Jurgen Klopp will have no regrets about cutting short his sabbatical to take charge of Liverpool in October 2015.
The German had quit Borussia Dortmund the previous summer with the intention of taking a year out from football, only to be lured back into management by the Reds. Since then, he has transformed Liverpool ’s fortunes, leading them back into the Champions League before being crowned English, European and world champions and now, after winning the League Cup last month, is chasing an unprecedented quadruple.
But things could have been very different for Klopp had he answered a call to take over at the Reds’ fiercest rivals, Manchester United, instead. With Sir Alex Ferguson retiring in 2013, the Red Devils had appointed David Moyes as his replacement, but a disappointing season would see the Scot sacked after just nine months.
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Ryan Giggs was appointed his temporary successor as caretaker manager in April 2014, before Louis van Gaal was appointed three months later. Yet, if United had gotten their way, Klopp could have ended up in the Old Trafford home dugout.
Even before Moyes had been sacked, then executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had flown out to meet with Klopp in an effort to convince him to take over at United. Having won two Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund and led them to the Champions League final the previous season, he was one of the most sought after managers on the planet.
But while Klopp met with Woodward and was open to the possibility of taking over at Old Trafford, the United boss’ sales pitch left the German unconvinced as he heard the Red Devils compared to an adult Disneyland.
“David Moyes’s short tenure at Old Trafford was coming to an end, and Klopp was United’s favourite to replace him, to bring back a sense of adventure to the Red Devils’ game,” Raphael Honigstein wrote in his biography on Jurgen Klopp called ‘Bring the Noise’.
“Woodward told Klopp that the Theatre of Dreams was ‘like an adult version of Disneyland’, a mythical place where, as the nickname suggested, the entertainment was world class and dreams came true. Klopp wasn’t entirely convinced by that sales pitch — he found it a bit ‘unsexy’, he told a friend — but he didn’t dismiss the proposition out of hand either.”
Soon after Klopp decided the job wasn’t for him and stayed with Dortmund for a further season. Meanwhile, United’s post-Ferguson struggles continue to this day with none of Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and currently interim boss Ralf Rangnick able to reverse the rot.
While Klopp’s Liverpool are chasing an unprecedented quadruple, which would include second Premier League and Champions League titles under his watch, United have won neither tournament since Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. Their last league title came in his last season at Old Trafford, while the Red Devils were last crowned champions of Europe in 2008.
Van Gaal would win an FA Cup while Mourinho would lift both the League Cup and Europa League, but United’s Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night leaves them trophyless for another year. With their last piece of silverware coming in 2017, their drought will now extend to 2023. Meanwhile, currently sitting fifth in the Premier League table, they look set to miss out on Champions League football next season.
It remains to be seen who United will turn to as their next permanent manager in the summer, but they will be the latest man tasked with transforming the Red Devils’ fortunes akin to the impact Klopp has had at Liverpool.
Six years on from Woodward’s pitch to the German and only one of Liverpool and Manchester United can claim to produce ‘world class entertainment’. Proven right with his ‘unsexy’ assessment, Klopp’s dreams continue to come true at Anfield while the Red Devils move from manager to manager and continue to falter.
