Klopp for the Chop

Auf Wiedersehen to the German maestro

Better days as Liverpool FC fans celebrate

Tonight on Capital Sports 3.0 we’ll bring news to thrill fans of clubs who have been consistently being hammered by Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has been an innovative, brave and hardworking coach who got Liverpool back into the high life with their Premier League win in 2020. However, his time is up at Anfield.

We’ve a great record at major predictions on Capital Sports. In mid-September 2017 I told people to bet their houses on Manchester City to win the EPL, that it was a done deal. We got slammed by football fans and ridiculed by football journos, but we were right. In October 2018 we did the same for the same team and from then on spoke only about the race for 2nd place. Again, scorn from outside but we were right. In October 2019 we declared the EPL title race over and awarded it to Liverpool. Again, we spoke only about the fight for 2nd place and despite covid, we were right.

On September 3rd, 2020, I published an article on why Liverpool wouldn’t win the EPL. It was the result of academic and sports research over many months. Interviews with sports specialists, ex-footballers and coaches who worked with Klopp and Liverpool. And key were zoom calls with staff from and associated with Liverpool FC. The premise was simple and clear - they were in danger of burnout and needed to take a season off. I also predicted a slew of injuries that had roots in over-exertion. It caused an uproar that echoes to today, despite cries from corrupted insiders that it was all a conspiracy.

Naturally, Liverpool had their injury meltdown and didn’t win the EPL. In October 2021 we told our listeners to put the house on Man City winning again. There was dissent in the studio, but we were 100% sure and proved right, again. So just why is Jurgen going to lose his job soon? Especially after they just beat Russian-owned Bournemouth 9-0 yesterday.

Ben Davies leaving Liverpool training with his asthma inhaler (though the report got it backwards)

In early May this year, Jurgen Klopp had a falling out with 2 of Liverpool’s top executives. But, he’s 4 more years as Liverpool boss and to pay him off would be a huge ego hit to cash-rich Fenway Sports Group who own Liverpool and Anfield. Klopp’s beefs were that he didn’t want to lose Sadio Mane, he wanted to buy 3 players and he was looking to improve his contract conditions. According to a person at the meeting in Anfield, he felt like his hands were tied behind his back while other clubs were spending freely.

As a former colleague of his put it:

Jurgen feels he has given much to the club and city. He’s seen (Man) City and Newcastle with their money and doesn’t want to keep relying on luck. And it’s time, in his head, for a change. This is always the time when this starts.

Fanboys and finance bros will point to Jurgen making Liverpool so much money, yet Tom Werner, Liverpool’s Chairman, sees it differently. To him the club have subsidised Klopp to the tune of £173million in the transfer market since January 2016. That is what they’ve lost on his dealings. Add agent’s fees, signing-on bonuses and taxes alone, Liverpool have a deficit of close to £250million since Jurgen’s arrival in October 2015. Klopp, himself, earns just over £15million per year after taxes with a further £7million in advertising deals. He can retire now and never worry about money, yet he is in peak earning potential and will find it impossible to get another job that pays as much.

Adored by Liverpool fans and respected by fans in general, he is now an icon

Jurgen has brought Liverpool as far as he can. They will not win the Premier League this year. They will progress to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, but they are not improving. There is nowhere else for him to go and receive the same salary, except Newcastle United and his agent has already rubbished that. Barcelona could find money for him, though he would be getting the afters of his friend and rival Pep Guardiola. Same goes for Bayern and only former club Eintracht Frankfurt would love him enough to break the bank, which they won’t.

Jurgen’s 7 year itch is looking for a scratch and Liverpool are looking at a repeat of what Borussia Dortmund had in 2015. He was frustrated by financial constraints at a club that had nearly gone bankrupt just before his appointment in 2008. He had lost players he needed, signed players he didn’t really want and become bigger than the club. When he left he said that his successes were blocking the club from developing. Those close to him knew he meant it. He is at that point again where he will once again say:

The evil of the good deed

His successes are weighing down the club and with an ownership group purely focussed on the bottom line, the only thing left is a new start. We’ll discuss it in detail tonight on Capital Sports 3.0 from 9pm CET.