According to many a world soccer expert this morning Jurgen Klopp has taken Borussia Dortmund as far as he can, and it’s time that he jumped ship to a real club in a real league, a club such as, say, Arsenal in a league such as, oh I dunno, the Premier League.
Excuse me while I wretch.
Such arrogance is rampant of course, after all every coach and player one day aspires to play in the big bad Prem, right? What I find so galling is that if these so called experts really sat down and thought about the situation, they would write something quite contrary. Because, in fact, Klopp is at the perfect club.
The German’s accomplishments at Dortmund since 2008 dwarf the accomplishments of any Premier League manager not called Sir Alex Ferguson: Two Bundesliga titles, a German Cup, a Super-Cup, two manager of the year awards and a Champions League final. Not bad.
He has brought this club back the success it deserves after a trying period in financial purgatory, and has rebuilt after every season as star after star is scooped by one of Europe’s glitzy monied elite. That will happen this off-season as Robert Lewandowski departs to join former teammate Mario Goetze at Bayern Munich.
Klopp enjoys it all, that much is obvious. Here is a man who welcome’s challenge, and with such charisma can go eye-to-eye with the big boys and tell them that his team is coming for them, no matter who they lure away from his stable of talent.
On Tuesday his team was considered dead, down 3-0 to Real Madrid entering the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. But from somewhere Dortmund yet again reached deep and ran riot over the team many (including myself) proclaimed as the ones to beat this season. Dortmund may have come up short over the two legs, but what an inspiring performance from one of the most watchable teams in world footy.
One day Jurgen Klopp may well be lured to an uber-rich club, and if so he’ll be extremely successful. But to patronise him, his club and the German Bundesliga by stating he’s gone as far as he can might be just enough motivation for him to remain at Dortmund a little longer.
It is a shame that Saturday’s match with Bayern Munich means so little (Bayern locked up the title weeks ago) because that would be a match to suit this team beautifully.
NOTE: This weekend English football will mark the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. On April 15th, 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died in a tragedy that would fundamentally change the game as we know it. As new inquests into those deaths begin, this weekend is a time to reflect and remember. Liverpool FC is honouring the memory of those fans in some style this season, welcoming Manchester City to Anfield for a tilt that may well define the title race. It will be an emotional weekend, but as we have seen in recent years, the game will elevate both reams and even those clubs with a deep-rooted rivalry with Liverpool will do themselves and the sport proud. It will be sad, but we will be very proud of our game.
JFT96.