Why I Made Shock Decision To Quit Liverpool – Klopp

Jurgen Klopp has explained why he is stepping down as Liverpool manager in 2024, with that decision leaving the football world stunned.

The German tactician, who has managed Anfield for over 460 games and won seven trophies while there, has announced that he will be leaving when the current season ends. However, there is still a chance for him to win more significant awards in his pursuit of Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and Europa League championships. After nearly nine years on Merseyside, the 56-year-old feels it’s time to move on, both personally and professionally. He had committed to a deal that would go until 2026.

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Klopp has told LFC TV of his reasons for quitting a prominent post: “I am OK. I am healthy, as much as you can [be] at my age. Little bits and bobs, stuff like that, but nothing anybody has to be concerned about, so that’s absolutely fine. I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things. That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already. When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever, the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then anymore’ and I was surprised myself by that. I obviously start thinking about it.

“It didn’t start [then], but of course last season was kind of a super-difficult season and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been, ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here, or end it here.’ That didn’t happen here, obviously. For me it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back onto the rails. It was all I was thinking about. When I realised pretty early that happened, it’s a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters and all that, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome. It is not what I want to [do], it is just what I think is 100 per cent right. That’s it.”

Explaining why a bombshell has been dropped at this stage, in the middle of a domestic and continental campaign, Klopp said: “In an ideal world I wouldn’t have said anything to anybody until the end of the season, win everything and then say goodbye. That’s not possible. In the world we are living in, it’s not possible to keep things like this secret; it’s maybe a surprise that we could keep it [a secret] until now. There are so many things which are influenced by it, especially personal situations. People from my staff need to know early – and especially the club needs to know early and needs to plan. You cannot plan anything and you cannot really start. You can do a lot of stuff with knowing it but not making it public, but the decisive things, a lot of things, you cannot do. That means the club needs time.

“Over the years my role was a pretty dominant one. It was not intentional, but it happened. There were a lot of moments where I wished that I didn’t have to do that again [leave a club] – it is the third time I have to do something like that and I really don’t want that. But in the end I have to because one thing I am really convinced of [is] if you have to make a decision like that, it is better you do it slightly early than slightly too late. Too late would have been absolutely the worst thing to happen [if], I don’t know, next season in September I realised, ‘Oh my God, that’s it – I cannot do it anymore’ and then we are in the middle of a season and everything. This club, everything we built in the last years, is a wonderful platform, a wonderful basis for the future and the only thing that could disturb that now is pretty much that you cannot make the right decisions because you are running out of time, and that’s what was very important to me: that I really inform everybody as early as somehow possible.”

Speaking when asked whether he had a message for the thousands of Liverpool fans that follow him around the globe, Klopp said: “I really would like you to accept the decision. That would be nice. And then if I can ask for one more thing, after telling you don’t sing my song too early, after telling you be loud in the stadium, stuff like this, if I could ask you for one more thing it would be: don’t make these games about me, because there’s no need. The only thing I always wanted was the full support for the team, it’s not for me.

“I know about our relationship, I don’t need any kind of proof. We will have a moment, maybe the last matchday here or somewhere else – I mean in other countries or other competitions. There’s enough time to do these kinds of things. Let’s now really go for it. The outside world want to use this decision, laugh about it, want to disturb us. We are Liverpool, we went through harder things together. And you went through harder things before me. Let’s make a strength of it. That would be really cool. Let’s squeeze everything out of this season and have another thing to smile about when we look back in the future. Thank you,” Klopp said.

In the FA Cup fourth round, Liverpool will play Norwich at Anfield on Sunday. It is anticipated that supporters will express their emotions towards the departing manager during that match. On the final day of the 2023–24 season, Klopp will play his final home game against Wolves. It is sure to be an emotional occasion for all involved.