“My reputation? I couldn’t care less,” said Jurgen Klopp, musing about the prospect of another Champions League win.
A manager with a collectivist style of play was deflecting talk about individual glory. Yet he could also speak from a position of some comfort. His status is already exalted, his reputation safer than most. Idolised in the Liverpool fanbase, admired elsewhere, he was voted the LMA’s Manager of the Year by his peers. He was presented with the award by Sir Alex Ferguson and could join the great Scot in a select group to win Europe’s top prize twice with English clubs. The only other members are Brian Clough and Bob Paisley, whose three triumphs place him at the top of the list.
