A Liverpool fan’s journey to accept the end of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure

One thing I will remember about this season is that even though we came to the end with nothing meaningful left to play for, the grit and tenacity of this team made me hope for a miracle for a long time. season. One where we could have won or at least fought to the last minute for every competition we’ve been to.

In the end, we didn’t get to that point. Even taking into account the League Cup win, it feels like a slight letdown given everything we’ve encountered this year. A year in which, by all accounts, we arrived two or three years too early for any sort of inclusion in the cup or title-claiming discussions.

It is all, of course, colored by the announcement that this would be Jurgen Klopp’s last season at the helm of Liverpool Football Club. A tenure that featured a Champions League title and the club’s first league title in over 30 years. Even without noting that, barring a Europa League title, Klopp won every major competition for Liverpool, it would have been an iconic period on the strength of that league trophy alone.

It’s a testament to the man that we still managed to believe after a season as disappointing as last season, a summer transfer window that saw the departure of legendary Reds players and a complete overhaul of our midfield department , transfer moves involving Chelsea players in particular, and questions about the club’s ability to sustain its race with other teams in the consolidation of the Big 6 – 7 if you want to include Newcastle in that mix now.

But I guess the instilling of faith shouldn’t come as a surprise for a man who managed to do it after the disaster that was the end of the Hicks and Gilette era and the false dawn of the Brendan Rodgers Show. For people like me, Children of the Hodgepocalypse, it was hard to come to terms with the insistence of more established fans that the state of the club did not match its history. Mostly because I’ve only experienced the club in turmoil.

Jurgen Klopp came in and changed all that. Not just in terms of results, but once again managing to build that all-important spiritual connection with the city and its fans. Now I know what Istanbul might have felt like because I lived through Barcelona. Now I know what it’s like to see an expectant Anfield crowd demanding an unreal performance because I’ve seen them rooting for that winning club at every turn. Now I know what it means to connect the moment with the history of great moments and, more importantly, the desire to do the football part the right way.

For all these reasons, it was hard to accept that we would get to this point without one last moment of magic for the gaffer. And I see how, at this point and from this point of view, it’s easier now to reflect that this is the right time. Jurgen’s bold declaration that he didn’t have the energy to do it again, or at the level he needs to in order to still be true to himself, was another amazing lesson for us to learn – this time in the awareness of self.

But I would argue that the last few weeks have somehow made it harder for me to let go of the hope that maybe Jurgen has thought better of it. That there was perhaps only so much more left in the tank. That we could let him go “on the right path”.

Because the biggest reason it’s so hard to quit is because Jurgen Klopp has been the best fit for the whole ethos of Liverpool Football Club for such a long time. That his unique style and approach was just what I needed after a dark time and entering one of deep uncertainty.

Perhaps that last point resonates now; there’s no way of knowing how the next period plays out. Except he’ll be without a human being who managed to not only see the best in the people he met and worked with, but on most days, managed to build the foundations that allowed them to reach and go beyond this point.

All things must come to an end, and there is wisdom in knowing a new chapter must begin. But I’m in no rush to flip the page or meet new characters. Even though I know the conclusion, I want to luxuriate in this reality for just a little bit longer. Because I too have come to love the feeling of believing in something more. And I know how precious that seemingly simple thing can be in this world.

I know it’s over, but let me believe just a little longer.