With the dawn of the new Premier League season, it is a heartfelt tribute from me, as a Liverpool fan to pen down my sentiments on Jurgen Klopp. Here goes an ode to one of the most charismatic managers from the premier league, or be it anywhere in world football. Damn!! You will be missed Kloppo. Thank you for all the memories.
As he stood there waving his final goodbye in front of the Kop, there were tears of joy transcending from a vast majority of Liverpool supporters. Personally, I had already gone through the rollercoaster of emotions since Jurgen Klopp announced his impending departure from the role of Manager of the club that I have astutely followed and supported for the last 20+ years.
When Klopp was announced as the Manager of Liverpool Football Club in October 2015, I could relate to the famous line from the movie, “Jerry Maguire” where Renee Zellweger said, “You had me at Hello”. Klopp’s personality, charisma, romanticism, and outlandish attitude was an envy for football supporters worldwide. He was being positioned to take over the reigns of management for the club which I had been following as a little boy. This feeling gyrated a sense of optimism despite the on-field issues and the lack of quality in terms of the playing squad which Liverpool possessed.
Klopp made the famous rendition of turning me into a believer. For a larger part of my fan following story, I had been a doubter until that time. The league being dominated by the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and the newly rising Manchester City. Apart from some cup runs, a few upsets in the league, along with a title charge (like the one led by the madness and magnificence of Luis Suarez) in 2013/14, Liverpool were looked like underdogs in heavy weight clashes and title run ins. With the prosperous history of the club, there was a sense of a dawn in sight, yet there was a lack of belief within me when it came to Liverpool being a superpower and looked as a serial winner.
With Klopp’s arrival, I was optimistic, in a sense, like how Morpheus was with Neo. I had a belief in place that “He is the One”. I was sure that this is it in terms of the false dawns and the near misses. This is the occasion where the final step will be reached in terms of making Liverpool believe as a whole and start fighting. Leaders carry a secret formula, with them getting people together, reaching to levels of output which seem exponentially higher than what individuals can achieve. Synergy, Teamwork, Togetherness are all vague terms for this feature in theory, however, once this is looked in place, its simply termed as magic. The true marvel appears like a snowball rolling in with a lot of momentum possessed.
The timespan for Klopp’s reign at Liverpool is etched into folklore. At a personal level, I have learnt a lot. Some of the learnings and events from Klopp’s reign will have an everlasting impact on my life as a fan, as a football fanatic.
- The first step towards making giant stride is to “Believe”. When Klopp first came in, he gave us the famous punchline of turning the fans from doubters to believers. If you don’t believe in yourself, believe in the collective, then no amount of hard work or grit will be sufficient to help you cross the line. Always, Believe!!
- Focus on the efforts, focus on the inputs, and have a burning desire to improve. Whatever trade or skill you are striving for, there will never be an optimal preparation and ingredients available for success from the get-go. Effort is what counts and effort is the need of the hour for any sort of progress
- It takes time for people to acknowledge your progress and jump onto the bandwagon, so be patient and keep working. You need to trust the process and persevere despite the challenges and the hardships. For people to onboard with you and your vision, there is a necessity to cross tangible milestones, until then you need to be persistent and keep trying
- Accept losses, acknowledge failure, and take the defeats on your chin. You need to be mindful of the mistakes and vow to alter the results with change of actions. Do not repeat mistakes and rely on hope or wish to ride on luck alone
- At times, in life, talent, grit and the desire for better results will not be sufficient to help you cross the line. Accept the importance of luck and the role it plays towards achieving something. Luck can come in the form of plain luck or can be created through effort or leverage, just be mindful that no success has been achieved by people in the absence of luck
- Do not let the feeling of being alone dishearten you. There is always someone, somewhere in the corner rooting for you. Your near misses and losses are the stepping stones towards aggregating positive outcomes in future. Be your own supporter and root for yourself
- Be compassionate. Give back. Being a wonderful human should be on top of your wish list no matter what you are able to achieve
- You win some, you lose some, but you can’t win them all. It is important to battle in any field or endeavor with heart and desire. Do not let the sense of inferiority make any task or outcome seem too big. Just don’t quit, be persistent with your efforts, you will get surprised in terms of how far you have come
- Be grateful for the fact that you had a pursuit and were able to realise some value through your efforts. Avoid burnout and understand the need to pause or stop whenever necessary. Alexander and the greatest of conquerors ended up all buried. Accept the fact that whatever started must end at one point of time
It doesn’t matter what people say when you come in. What matters is what they say when you leave. The life learnings I have garnered from Jurgen Klopp will be with me forever. I had a personal relation with Klopp, and the learnings acquired over his reign as the manager of Liverpool will help guide my life compass. Danke Jurgen!! You’ll Never Walk Alone.