The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Jürgen Klopp: Would You Go Back To Manage LFC...? The Real Reason I Fell In Love With Liverpool!
20 Oct 2025
Chapter 1: What is Jürgen Klopp's honest reaction to Liverpool's £450M transfer window?
It was an intense time. We had to win football games, but all the rest was on my plate as well. I need a break. And you cannot do that in that business. You cannot say, give me a year, see you later.
So it begs the question, do you think you could ever go back and manage Liverpool again? It's possible. So what would it take? You change the club, you change the city. You arrive at a time when clubs were in a period of dysfunction to bring that club back to its glory. And you did that over and over and over again.
Chapter 2: Would Jürgen Klopp ever return to manage Liverpool FC?
How? To win in a very decisive moment, you have to be the best team. And to be the best team, everybody has to buy into that team and walk through fire together.
How do I get people to walk through fire? I better go back to the start.
Growing up, my mom was very caring. She loved people. And my dad had expectations. The problem was I was absolutely useless in most of the things, even with football. My teammates were better than me. And I thought I only can get on that level from the first until the last minute. I was a warrior on the pitch, but it made me the guy I am today.
And so my team plays a little bit more like a heavy metal band because you have 90 minutes and there's no guarantee to get anything. But the only chance to get something is to give you all. So you want to have the maximum success. Don't waste time with holding back. I want to know why Manchester United didn't pursue you. No, they tried.
But there are some reasons in that conversation which I didn't like.
Arnie Slott coming in after you and didn't change much.
That's super smart.
Not changing much and all of a sudden you win the league by some distance. But this year Liverpool have spent, what, 450 odd million. You never had a transfer window like that.
Nobody ever told me that it's possible that we can spend that much. You seem to always be successful. How does someone succeed you? You want to be able to become the best team in England? You need to.
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Chapter 3: How did Jürgen Klopp's upbringing influence his coaching style?
Here's a promise I'm going to make to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show. Thank you.
To understand you and the man and the anomaly that you went on to be in your career and still are, what do I need to understand about your very earliest context, where you came from? And how can you point out to me how that very early context created the person you are today and that everybody knows you to be?
I think we all are who we are because of the environment we grew up. My dad was a salesman, and my mom came from a family. My grandpa had a brewery, and she worked there, blah, blah, blah, and all these kind of things. But her only purpose was her kids. She loved me. more than her own life, definitely. And my dad had expectations. He loved me as well, but he had expectations when my mom didn't.
So my mom was just happy that I was there, and my dad had always something where he was not really happy with. And all the things my dad wanted me to do, I loved doing. So he wanted me to be a sports guy, each sport, tennis, skiing, football, that was his life. So he wanted that his son is good at that, And I loved doing it.
If I would have been, I don't know, sitting at home and drawing or whatever, he would every day take me out and say, go outside and play something. But then, pretty quick, when I became better, it was never good enough. So that was the process. So that's how I was brought up. That's him. That's definitely him. Yeah. Can I keep these pictures? Of course you can keep them. That's good.
Because I have them, but I'm not sure where. Yeah, exactly. Good looking guy, eh? Was he a tough man? It's not long ago. I never got hit by whatever, never, never, never. It was just he wanted to bring the best out of me. I think that was what he wanted.
Tough in a way, yeah, how people were brought up in that time probably, but not tough, endless, that you thought, you don't want to have to do anything with him. No, no, no, I loved him to bits, and he loved me. He was very proud, but never said it, and these kind of things, so... He was a good guy, a really good guy. But with his son, he wanted...
him to be ambitious and was a bit afraid that I might be not ambitious enough.
Competitive man, I hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reading about stories of him racing you on ski slopes and sprint races and never letting you win. That's true.
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Chapter 4: What lessons did Jürgen Klopp learn from his father about competition?
Oh, my God.
So in my village, I was the best player in my village. So I scored the goals. I was the fastest, all this kind of physical talent. I was really fast. Later on, when I studied sports science, I could jump far. I could jump high, all these kind of things. So it was a physical talent. The problem was small spaces, technique.
Okay.
That was my problem. So what they saw probably is the attitude. I was a warrior on the pitch. It was difficult to beat me, stuff like this, to kick me out of the game or get me out of the game. I was really focused. I had a really good attitude for the game. But I didn't see it. So I was not happy. I was literally surprised. by the approach from professional football clubs.
I didn't think, oh, who's coming? So it was like, the question was, are you number seven from the game before? Yeah? Oh, come on, let's have a chat. Do you want to come to Frankfurt? That was the question. It was before that. It was 87.
And you were 20 years old at the time when you went to Frankfurt? Yeah. Well, I mean, a lot happens in your 20th year of life.
Yeah. A lot happens. That was a change. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I came to Frankfurt. It didn't take long that I met Mark's mom. Yeah, your son's mom, yeah? Yeah, exactly. And then she got pregnant, and December 88, I became a father.
Were you scared?
20 years old, become a father? Massively. When I heard she's pregnant, I wanted to run away, go, oh, God, it's not me. So the moment when I got aware of the fact that I will be a dad, I was really scared. The night, 13th December of December 1988, when Mark was born, was the night when I became an adult and the night who changed my life in the right direction.
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Chapter 5: What are Jürgen Klopp's thoughts on Liverpool's recent transfer window?
And I went to stay on the dance floor. It was a dance floor. And I said, all coming. And everybody was saying, we are Liverpool. I mean, I had a few parties after the finals we lost. And I always thought, I don't waste time at all on not being happy about what we achieved over the whole year. Because qualifying for a final is a real achievement. Losing it is not great.
But until then, everything was fine. And I never accepted that we ignore the rest. So we have a party. And then we went on to achieve new things. And we need a bit of time, obviously. But it was okay.
And this goes back to the point earlier about controlling the mindset and the psychology after you lose to make sure that you don't get depressed.
Yeah.
If you don't learn from a defeat, it's a real defeat. If you learn from it, it's a very, very important information. And that's how I always understood it. I had enough opportunities to learn, really. I lost more Champions League finals than most people play. It's not a great thing to say. It's the truth anyway.
You're known for what they call heavy metal football. Do you like that phrase?
I said a lot of things, but it's like I said that. It was not in my mind that I thought, oh, you want to play heavy metal football? They asked me about Arsene Wenger. on the comparison, and they think we are similar in a way, and I thought, what?
Arsene and I know, so come on, don't be disrespectful to Arsene, I'm a young ba-ba-ba man from somewhere, but if you want to compare us, then I'm not sure that's possible, because Arsene's football is rather like an orchestra, and my team plays a little bit more like a heavy metal band, but that was the first day when I thought about my team, like a heavy metal band, but it,
But it's true. Yes, somehow. It is true. And I know that more than anyone as a Manchester United fan watching. I'd hate playing your football teams because they ran so much. They were so passionate. They never let up. They could always win in the last minute. And the intensity was... You were just anxious as a football fan watching the games because it was so...
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Chapter 6: How does Klopp view his potential return to Liverpool?
All the things at one point you do, you learn at any time on your journey. And that's how it is. And I loved the game so much and could play it not that good that I was so happy that I could work with these outstanding players I loved it. I enjoyed it so much, seeing them doing what they're doing. I was number one supporter of my team. Teams, wherever I was. I loved what they did.
So that's what I carried through the week. I didn't tell them. I told them, I want to be your friend, but I cannot be your best friend. Because I'm the one who tells you off very often. And they'll tell you, this is not right, this is not right. But the feeling, the general feeling was, I love them. In my mind, my ex-players, I love them all. And some of them...
don't love back, let me say like that, probably for some reasons or whatever, but that doesn't mean anything to me. I love my clubs.
Do you think it's important how you win? Because, you know, this heavy metal, high intensity football was great for the fans. They love watching three, four, five, six, seven. They love watching that stuff. Do you think that matters or do you think it's just about getting the three points?
We didn't win that often, five, zero, seven. It felt like it. It felt like it. Against United, we did. Yeah. you can cut it out no it's yeah of course it's important so if you have your backpack going to stadium as a player if you have your boots and if you wear a shirt don't waste time with anything than giving your all there's no guarantee to get
anything but the only chance to get something so give you all from the first until last minute you have to understand this game is only that fun for us because all the people are watching it that's why we earn the money i mean it i know that's what people want to hear but we earn the money because everybody's interested in it everybody wants to see it knows about it reads everything about it all these kind of things and for that with all the stories around the only thing we really have to deliver
is give your absolute all in a game like that. Whatever, whichever game is there. 5.30, 2.30, 3.30, whenever the game starts, give your absolute all. But why not just 1-0 and defense and boring and pass it around? That happens. That happens in games. You realize, okay, we scored a goal, but today's not our day. Come on, let's get it over the line. That happens.
But it cannot be the target or the purpose for the next game again. Let's do it like that. Not for... There are clubs, if you only... Realistic target is to stay in the league. It's a wonderful result. But we talk about a club like Liverpool. We are bigger than that. You have to win each football game when you are manager of Liverpool.
That's what people... It's not that before the season anybody thinks... Oh, I don't know, 38 games. Oh, that makes sense.
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Chapter 7: What lessons has Klopp learned from managing high-pressure situations?
Ooh, more than 100. Nobody had ever. So it's not like that. But still, each defeat and each draw is like, how could it happen? And that's why you have to... To play in a specific way, not all clubs have the same things to do, but the top clubs, they have to win all the games. And when you have the chance, you win them clear. You win them with the proper results, stuff like this.
You have to make the people enjoy the football you play. And I love to do... I loved it, honestly. It's like the games we played, the results we had were just incredible. It's just amazing. Not all of them. And I love the 1-0s as much as I do all the others. The Champions League final was the worst final of all the four my teams played. But we won it.
Would I take... Would I change and say, OK, let's do the other three as well? The performance in other games was really good, but we lost. So here it was not fantastic, but we won. So all fine. It's about the result. But if you have a result and another result, it has to lead to really good football at one point, as good as possible for your specific team. You want to stay in the league?
Do it with good football. You want to qualify for Europe? Do it with good football because we are there for the people. It's not there that we just go home and the people think, oh, it's unwatchable, eh? I'm not sure I come next week again. That's not fair. Try to play. The game is really a cool game, so let's make sure that everybody sees it.
And what is the Liverpool way? When you come to Liverpool, you are the manager or you are a player, what is the thing that you have to do that's specific to Liverpool in order to be successful?
You have to understand the community. I mean, the community, there's a city community and there's a bigger community around the world. There are so many people. And this club went through a lot, not as the only club in the world, but come on, for that moment, we just think about ourselves, went through a lot. The reaction to these situations was always exceptional, to be 100% honest.
And that's what you have to understand, what you have to learn, that this club means more to the people than just football. So that's what you have to understand. And that's why what we do is more important than it maybe is somewhere else. That's the responsibility we always took and understood 100%. Our players understood.
To play for Liverpool is not just a club where you play during your career. It's the club and it's something you will definitely remember for life. So we tried to make sure that the boys understood that. If we give our absolute everything now, we meet in 10, 15 years, look back, and we think it was the best we could have done. The absolute best we could have done.
And I think that's how my view on life is as well. All the other stuff is just sorting the problem in front of you. There's something we have to sort. But when you sort, you think about what's the effect for the rest. And that's what some people, some clubs maybe...
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Chapter 8: How does Klopp define his leadership philosophy?
And my God. the team wow thanks a lot all these kind of things yeah and he made the best he got the best out of this team and they became champion in incredible manner to be honest so and I'm really really happy about that so that's all that's all you is it it all about it shows again it's all about how you see it you can see you step into my footsteps how you said called it and
Or you take over a fantastic football team.
It was brilliant. I mean, my best friend's a Liverpool fan, and he said, before you left, actually, he said, this is the best squad Liverpool have ever had. Arnie has inherited that squad, which is considered to be the best squad by many people that Liverpool have ever had. And in that first year, it didn't really change much. There wasn't any big signings coming.
I actually heard from one of the players in Liverpool that them say to a really good friend of mine that the best thing Arne had done was actually in that first year, don't change much. Don't come in and try and radically change things.
But that's what Arne Slott would say himself. I think he said it. That's super smart. So it's not about what Arne wants to show the world what he can do. It's about how to get the best out of this team. And that's exactly what he did. Not changing much means he changed a little bit.
We became third the year before, so there's not a lot you have to change, but a few decisive things you have to change, and all of a sudden you win the league by some distance. So that's what it is. Not that he has to put his new own stamp. This team was good in a lot of ways, but we didn't win. the year before. And that's what his job was. And he did that in an incredibly impressive manner.
And that's all you want. And you need people who have the confidence to do these kind of things. Because it doesn't make sense if you have a manager who is not 100% sure about the things he wants to do. I want us to play like this, or if that's not possible, I want to play like this, or I want to... Maybe completely different. That doesn't work.
Being a football manager is already a challenge with all the different things you have to do. Being a football manager in such a competitive league like the Premier League is a real challenge. Being a football manager in the world we are living in with media... Social media and all these kind of things, it's an incredible challenge. Believe me, you have no clue what's coming up the next day.
You think, oh my God, where's that coming from? Who was that? Oh, my player. You read a story, whatever, and all of a sudden you think, Oh, from a problem, it turns into your problem in a wing. So sort that and all the rest as well. So you need this kind of guy. I love that about Arne, that he came in and took over and he knew he got a good team. Yes, it was. And he did a perfect job.
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