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Jurgen Klopp gives Liverpool the charisma they've been missing since Bill Shankly

Scott Murray

Updated 08/10/2015 at 14:53 GMT

Scott Murray says emotional extrovert Jurgen Klopp understands Liverpool are not just another club, and brings charisma to the role which has been lacking since the days of Bill Shankly.

Klopp Liverpool

Image credit: Eurosport

YouTube compilations rarely deliver on their initial promise: oversold clips not really doing what they say on the tin; half-arsed flicks and badly executed Cruyff turns looped over and over in painfully slow motion; patience-sapping montages set to nerve-bothering landfill indie. No thanks!
But one of the many currently doing the rounds starring Jurgen Klopp is certainly worth a click. A selection of his "top ten celebrations" through the years didn't, on the face of it, promise very much. But for anyone not au fait with his work in the Bundesliga with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, and wondering exactly what he might be bringing to the table at Liverpool, it was certainly instructive.
One of the celebrations saw our central character make off down the touchline with extreme prejudice, only to skitter hysterically into some advertising hoardings and come perilously close to taking up a roll of turf with his teeth. Instead of gingerly dusting himself down with an embarrassed shrug, he simply sprung back up, lost in the moment, and broke into another full sprint.
In another, he launches himself into a celebratory melee with such force that his glasses are whipped clean off his startled face and snapped underfoot in two. He allows himself a wide smile as he gathers the pieces, ambling off in the fuzzy direction of the bench. Though perhaps the loveliest scene features him bowling along a row of occupied seats, having previously been sent to the stand, then having a square go at an opposing fan who has understandably taken umbrage with the whole affair.
Marvellous. You wouldn't change him, even if you could. Liverpool fans are in for quite the treat. Klopp has been hailed as the perfect fit for Liverpool; as Lothar Matthaus pointed out, an "emotional coach" for an "emotional club". That's a marriage the Kop has been desperately seeking ever since Bill Shankly orphaned them so abruptly in 1974. They've subsequently been led by more than their fair share of great managers. Most were genuinely loved. But none were - almost certainly an unreasonable ask, this - blessed with the film-star charisma of Shanks.
Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and caretaker supreme Ronnie Moran were avuncular gentlemen. Kenny Dalglish possessed a beatific aura simply by dint of being Kenny Dalglish, though the king of Anfield's strengths were manifest in a quiet dignity. Graeme Souness was muted during his brief reign, strangely given his wild reputation, while Roy Evans was simply too nice. Ged Houllier and Rafa Benitez were brooding technicians. Roy Hodgson ... but let's not bring Liverpool fans down from their current high.
To be fair to the departing Brendan Rodgers, he did recognise the need to throw a few messianic shapes now and then. A decent man, and he earns full marks for trying. It's just - to borrow one of his favourite phrases - he didn't have the tools.
Klopp has them in spades, bringing a little glamour back to the Anfield dugout, as well as some of that old-school theatrical touchline presence, the sort which never did any harm to the careers of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Louis van Gaal or Bill Sh ... ah but no direct comparisons, please, for that way lies both madness and ridicule. (Though one suspects the father of the modern Liverpool - a man who once b******ed his team mid-game, on the pitch, under cover of fog at Ajax, and conducted the choir at the 1974 FA Cup final, all eyes on the bench even when his team were threading together spectacular Total Football moves - would have very much admired the way Klopp carries on and his shiny make-the-people-happy demeanour.)
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Jurgen Klopp gestures to the fans while Borussia Dortmund coach

Image credit: Reuters

Klopp also brings an innate understanding of the singular culture of the club. Bild newspaper in Germany reports that he was a Liverpool fan as a youth. Those sort of claims should always be taken with a Robbie Keane-sized sack of salt, at least until we hear it from the horse's mouth. But when Dortmund visited Anfield for a pre-season match in 2014 - Dejan Lovren showing potential as a defensive leader, the past is a different country all right - Klopp and his team loaded up on souvenirs (jerseys, shirts, iPhone cases, the lot) from a venue they considered a footballing Mecca. So here's one direct comparison we can make without fear: no Hodgson, Klopp realises this is not just another club.
With the new man now in situ, the uncertainty that has been hanging over Liverpool ever since the Stoke embarrassment in May has been lifted, to be replaced with new questions: will Klopp insist on a new goalkeeper and dependable centre-half in January; is Daniel Sturridge fit enough to regularly implement the famous gegenpress; will Emre Can ever realise his potential?
It will be fascinating to watch Klopp in action as he attempts to figure it all out, for Rodgers has left him with a lop-sided squad that represents quite a puzzle. Plenty of YouTube addicts will be wishing him well, with a view to clicking on some more of those uproariously disruptive touchline skedaddles in the near future.
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