When Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool reign finally comes to an end, there will be many, many moments to look back on with a mixture of pride, joy and sheer wonderment.
The German coach arrived at Anfield in October 2015 with the club still consumed by the psychological hangover of the agonising failed Premier League title bid 18 months previously which had seen Brendan Rodgers’ exhilarating but flawed side confound expectation and logic by putting together a remarkable 11-match winning streak which took them to within seven points of ending the club’s quarter-of-a-century wait for a 19th league championship but cruel fate intervened.
The new manager rapidly identified one of his most important jobs as shifting the mentality from ‘doubters to believers’ and immediately set about reviving the bond between supporters, team and manager - the ‘holy trinity’ so revered by the man Klopp’s transformative arrival has since gone on to be compared to, Bill Shankly - which had been fractured (some feared terminally) by years of under-achievement on the pitch and mis-management off it, most notably earlier the same decade when the cataclysmic ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett plunged the club to the brink of bankruptcy.
