Jurgen Klopp gives early present to Liverpool successor that Sir Alex Ferguson didn't do at Man Utd

Jurgen Klopp has provided something for his Liverpool successor that Sir Alex Ferguson did not at Manchester United.

Klopp, who was appointed in October 2015, announced on Friday that he is stepping down from his role as Liverpool manager at the end of the season as he is “running out of energy.”

The German has won every major trophy available in his nine years on Merseyside, including the Champions League in 2019 and the club’s first league title in 30 years in 2019-2020.

Klopp’s departure has come as a major shock, given his contract was set to expire in 2026 and his side are top of the Premier League and through to the Carabao Cup final.

Indeed, Liverpool are in contention to win four trophies this season, having endured a gruelling campaign last term without silverware.

The Reds’ ailing form at the time was partly due to an ageing squad and Klopp insisted then that he would stay at Anfield to help oversee the club’s rebuild.

When asked in January 2023 about the rebuild required at Liverpool, Klopp said in a press conference: “I’m not saying it’s the biggest challenge but it’s a challenge and it’s one of the main reasons why I signed a contract because I knew it was necessary.

“It will not [be resolved] overnight, and imagine the situation now with another coach in the chair. I would be on holiday and everyone would shout my name, [claiming] ‘with him it would not have happened.”

The following summer saw the Reds sanction the departures of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita while signing Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch.

Klopp opting to stay and oversee part of the rebuild is a decision that was not taken by Ferguson at United.

The Scot stunned the football world, the stock market and more than anything, the club itself when he announced his Old Trafford departure in 2013.

Ferguson went on to guide a functional but ageing squad to a Premier League title at the end of the 2012/13 campaign, before being replaced by David Moyes.

Despite winning the title, the United side Ferguson left Moyes was ageing and in desperate need of rejuvenation. In the 10 years since, United have had eight bosses, spent almost £1billion in the transfer market and have never been close to replicating the heady heights of the Ferguson era.

Topics: Football, Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.