Alright Reds. Been a while since I’ve done one of these but there hasn’t been anything I’ve wanted to get off my chest. Now there is…..
I’ve seen loads of talk recently on the ‘Twittersphere’ about the relationship between the club and the fans being closer than ever. I have to say I totally agree. The ‘overall package’ being produced by this club is like nothing I have seen before.
We are starting to dominate off the pitch as well as on it and you can’t help but think this influence is all down to Jurgen Klopp. And to top it all off we as fans have been integrated into this process.
Cast your mind back to the 13th of December 2016. Liverpool v West Brom. The game wasn’t really remembered for the football on the pitch but more so for the antics afterwards. Klopp tried to rally the fans after trailing ‘The Baggies’ with just over fifteen minutes to go.
We as fans got behind the team and as much as it pains me to type this, we spurred them on to a 2-2 draw thanks to a last minute goal from Divock Origi. Ok, not the point I wanted to make but it’s what happened after that thats important.
We’ve all seen the images, we’ve all seen Sky Sports absolutely milk the video and we’ve all got that prick of a mate that still goes ‘remember that time you celebrated a 2-2 draw with West Brom’.
We get the fucking picture.
Was this the start of something special we were all unaware of at the time? Was this Jurgen Klopp doing his thing? Was this the moment he started to bring the fans closer to the club? I’m starting to think so.
Klopp is one of us, he’s a fan. You see him in interviews and he comes across as genuine. He has the same morals and beliefs as many fans and you know where you stand with him. He brought us closer to the club because of his style on and off the pitch.
His mannerisms and the sense of togetherness injected by Klopp feels even sweeter when you look around other teams. I know United fans that have stopped going to their games because the football is boring and the manager is a miserable bastard.
Going back to the West Brom game, Klopp didn’t have the quality players he wanted, it wasn’t even his team. What did he have in his locker? The ability to unite the club, fans and players. And we had no idea it was going on.
Now we have the quality to back it up, now we can be considered contenders, by fans and pundits!
Klopp is an emotional guy, sometimes he is reprimanded for it. Other times he’s applauded. Like the time he wanted to knock out Tony Pulis.
Of course it’s easier to judge the bigger picture after a long period of time, to be honest I wasn’t fully behind it at the time but if I knew what was to come I’d have been all for it. This was Jurgen and the team thanking the fans for their input.
Something which is hugely underrated in my opinion. Maybe a 2-2 at home to West Brom wasn’t the place I thought it would happen but you often see fans of other clubs complain at the little things.
Going into this season the synergy between the club, Klopp and the fans is at an unreal level. Klopp has developed something which I’ve never seen during my time supporting Liverpool. We have reached a point now where we have expectations of the players and they have expectations of us. That’s the way it should be. We are all in this together. We have a role to play, not just on Champions League nights, I mean EVERY game.
Equally, we need something to cheer about, I get that. We have invested into buying quality players not just the odd one. We’ve implemented a spine better than I have ever witnessed. We haven’t bought shite, we haven’t spunked £20m on a ‘Markovic like’ signing and there’s not even a sniff of a panic buy.
In a short period of time this club has done a complete 180. We sold Luis Suarez and replaced him with Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli. Recently, we’ve sold Phil Coutinho and replaced him with Keita, Fabinho and Alisson.
‘Levels’ as the youth would say.
Players are turning down the likes of Chelsea and Man City to join us and our fans actually enjoy watching us play. Who’s fucking laughing now?
Of course this isn’t all down to Jurgen, it’s down to us. How many times have players referenced the atmosphere as part of their reason for joining the club? Loads. It all ties in together and there’s no better feeling.
We’ve invested in the stadium, creating an ever better atmosphere, a cauldron, an intimidating, glorious place to watch football. A far cry from the West Brom game.
Then there’s a host of people behind the scenes including a certain Michael Edwards who has gone from zero to hero in recent months linking all this together, we’ve come a long way since fucking up the deal for Virgil.
There is still the obvious argument that Klopp/Liverpool haven’t won anything for a while which will be a burden until we can finally overcome that hurdle. All that matters to me is that we continue to improve, which we are doing. Klopp took Liverpool to two finals with a team that wasn’t even his. Then took us all the way to the Champions League final when we weren’t even expected to be there!
IF we continue to improve then surely the next step for us is silverware? I might be getting giddy about the league starting and I’m not falling into that trap of ‘this year could be our year’. Liverpool fans don’t say that.
But this is the strongest Liverpool team I have seen, I’m hopeful of something. And if all else fails you can guarantee that we will all enjoy the ride. Is that considered settling for mediocrity? Maybe.
I have high hopes, but I won’t kick off if we don’t win anything. There seems to be this school of thought that Klopp has to win something this season. I disagree. Do I want him to win something? Yes. Do I expect him to win something? Yes. But doesn’t have to win something.
For a start I don’t know where you go from Klopp at the moment. Just look at his cheeky little face.
There’s always a level of excitement and expectation before the Premier League starts and none more so than this one. We don’t have any distractions, there isn’t some little bastard handing in a transfer request the day before the season **Touch wood* and we’ve integrated a healthy balance of using youth players, securing some absolute fucking talent and tying down our star players to long term contracts which helps cement the loyalty and dedication we crave as fans.
I’m also fully behind Daniel Sturridge this season. Injuries aside he’s come back with a different attitude. Maybe playing for West Brom and stealing taxi’s in Barcelona wasn’t for him.
To go back to my original point, this season is going to be epic. WE are going to be epic.
Up the Reds
Ross
@rossic89