The surprise breakup, Klopp and Liverpool separate and action plans begin

Many people would be alarmed to get those messages from their fiancée, but fortunately I had already seen the news out of Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp was stepping down. Given that this was her response, she probably won’t object to me likening Klopp’s departure from Liverpool to a breakup. Worse than that, a breakup that came completely out of nowhere.

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Usually, you can see the signs. Things are rocky, even if you choose to ignore it, and when the blow comes it is dulled by a sense of inevitability and on some level, perhaps even relief. But Liverpool and Klopp had done the healthy thing. They had worked through their issues. Things weren’t perfect last season, far from it, but the manager never stopped communicating, and there was a collective will to put things right. This season, up until yesterday, seemed to be the fruit of those labors. Liverpool and Klopp had put in the work, and things were as good as they had ever been before. I had no inkling that anything was about to upset this newfound equilibrium.

Not from Klopp, obviously. This breakup was delivered via a third party a friend from journalism school, in my case. In 2024, the moment was never going to be exactly the same as when Bill Shankly left, with the terrible news gradually delivered via word-of-mouth. But there was that same emotional journey in miniature: the confusion, the belief that this must be some kind of joke or mistake, and then the gut-wrenching realization after rushing to the Liverpool website.

In fairness to Klopp, the text is not a reflection on him. He couldn’t control how the news first reached individuals, but he did this breakup properly: he took Liverpool fans out to dinner, sat them down and explained that it wasn’t us, it was him. But when has that ever provided much by way of consolation? I felt truly blindsided, unable to properly process what Klopp was telling us.

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The reason for the decision

Why now? He has explained it very clearly, he is tired, he needs a break but as I watched the heartbreaking interview, the words more or less washed over me. I could not take them in. As we came through the bad times together last season, Klopp realized that the breakup would never come from Liverpool’s side. He knew that the onus was on him to call it off. So even as he set about fixing things, Klopp knew on some level that he would one day pull the rug. No doubt he was trying to do the right thing by getting Liverpool to a healthy place before parting ways, and in time I will come to appreciate him for that, but in doing so he made me utterly unprepared for his hammer blow.