley.

If anyone deserves a send-off party with silverware, it’s Klopp. The Premier League trophy would make it really special.