Founders' Choice: The Jürgen Klopp Post

Liverpool shows me how the Dallas Cowboys can next emerge from the wilderness.

Today’s piece is the next in our “Founders Choice” series. This one has been requested from a few different founding subscribers who asked if I could write about Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp at some point. If you don’t know who that is, you will if you read this. In short, he retired from managing Liverpool last month and it was a very big deal to me (and I suppose those who wanted me to write this). I hope you enjoy.

Every organization needs their Jürgen Klopp. The problem is there might be only one.

Let me attempt to explain.

I have spent the last nine years thinking about two different teams every single day. One is the Dallas Cowboys and the other is Liverpool Football Club.

Sure, there are other teams that get thought about, but not every single day. Just those two.

And, as I think about those two daily, it has occurred to me over and over again that the Dallas Cowboys need their Jürgen Klopp now worse than ever.

So, who is he?

For those who don’t know, Jürgen Klopp is a leader of men who had the audacity to see a giant that had forgotten how to win and to then think he was the one who could fix it.

Then, he did.

In Liverpool’s case, they were down bad after last winning their league in 1990. He was hired over 25 seasons later and his very first press conference he addressed what had happened and how it all needs to change and it starts with everyone:

“You have to change from a doubter to a believer. We have to start together new and then we will see what will happen this year.”

He wasn’t talking just to his team. He also wasn’t talking just to his organization. He was literally talking to anyone who loved that club and wanted to see a return to glory at some point before we all died of old age. Most specifically those who are inside the stadium. He thought the first thing he should address when he arrived at Anfield in 2015 was the massive cloud of doubt over a once mighty giant of a club.

“I ask that you believe in this team and believe that together we can achieve great things.

“The team will go out and battle for you and look to represent you, the club and the city in how we approach our work: this is my commitment.”

And that is how it started. It made me think of a time that I barely remember when there were coaches in our sports who didn’t just worry about getting their next contract or saving their own skin, but rather, had a bigger vision of how they could create something better than what they found by simply understanding how broad their focus should be.

In other words, being a coach has been diminished by our society, in my opinion. The last many Cowboys coaches, and really coaches of just about every pro team everywhere, feel replaceable and temporary. Why change too much furniture since we will just have to change it back when this next guy gets fired in a few years?

Whether it is Jason Garrett, Mike McCarthy, or Wade Phillips, there is never a feeling that these guys are comfortable enough to be talking directly to the fanbase. They are quickly portrayed as being in too deep of water to feel at home and appear immediately defensive and almost on trial when they are questioned. They honestly seem hired just to eventually be fired. They may win, but they will never truly connect with those who care about this team. How can they? They follow legends like Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson.

Those are superheroes. They would never stand a chance, especially when the owner and his family never let you actually be in charge and the public knows this better than anyone. You are simply the next guy, and you will be followed by the next guy after that.

But, that is what made Klopp so unique.

He had a way about him that was so magnetic and so authentic that you were willing to buy whatever he was selling. And what he was selling was not just a style of play, but an understanding of what this all means. An embracing of what the club meant to millions and more directly, the damage of the diseases of apathy and doubt.

When your public and most loyal supporters stop believing in what once was their whole purpose, then the burden of apathy and doubt work against you. It informs every opinion about every thing. And it isn’t just on message boards and the radio. It gets in the minds of those who play for the team. Soon, they don’t look like they are trying to accomplish a task. Rather, they look like they are trying to accomplish a task while the weight of the world sits on their shoulders. One look at Dak Prescott’s face during the first half of the Green Bay playoff game proves that it is a real thing.

Klopp knew this was the disease at Liverpool. People stopped believing. And the doubt and self-defeat that hung over the club was making the players play with jitters and nerves. It ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy and Klopp addressed this long before he ever won anything there. History is what makes our sports special, but was only important to a point.

History is only the base for us. But you’re not allowed to carry around your big history with you in a backpack.”

The thing I kept thinking about when I wanted to write this piece was a conversation I was a part of recently with a fellow Premier League enthusiast.

He asked me who my favorite Liverpool player was during this run and while Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk both are greatly admired, I honestly think my favorite player wasn’t a player at all. It was Jürgen Klopp.

Now, think about that. When was the last time – except maybe for college football fans – that your favorite character in your sports story was not even a player?

Tom Landry? Vince Lombardi? John Wooden?

How many guys are such a driving force of their teams that while the players matter, it is bigger than any one player? Players come and go quickly and are usually following an individual agenda in a team sport. They want their next contract or their next promotion because they have a family and a small window. Before long, it feels like your team has 53 characters all playing for 53 different purposes. Themselves.

Then, if you are being run by a coach who is not even 100% the coach of his own team because his boss likes to be a celebrity, well, no wonder the Cowboys have a fanbase full of doubters.

No wonder the apathy and disgust and overall doubt of Cowboys football lingers over every move they make.

Jürgen Klopp watched from afar as Liverpool struggled and I targeted him as a solution. Here is the very first mention of him on my Twitter account and it is a full six months before he was hired.

Six months for him to diagnose his squad, the style, his plans. He had many, but the first thing he wanted was to tell the public that this is a new day and that we need you on our side.

You have to change from a doubter to a believer.

Imagine a Cowboys coach telling you that at his introductory press conference. Imagine someone understanding the malaise of a once-feared giant of a franchise that has fallen into a 30-year wilderness. And then imagine that he thinks one of the main things he needs to address is to get the city behind the boys and to believe again in what is possible.

He had plenty more things to say that were part of a belief system that things are different now around here. It doesn’t mean that the side won’t lose because winning is very difficult. It doesn’t mean that there will be parades every year because winning championships is nearly impossible.

He quickly changed how the team played and what sort of players could play for him. They had to play at a tempo that required energy. That energy would produce a style that fit well in a stadium that wanted energetic play. He was perfect for Liverpool because he wanted to feed off the energy and then produce more in a symbiotic relationship where his team would not lose at home. And one reason they won’t lose at home is because you, the city, understand that you better bring the noise, too.

You see, that is giving and taking ownership. That is circling the wagons but not excluding the loyalists. They get to be in the circle if they choose to be. But in order to be in this circle, I need you to bring belief and determination that this is your team and you play a role. You do it with your voice, your presence, and your unwavering support.

We will win together and we will lose together.

Cynicism kills that. Our coach stinks. Our QB stinks. We are never going to win again. In following the Dallas Cowboys, I have seen the fanbase turn on literally every special player they have had for 26 seasons. I have seen it. Losing is a disease and apathy and doubt are byproducts.

Klopp addressed them early and while it took some years for the trophies to come, they definitely did and the last nine years came and went and the smile barely ever left my face because he did exactly what he said he would. And honestly, the trophies were not the reward. It was getting to watch his team play every week and feeling apart of something awesome – even if I was 4,000 miles away for most every match.

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It is hard to explain Jürgen to someone who has never heard of him. He wasn’t just a leader who made bold proclamations and earned everyone’s undying support. He was an emotional engine. This all mattered so much to him and he could not hide it. He ruled Liverpool, but in a way that made him nearly worshiped. He was kind, but demanding. He brought joy with the way he saw today’s match as the most important thing and his boys were going to play with all of their hearts, because that is how he managed them.

His celebrations were legendary and his enthusiasm was contagious. He literally pulled his hamstring celebrating one goal versus Tottenham and was chastised for his part in celebrating another goal against Everton as he ran on the field like a lunatic. A third time he broke his glasses celebrating with his boys in Norwich.

So, here is this guy who might be the happiest for Liverpool goals, best at urging the crowd to lose its mind, and able to inspire his players to be at their best and dare to win every week. He did it all and still seemed to be just another guy with the gift of inspiring emotions.

People will say that he only won the Premier League once at Liverpool. It is true. They won it all in 2019-20 and they also set the record two other times for most points history without winning because Manchester City was so darn inevitable:

Liverpool hold the record as the best team not to win the Premier League — accumulating 97 points in 2018-19 and 92 in 2021-22 but coming second in both campaigns.

But, in those nine years, they won a ton. He managed almost 500 games for Liverpool and lost just 85 over nine years in all competitions.

He also made matches at his home stadium of Anfield incredible and positive:

The Reds were unbeaten in the Premier League at home for three years and 272 days between April 2017 and January 2021.

And while Pep Guardiola and he had a rivalry for the ages, they both join Sir Alex Ferguson as the only three managers in the history of the Premier League to take their English clubs to titles in both the Premier League and the Champions League. Nobody is trying to make the case that he was greater than Sir Alex or Pep. But, one of three? That is pretty salty work and, more importantly for people who love this club, he brought them all the way back to the top of the mountain.

But, again, to make it about the trophies and the end of the 30-year drought is missing the point.

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He unified the culture. He brought the personal agendas of the players to the same place. Sure, many still wanted raises and some wanted to leave. Fine. If it fits into the structure of what we are trying to build, great. If it doesn’t, then we must find someone else. No problem.

He unified the supporters. The undercutting of every new hire and every new idea needed to stop. Winning is hard enough, so we should stop with the self-sabotage.

His greatest night is shown below. This picture is after a team that was plenty shorthanded and behind 3-0 needed to beat Messi and Barcelona by four to advance to the Champions League Final.

Before the match, he kept the belief alive because he did believe it, even though coming back from 3-0 against Barcelona doesn’t happen.

“That is the plan: just try. If we can do it, wonderful. If not, then fail in the most beautiful way.”

Then, they did it. An absurd 4-0 win over Barcelona made grown men weep with joy and brought the whole squad to sing back to the stadium and the Kop “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

It is a memory that will last a lifetime. There he is with Virgil on his left and Salah on his right and it was the true moment where everything was possible again for a club that had found new ways to fail every year before he arrived.

It is a picture that shows what is possible if you have someone with a vision who can sell it to everyone to get on board. We are going to be champions again soon and I would hate for you to miss it because you were too cynical.

Three weeks earlier, I was there. I was inside Anfield and in the Kop end. I saw them beat Chelsea, 2-0 on April 14 and it would be a bit before the May 7th defeat of Barca in that same stadium. Mo Salah scored a goal that day that I will never forget and afterwards, nobody moved until Klopp came over to see us to give us those famous three fist pumps.

I never felt more alive than that moment in time. The man who made us all believe was acknowledging our part in his plan.

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He left us a month ago for retirement. I am sure he will manage again somewhere, but the man goes so hard that he needed to take a break from the life. He gave the club what he had to give. He left it all better than he found it.

“This is a very, very special club. I didn’t make them (the fans) believe, I reminded them that it helps when you believe.”

He changed the club and it is much, much better than it has been since I started following them. He made us all think back to his opening press conference when he basically forecasted the next beautiful nine years:

"It's not important what people think when you come in, it's much more important what people think when you leave."

He has now left. Life now goes on without him, but in a way, we assume his presence will always be felt and referenced. Like Landry, Lombardi, and Wooden, the impact he made will stay for generations. And just to be sure, a statue will be created sooner rather than later.

Many of us aren’t going to be ready to love again for a while. His successor is in place, but what a job; to follow the legend is no easy task.

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Again, I circle back to the concurrent relationship of the Dallas Cowboys and Liverpool and think about how many things are similar. Three decades in the wilderness, a fanbase that has gone into full doubt mode, and just an apathy of nothingness.

It takes me back to the same conclusion again and again. For the Cowboys to rise again, it seems they need to find their own Jürgen Klopp. It is much more complicated, of course, if you have an owner who never wants to concede the spot at the top, but I am convinced that is the remedy for this disease.

The Cowboys need a guy who understands how Cowboys fans feel and understands how the players need to free themselves of pressure and just work together for the dream. They need a guy who tells everyone to dare to dream again and then lead them on that mission with his expertise, guile, and confidence.

They forever have needed that guy who brings joy back to Cowboys football the way Jürgen did with Liverpool.

But, how? How and where would the Cowboys ever find their one true Klopp? It would take two things. The perfect man for the job and the perfect scenario where the organization would understand that they need to get out of his way.

Both are easier to imagine than to make a reality. He wasn’t just a manager. He was the man to revive a franchise that lost its way for three decades. And I am so happy to have seen it happen. It mattered to a lot of people that find joy in football.

“I’ve said before that football always seems the most important of the least important things.” - Jürgen Klopp

As for the Cowboys, I hope they find someone who can change the legions of doubters back into believers.