The German had little choice but to confirm his exit in January given the news would have been leaked eventually anyway
It was at Old Trafford in March that Jurgen Klopp saw his Liverpool side struggling physically for the first time. Five weeks later at Goodison Park, he realised that they were mentally exhausted too. Liverpool were still in the title race and yet several players looked as if they just wanted the season to end there and then. Klopp was horrified. He could forgive fatigue, but not surrender.
"In Germany, when the crowd is not happy with the team and they think they are not fighting enough they sing a song 'Wir wollen euch kampfen sehen' that translates into 'We want to see you fight!' I was close to singing that," a visibly distraught Klopp confessed to reporters after the dismal derby defeat at Everton. "Never has one of my teams heard that ever. Never. I never heard anyone say my team didn't fight – because my team [always] went for it. And now it's: 'Wow, how can that happen?'"
However, some supporters and pundits are in no doubt as to why Liverpool have stumbled down the home stretch. They believe that the Reds were doomed to end the season on a low from the moment Klopp revealed he would be stepping down this summer, believing he only has himself to blame for this most underwhelming of send-offs.
Getty'Running out of energy'
Klopp made his resignation announcement on January 26 and nobody saw it coming. A pre-match press conference had been rescheduled without warning or explanation, but not a single club correspondent had even an inclination that the end might be near for one of Liverpool's greatest-ever managers.
On the contrary, after a difficult 2022-23 campaign, he appeared refreshed and revitalised by the challenge of constructing his next great team. The 'Liverpool Reloaded' project wasn't just progressing well; it was going better than anyone could have expected, with the Reds competing on four fronts.
However, in trying to explain a decision that devastated Liverpool fans, Klopp said that he was "running out of energy" and given his team is too now, it is now being argued that there is a connection between the two. It's pure rubbish, though.
AdvertisementGetty Images'Absolutely fine now'
Klopp explained at the time that his batteries were still fully charged, that he was still "absolutely fine" and fired up to finish with a flourish, clarifying his position by saying that he had simply come to the inevitable conclusion that he could not continue in such a demanding role forever.
He, thus, believed that it would be best bow out at the peak of his powers while he could still do the job to the best of his ability. There was no suggestion that his powers were starting to wane; only an admission that he didn't feel as if he'd be up for going again next season.
Consequently, he wanted to give the club as much time as possible to prepare for his departure and begin the difficult search for a successor.
'Not possible to keep things secret'
Klopp also pointed out that he felt compelled to go public with the news in January as there was little chance of his imminent exit remaining a secret for long. In fact, he was surprised that the news hadn't already been leaked to the press, given he had informed his employers in November.
"In an ideal world, I wouldn't have said anything to anybody until the end of the season, win everything and then say goodbye. That’s not possible," he said. "In the world we are living in, it’s not possible to keep things like this secret…
"There are so many things which are influenced by it, especially personal situations. People from my staff need to know early – and especially the club needs to know early and needs to plan… You can do a lot of stuff with knowing it but not making it public, but the decisive things, a lot of things, you cannot do. That means the club needs time."
Getty 'Wheels coming off down to Klopp'
That rationale is now being questioned by the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, who makes his money dealing solely in reactions of the knee-jerk variety. "This season, the wheels coming off at Liverpool is down to Jurgen Klopp," the former Aston Villa forward, who never won a trophy during his playing days, told . "Coming out and making the announcement so early in the season was the wrong decision."
It was Klopp's decision to make, though. This is a manager – and a human being – who has left an indelible mark on Liverpool, both the club and the city. He had more than earned the right to decide when and how he would walk away.
Secondly, the idea that Liverpool unravelled because of the timing of Klopp's announcement is ludicrous. Not a single player has suggested that giving the manager the ideal send-off became a burden or affected their player in any way, shape or form. There was no sudden effect on results either.
As former captain Phil Thompson pointed out in his column on "We had two months of wonderful football after he made his announcement at the end of January" – during which time an injury-ravaged Liverpool somehow managed to win the Carabao Cup with a team containing several academy graduates.