Klopp Gets His Wings
Last month, Jurgen Klopp made his second shock announcement in less than a year. Last time, it was that he was leaving our beloved Liverpool at the season’s end. This time, Jurgen announced his new gig as the Global Director of Soccer for Red Bull. In some ways, it seemed to run against his message that he was exhausted and needed at least a year off. But in other ways, it was a very Klopp development, and not just because Red Bull…well, you know.
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Jurgen is a man who needs a periodic break. He doesn’t go from job to job with no time off. When he stepped down at Borussia Dortmund, he announced he needed a sabbatical from football and a year to recover from the grind. Yet by October of the year away, he was back at it, accepting the manager’s job at Liverpool. So he’s taken the same amount of time off as he did last time (more in some ways given his new job doesn’t start until January). Klopp might be someone who likes the idea of rest more than the reality of it. He’s a man always in motion.
Putting The Klopp Stamp On Things
This is also a job that Klopp can make into what he wants it to be. He won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations of any of Red Bull’s clubs (Leipzig, Salzburg, New York, Bragantino). Klopp gets to work in the backrooms, strategizing, learning, and consulting. For a man who loves football and loves to learn, it is a great way to find new areas of the sport to immerse himself in without the crushing grind of elite management. Oh, and he will get paid a lot of money to travel the world and watch football; quite the perk that.
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I don’t know about you, but I’m happy for our former gaffer. I know many Dortmund fans are not. German fans for the most part view Red Bull like Premier League fans see the City Football Group. Red Bull is despised for being a corporate monolith that buys up football clubs, slaps a corporate brand on them, and moves them up the divisions and into Europe on the strength of corporate synergies and cold hard cash.
In a country where significant fan ownership of clubs is still a thing, I can understand that. But I’ve made my peace with the business of football. Besides, better corporations and hedge funds than sovereign wealth funds and autocracies. This will be a good next step for Klopp. Hopefully, it is one that eventually leads him back to the touchline at the helm of the German National Team.
