This is almost like Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill leaving Man Utd at the same time. There will be a lot of change at Liverpool, and it will inevitably be a bumpy ride.
Yeah, rivalry aside, I have a lot of respect for Klopp. I did always worry about him burning out — he was always such a high energy guy, and it must be very difficult to sustain that for as long as he did.
Xabi Alonso is the natural replacement, especially since the Real Madrid job appears to be off the market for a while longer. Klopp and Alonso's football are not terribly similar, but Liverpool will have to evolve with the inevitable departures, anyway.
I think Klopp may leave Liverpool's squad in somewhat better shape than Ferguson did when he retired. But otherwise the comparison is apt and I completely agree that we are in for a period of uncertainty. what FSG do with it next is a gigantic question.
The fact of the matter is that there is no good blueprint for continuity after an exceptional manager leaves. Unless it's a chaos blueprint like Real Madrid and Chelsea...'just hire whomever the most hyped manager is right now and hope for the best.' It's like Roman emperors - the empire flourishes under a good one, but if his successor is a dud, or even 'good' but out of his depth or faced with unforeseen disasters to try and fix, things go to pot fast.
Everyone's talking about Xabi Alonso, and the early signs point to him being a genuinely good manager, but crowning him as Klopp's successor is emotion and an easy headline connecting some obvious dots...not a considered opinion. As you point out, he doesn't play the same type of football, so it means big change no matter what. Even if Xabi is a desirable candidate I wonder if we should bring in a sacrificial lamb first, our version of David Moyes or Unai Emery...
Publicly, the whole thing is up in the air. But if FSG really were informed of this months ago, they
should already have a plan for what to do next. As a cynic and pessimist, my gut tells me this could be the point at which the FSG ownership passes its peak and takes its first steps towards they day they are run out of town. I hope I am wrong, but replacing Klopp is impossible and even achieving the next best thing (whatever that looks like) will be difficult. I accept that, but the process will expose FSG and they certainly have their work cut out for them.
And Man City are set to tighten their cold, ruthless grip on English football even further in the short term. Ugh.
I do respect for Klopp leaving on his own terms though - a real sign of wisdom in my eyes. He will go out having done everything asked of him, with an unblemished legacy and general goodwill. Having the self-control to go out on top is very difficult. If he's feeling some burnout I would, even as a Liverpool fan who wants him to stay, say he is right to go now. He came in, won things, played fun and attractive football, and left of his own accord when his stock was high. You can hardly do better than that.
But he's going to break English hearts in a knockout tournament at the helm of Germany someday. 😆 I'd love to see him go back to Germany and take titles off Bayern with Dortmund or some other team.
