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'LFC fans will tell you - Klopp is one of them' | Pat Nevin on Reds' success

Pat Nevin believes that Jurgen Klopp's ability to mirror Liverpool fans' passion, and his ability...



'LFC fans will tell you - Klop...
Soccer

'LFC fans will tell you - Klopp is one of them' | Pat Nevin on Reds' success

Pat Nevin believes that Jurgen Klopp's ability to mirror Liverpool fans' passion, and his ability to manage up, has led to the Reds' Premier League win.

Their 19th top-flight title was confirmed on Thursday, and Nevin explained why a palpably-genuine belief in Liverpool's principles has led to success.

"Every Liverpool fan will tell you the same thing - he's one of them. He feels like one of them. He comes from a different country but he reflects the passion back to them.

"If that is affected - football fans are not stupid. They will see it - they will see it a mile away. We all know it, we all know when someone is doing the badge-kissing and it is their fourteenth club badge that they've kissed.

"But with Klopp, there is something there. He had an affection or an admiration for Liverpool Football Club, and he also knew what the history meant.

"It was clearly an honour for him to do this job to do it, and you can marry it with the passion that the fans have got, and the buzz. But you need to be a special personality for everybody to buy-in.

"How many people have tried to be that guy? It is the hardest thing in the world when you try and get a bunch of players to buy into that, especially ones that aren't playing. That is bordering on impossible.

"We know the ones that do it because they are usually at the big clubs, who pay a lot of money for it. But there is something different about Klopp that you get the feeling that when you leave a player in the reserves, even they love him!

"You will do anything for a person you have that passion and feeling for. A lot of that comes down to is his honesty - you can see it and feel it, he is not going to BS you.

"I cannot think of any time where I'm thinking 'Yeah, sure Jurgen...' - and if you have that honesty and straightforwardness then you get buy-in."

That 'buy-in' is also coming from Klopp's bosses, in Fenway Sports Group - Nevin believes that Klopp's heterodoxy has been key to keeping his employers happy.

"There will be people in middle management thinking 'I wish we could get rid of him' - but [Klopp] knows that you don't get anywhere with just one idea.

"You take his idea, and your idea and another person's idea and put them all together - and take the best of them."

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