Everton have a new manager in the shape of Sean Dyche.
And it promises to make Merseyside derbies interesting with Jurgen Klopp having an interesting history with the former Burnley boss.
An ongoing feud dating back to 2018, the pair have repeatedly exchanged verbal blows on the sidelines and been involved in a back and forth war of words via interviews and press conferences ever since.
Klopp and Dyche, who is a self-confessed Liverpool fan, are clearly very different managers with rather opposing views, perhaps explaining their clashes over the years. And with the latter’s Burnley exit last year leaving the German as the longest-serving manager in the Premier League, we take at their long-running dispute.
The duo first fell out in December 2018 after Liverpool had won 3-1 at Turf Moor, in a game marred by Joe Gomez suffering a fractured leg and having to be stretchered off following a challenge from Ben Mee.
“The injury threat is massive. That was hard,” Klopp said after the final whistle when taking issue with Burnley’s aggressive tactics. “You get the ball, nice, but it’s like (10-pin) bowling because you get the player as well. It happened four or five times.
“The first three or four challenges everybody likes it. I know that. It’s part of football but it lead to the situation. OK, no foul but Joe Gomez is injured.”
Unsurprisingly, Dyche had a rather contrasting view and praised his players for some “excellent” tackling.
“I thought some of the timing of the challenges were superb. That’s part of that front-foot mentality,” he said. “You’ve got to win the ball, you’ve got to challenge against these boys. You’ve got to put a marker on the game – not only with good tackles, but also with good play.”
“I was a bit confused (by Klopp’s criticism). There were some excellent tackles. The only one that was questionable was Bardo’s (Phil Bardsley on Alberto Moreno ). Ben Mee’s was a fantastic tackle and I think Gomez realised that. We send him our best if there is any injury but it wasn’t from a bad tackle.
“Of course football managers can question whatever they like but I don’t think they can reinvent the rules. I don’t think there’s many fans in this country that want to see tackling go out of the game.”
He continued: “It’s funny, he (Klopp) didn’t reference Daniel Sturridge’s cheating. He never got touched, nothing near him, and actually got a free-kick. I just can’t believe Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool fans – and I don’t believe they do – would want cheating in the game and sacrifice good, honest challenges.”
Klopp and Dyche would also clash after the final whistle on that occasion, with the latter scolding the German, allegedly slamming his touchline antics and behaviour throughout the contest, having repeatedly complained to the fourth official reportedly demanding several yellow cards for Burnley players, with the German visibly confused by the exchange.
But their most notable falling out came in January 2021 when Burnley won 1-0 at Anfield, as Klopp was pictured angrily chasing Dyche down the tunnel at half-time as they exchanged cross words.
The German had disappeared down the tunnel in preparation, only to re-emerge after hearing VAR was checking for a possible red card against Fabinho for a foul on Ashley Barnes. When the check was complete, Dyche sped past Klopp, but said something which angered the Liverpool boss on his way.
A furious Klopp then chased him down the tunnel and then, in full-view of the Sky Sports cameras, gestured and shouted at the Burnley boss, which Dyche returned before both retreating to their respective dressing rooms.
After the final whistle, the Reds boss would play down the exchange while Dyche would have a further dig at his Liverpool counterpart.
“If he’s not talking about it then I’m not talking about it, but I didn’t start it,” the German told Sky Sports. “It’s nothing.”
Meanwhile, Dyche said: "You know when we come to these places, we are allowed to actually fight and are actually allowed to try and win. That's all it was. It was nothing out of the normal - just two managers fighting to win a game. There's nothing wrong with that."
Their most-recent on-field disagreement came back in August 2021 when Liverpool beat Burnley 2-0 at Anfield, only for Klopp to again take issues with Burnley’s tactics, angering Dyche in the process.
"I like decisions that favour the offensive team, that's fine," Klopp told BT Sport . "But we have to stick to protecting the players. We cannot deny that. If you like that sort of thing, watch wrestling.
"You saw these challenges with (Ashley) Barnes and (Chris) Wood and Virgil (van Dijk ) and Joel (Matip ). I'm not 100 per cent sure if (officials) are going in the right direction with these decisions. It's like we're going 10 to 15 years backwards. The rules are like they are, but you cannot defend these situations. That's how it makes the game really tricky."
Name-checking two Burnley players did not go down well with Dyche, who replied by labelling Klopp’s comments as inappropriate.
“Every manager has the right to have their say – he certainly had his,” he said at the time. “But I think, across football it seems to me, the feedback has probably been considerably the opposite of that.
“The way I look at it, you have a referee there of some 800, 900 games (Mike Dean) who didn’t book anyone. So it is quite bizarre when you look at it like that, just factually, how he could suggest there were some untoward challenges.
“My main disappointment actually is not a view of the game – I think every manager, every coach, every pundit, every fan has a view of the game. My disappointment is he is name-checking players – there is absolutely no need to do that.
“We have professional players who have worked very, very hard in their careers to get to where they have got to. The implication of them being untoward in some of their challenges I think is wrong, I think it’s inappropriate.”
He continued: “My overview would be, I’m not worried about protection of players, because I think players get protected to a level that is unbelievable in my history of the game – and rightly so in some cases, I must say.
“My worry is that he is questioning that a team shouldn’t do everything they can to win a game within the laws, which we clearly did, because there wasn’t a single card.
“I know the history of Liverpool, I was a Liverpool fan as a kid, still am but more distantly as I’ve got older. And you don’t have to go far, looking down the annuls of Liverpool’s history, to suggest they had a few players who made sure they were fighting, not just playing but fighting, to win a game – and they’ve still got a few.”
Of course their disagreements are not just limited to the Anfield and Turf Moor dugouts on matchday, with the pair also repeatedly locking horns through their pre-match press conferences, particularly when the subject of five substitutions is brought up.
Klopp repeatedly voiced his desire for such a change across the past few seasons, before it was implemented in the league this term. But while the German has been one of the managers desiring such a rule change most, Dyche has been one of the most vocal opposers.
“If I’m now the Liverpool manager, do you think I want five subs? Of course I do exactly.” Dyche said. “If I was at that level at that club I’d say the same. In fact, I’d say I wanted seven subs because I’ve got all these top-class footballers who want to play and the more I can get them on the pitch, the better.
“People suggested I was talking about Liverpool and I wasn’t. The fact is their challenge is different to ours. Their success brings lots more games. If you’re facing my challenge now, you say, ‘Hang on a minute, does five subs give me more power? No, it doesn’t, because I haven’t got 25 world-renowned figures in my squad’.
“To say I wouldn’t be in favour of five subs is a misconception. My view is that the superpower clubs just have a bit more leeway because they carry big squads of top international players. If you can change five of those, it must be some kind of advantage.”
Unsurprisingly, Klopp has not enjoyed his meetings with Burnley as a result of such disputes and contrasting football beliefs and philosophies. If the Liverpool boss brought 'rock and roll football' to the Premier League, critics may suggest Dyche's own style was more akin to tiresome on-hold music.
“When I came to England, it was one of the two or three places in the league where you think, 'Aah, I am not really looking forward to it',' confessed the German earlier this season. “The first time playing Burnley, it was, 'Oh my God'. Then you get experience and learn more, realise the battles around the touchline and stuff like this. It's part of the deal and my respect couldn't be bigger.”
But despite such clashes, Klopp does respect Dyche of course - last season declaring the job the ‘Ginger Mourinho’ has done at Turf Moor, keeping the Clarets in the Premier League, is on par with his own winning the title.
“I don't think any other manager could have achieved what Sean has done at Burnley,” he said. “The resources they have in comparison with other Premier League clubs is obviously not that good.
“Staying that stable in the Premier League is therefore a massive achievement I have to say. It's as big as winning the league with other clubs for sure. All my respect.”
Meanwhile, he also once picked Dyche as the Premier League manager he’d prefer to be marooned on a desert island with. Though perhaps that is not as complimentary as it might seem at first glance!
“That’s a horrible scenario. Only the three of us? I think I would go for Pep and Daniel Farke,” the German said at first. “I like Daniel a lot, he’s a really good guy, and Pep is pretty inspiring. I don’t know how he is in his private life, but he was really nice when we met. I think we could talk about different things, not only football.”
But when reminded by interviewer Adam Smith that he might want to try to find a way off the island, however, Klopp swiftly changed his mind.
“Oh, I don’t know if any of us have any skills to get off the desert island!” he said. “Let me think, who could be that guy? Probably Sean Dyche. He looks like he could find a way out.”
Yet on this occasion, sacked with eight games of the season remaining and four points off safety, Dyche could find no way out. And while Klopp won’t be glad to see his Clarets counterpart sacked, he’ll at least be relieved he no longer has to contend with their clashes against his Burnley side.
And now their feud can continue. All eyes on Anfield on February 7.
*A version of this story was originally published in April 2022.
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