Jurgen Klopp has been talking for less than two minutes when he says, with cheery clarity, that he misses \u201cnothing\u201d about his former life as a coach.<\/p>\n
Klopp left Liverpool in the summer of 2024, ending a nine-year reign in which he stamped his personality not just on Anfield but on English football. He won the club\u2019s first top-flight title in three decades and lifted the Champions League, introducing a nation to his trademark \u201cheavy metal football\u201d in the process.<\/p>\n
So when last season began, with Klopp out of work and his replacement Arne Slot in situ at Liverpool, was he waiting by the television for the weekend\u2019s games to begin?<\/p>\n
\u201cNot. At. All,\u201d he says, speaking in staccato to underline his point. \u201cI was super happy with the way Liverpool performed. I watched some games. But it is not like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s Saturday!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know when games started. I was just out. I played sports. We enjoyed life, spent time with the grandkids, completely normal stuff, knowing I will work again. But knowing as well, that I don\u2019t want to work as a coach anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not ever again?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I think,\u201d he nods. \u201cBut you don\u2019t know. I\u2019m 58. If I started again at 65, everybody will say, \u2018You said you\u2019ll never do it again!\u2019 Er, sorry, I thought 100 per cent (when I said it)! That is what I think now. I don\u2019t miss anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Jurgen Klopp says goodbye to Anfield in 2024 (Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Klopp is<\/em> back in football but his new job is very different to the pressures of front-line coaching at one of the world\u2019s biggest clubs. In January, he began work as global head of soccer at Red Bull, working across playing philosophy, coaching development and transfer strategy.<\/p>\n The energy drink conglomerate is heavily involved with RB Leipzig in Germany\u2019s Bundesliga, Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga, Paris FC in Ligue 1 in France, New York Red Bulls in MLS, Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil\u2019s Serie A and RB Omiya Ardija in Japan\u2019s J2 League. The company also has a more limited role at the Premier League\u2019s Leeds United, as a minority shareholder and front-of-shirt sponsor.<\/p>\n Klopp is speaking to The Athletic<\/em>, in his most extensive English-language interview since starting his new job, at the New York Red Bulls\u2019 training facility in New Jersey, before attending the team\u2019s derby match against New York City FC. He is wearing a NY Red Bulls baseball cap and sipping from a can of Red Bull Zero, in between puffing away on a vape.<\/p>\n Sixteen months out of the Premier League goldfish bowl appears to have replenished him. He looks younger and leaner. The big grin is still there, particularly when poking fun at Manchester United\u2019s troubles, and he still exhibits his full repertoire of facial expressions \u2014 those unmistakable Kloppisms which give away exactly what he thinks about a subject.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at my career, there are much more successful careers than mine,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I had it all.\u201d<\/p>\n He lists the successes and the disappointments. \u201cI lost more Champions League finals than most people play. I know how to lose and how life goes on. I don\u2019t need to keep my experience for myself. I never did, but I just never had time to talk to people about it because it was the next game coming up. Now if somebody asks me something, I\u2019m the most open book I know.\u201d<\/p>\n A 64-team World Cup, Jurgen? You can imagine the sigh. \u201cI heard about it\u2026 I didn\u2019t even want to start thinking. Honestly, I just saw it and I thought, oh no, I don\u2019t get into that.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty he is prepared to get into, though, starting with the criticism he received when joining Red Bull. The group is contentious in Germany as RB Leipzig legally, but controversially, conform to the Bundesliga\u2019s 50+1 rule, which says 50 per cent plus one share of the voting rights in any club must be held by its members.<\/p>\n Leipzig have regularly been targeted by protests from rival fans, many of whom see the Red Bull model as a marketing tool of a fizzy drink company and a challenge to the soul of German football. For some it felt like a stark change for Klopp who, for much of his managerial career at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, was seen as one of football\u2019s romantics and a guardian of the sport\u2019s traditions.<\/p>\n Even amongst his old fans, there was a backlash. After Klopp\u2019s switch to Red Bull had been confirmed, Leipzig played against his former club Mainz, whose supporters unfurled a banner reading: \u201cDid you forget everything we made you become?\u201d<\/p>\n \n Mainz fans make their feelings known to Jurgen Klopp (Torsten Silz\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n How did he feel about the reaction? \u201cI knew it (would come),\u201d he begins. \u201cI\u2019m German. I know what people in Germany think about the involvement of Red Bull in football. They love Red Bull. In all departments. But in football? No. So whatever, they want to do it that way.<\/p>\n \u201cFunnily enough, it was only in Germany where the reaction was like that. But that\u2019s fine \u2014 no problem. Everybody can think what they want. You just have to accept that I do what I want as long as I don\u2019t hurt anybody.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the way, I don\u2019t expect people to remember what I did for a specific club. The people in Mainz in the stadium now\u2026 they were little kids when I was there (1990-2001 as a player, then seven years as a coach), so their parents had to tell them who I was. So that\u2019s how it is, it is absolutely fine.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t expect everybody to like what I do. I have to do it for the right reasons \u2014 for my right reasons. By the way, in Liverpool, people are overly happy that I do what I do because I am not coaching another team.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there a job which would have earned a better reaction? \u201cIf I went to a foreign country, to Italy or Spain, people would have said, \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s great.\u2019 If I go to Bayern (Munich) or whatever, then especially Dortmund fans would have said, \u2018I don\u2019t like it!\u2019 I finished at Liverpool at 57. I was 100 per cent certain and sure that I will not finish working. I had a break for seven months or so. I enjoyed it \u2014 wow!\u201d<\/p>\n Klopp says he told his girlfriend Ulla, now his wife, in 2001 that he would do \u201c25 years at full throttle without looking left and right\u201d as a football coach. And if it didn\u2019t work out? \u201cUlla said I can drive a taxi.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Klopp with his wife Ulla at Anfield in May (Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The risk, as he puts it, was worth taking. \u201cBut the thought was not that I would do this until the end of my life,\u201d adds Klopp. \u201cI missed nothing in my life because I never thought about it. So during almost 25 years, I twice went to a wedding \u2014 one of them was mine and the other one was two months ago. In 25 years, I have been four times at the cinema \u2014 all in the last eight weeks. It\u2019s now nice to be able to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in so many different countries as a coach and I saw nothing of them; just the hotel, the stadium or the training ground. Nothing else. I did not miss it, but I would now.\u201d<\/p>\n Klopp cherished his experiences and the people who made them, but he is not one for looking back. Since leaving Liverpool he has only returned to Anfield once for a match, the final game of last season when Slot and his players were presented with the Premier League trophy.<\/p>\n He values his new-found freedom and flexibility. \u201cI have the choice,\u201d he says. \u201cI can go on holiday. And I decide when. OK, Ulla decides when.\u201d He laughs. \u201cBut it is not the Premier League or the Bundesliga deciding.\u201d<\/p>\n He says he sometimes leaves training sessions he observes 20 minutes early \u201cbecause I don\u2019t have to see the last bit. I did it my whole life. It\u2019s crazy, but I don\u2019t miss it. I\u2019m still in football, I\u2019m still at work in an environment I know about. But I learn every day new things. I didn\u2019t do that for a while to the extent I do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n It would do Klopp\u2019s commitment a disservice to say he was on autopilot as a coach, but that desire to be challenged, to uncover new things, is clearly a motivation. He says he is nine months into his new role but feels like he has gained five years of experience. He jokes about the realities of everyday corporate existence, going through \u201cfive million different people\u201d to get things done.<\/p>\n \u201cI come from a world where I say I need that<\/em> and it happens. Now I may hear, \u2018I heard you say that\u2019 and it doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n He seems charmed, rather than exasperated, by such occurrences. He is not yet cross-pollinating with Red Bull\u2019s other sporting ventures, including a Formula One team and ventures in ice hockey and cycling. \u201cI watched one F1 race and they kicked out Max Verstappen (the Red Bull racer) after 30 seconds,\u201d he laughs, joking he has not yet dared ask to go to another one.<\/p>\n At Red Bull, he is developing relationships with the group\u2019s sporting directors and coaches. He says the playing style must be defined by \u201cenergy\u201d.<\/p>\n He was involved in an important transfer window for RB Leipzig, who suffered a poor season last year and missed out on European qualification. Twenty-six transfers went in and out and they now have the youngest squad in the Bundesliga. He calls players to sprinkle his stardust and help get deals over the line. He says he reviews videos or profiles of players if he is asked. \u201cWhen they\u2019re 100 per cent sure, they don\u2019t have to show me. But I was involved in a lot at Paris FC and Leipzig.\u201d<\/p>\n He says the Red Bull fit makes sense. For much of his career, he was a club builder as well as a coach. His own style of play mirrored much of Red Bull\u2019s identity and Liverpool signed players from Red Bull teams, including Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Dominik Szoboszlai. He had coached at clubs, like the Red Bull teams, who knew their place within the football ecosystem.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not the final destination,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are not Liverpool\u2026 or in former times Man United!\u201d Another loud laugh. \u201cYou can write that if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n He became accustomed to developing talent, selling it on and reconstructing. Even his best Liverpool team was arguably made possible by Barcelona buying Philippe Coutinho for \u00a3142million ($191m at current exchange rates), providing the funds to sign defender Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson.<\/p>\n \n Klopp at New York Red Bull (Adam Crafton\/The Athletic)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Klopp was intimately involved in planning for new training centres at his three previous clubs. Last week he was given a tour of the New York team\u2019s new training facility, which is under construction. \u201cIt will be state of the art and I have never seen something like it. Crazy, really cool. I walked in and changed two things immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n He grins. \u201cBut the last thing I want to be is the old man in the room\u2026\u201d He puts on the voice of a geriatric. \u201cThe one who says, \u2018In the past, everything was good. We did it like that!\u2019 Hopefully I finish before I reach that point. I want to be the counterpart. I want to be, if necessary, the emergency call of the coaches or sporting directors, the guy they call when they don\u2019t know who to talk to. You need to create a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been coaching changes at Red Bull, most notably when Marco Rose, Klopp\u2019s former player at Mainz, was removed at Leipzig. \u201cIt\u2019s not great. It will never be my hobby. But it\u2019s things you have to do,\u201d says Klopp. \u201cWhat I want is to hire coaches for the right reasons. And if you finish working together, then it is also for the right reasons and not for the media asking for it.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to instil this (stability); more trust, going through the hard times. If you are convinced, then you are convinced. The world is like that: \u2018Oh my God, you are great!\u2019 Then it is, \u2018Oh no! You\u2019re s***.\u2019\u00a0 There\u2019s no grey area anymore. And very often life is grey.\u201d<\/p>\n As Klopp goes all big picture, more leadership guru than tactics guru, his world is becoming broader. By his final year in the Premier League, the demands on a coach\u2019s time had become gruelling. He admits he does not miss the number of media assignments, with often more than a dozen interviews in any given week to comply with domestic and international broadcasters. \u201cIt was never a problem,\u201d he insists, underlining the privileges that came with the job, but it could be robotic. His world, he says, felt small because it was small.<\/p>\n \u201cThink about your absolute movie star. For me, Daniel Craig, James Bond. And you think, \u2018Oh my God, he\u2019s James Bond!\u2019 I would think: Where is he right now? What is he doing?<\/p>\n \u201cBut in the end, he gets up in the morning, he brushes his teeth. He\u2019s on a film set and a film set is not what we see later in the cinema. You\u2019re sitting there and you do the same scene 25 times. You don\u2019t think about these things. But I had this life. I know how almost all football managers live. They live for the job, all-in. You can\u2019t be successful in this business without doing it like that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then I tell Pep (Guardiola) \u2014 he improved his (golf) handicap with age! I didn\u2019t have a f***ing minute of time to play golf! So that\u2019s why he\u2019s a genius and I am not.\u201d<\/p>\n His voice goes up an octave. \u201cWhen<\/em> do you play golf? I cannot believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n What about the changes we are seeing on the field? Manchester City, for example, had 33 per cent of the ball this month at Arsenal, while teams are putting greater emphasis on set pieces. Klopp has praise for Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth and Crystal Palace\u2019s Oliver Glasner, who on Saturday inflicted a first defeat of the season on Klopp\u2019s old Liverpool team.<\/p>\n \n Klopp is still full of admiration for his old rival Pep Guardiola (Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWow, they are doing miracles,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of things change. I don\u2019t have an opinion about that, really. The football I watch is mainly Red Bull teams. Do I sit there and say, \u2018What is football? How is it developing right now?\u2019 That\u2019s not really what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n \u201cCity is on the way back, they change a little bit. Managers need that as well\u2026 a new way of looking at things to keep it fresh. Liverpool is playing a specific (style), so really, really good. Very offensive orientated. Do they take the risk a little bit of being exposed? Different ways to go, let me say it like that.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not the pope of football who tells people what to do. At least not outside the Red Bull world.\u201d<\/p>\n Klopp is less reserved on player welfare. He previously described FIFA\u2019s 32-team Club World Cup as \u201cthe worst idea ever\u201d. Did he see anything during the tournament to change his view?<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d he shrugs. \u201cDid I read this morning that Chelsea (the winners of the tournament) have an injury crisis? Maybe they would have had injuries (anyway).<\/p>\n \u201cMy expertise is I know how much you can expect from football players. I know about intensity in training. We always ask for more. We go, go, go. I don\u2019t doubt it was a great tournament. I didn\u2019t watch it. Chelsea were super happy to win it. Great, a lot of money. But at one point we have to take care of the few people this game would not exist without: the players.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no solution besides stopping organising new tournaments in the summer break. There\u2019s no break anymore for the best players in the world. You wouldn\u2019t do this in any other part of life. Imagine you put the best artist out every night until they fall down and then we say sorry, he lost focus\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n And now FIFA is discussing a 64-team World Cup in 2030?<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever I say, I may as well tell it to my microwave,\u201d says Klopp. \u201cIt\u2019s exactly the same effect. People will say, \u2018Oh, but you earn a lot of money!\u2019 I know that. Or club officials will say, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s players and coaches, they always want more money, so we need to get money.\u2019 Then why not sit all together at the table and you tell the players you could have eight weeks holiday per year? Can we talk (about how we get there)? Give it a try! Would they say yes, take the million over there?\u201d<\/p>\n Does he really think coaches and players would accept less pay for better conditions? \u201cI don\u2019t know, but if you would have talked to me, then definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2024\/10\/22094759\/GettyImages-2178564580-scaled.jpg\")
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