I’ll never walk alone ever again’ – Jurgen Klopp far more than a manager to Liverpool fans

He won seven major trophies – and each and every one of them was claimed during the era of the super-clubs. What’s more, there is no asterisk beside his achievements, no question mark over his accomplishments, no risk of any of his titles being taken away at a later date. Klopp managed to beat state-sponsored sides fair and square.

The league win of 2019-20 was historic anyway – Liverpool’s first top-tier title for 30 years was confirmed with a record seven rounds remaining – but it will eventually come to be recognised as one of the great feats of the modern game. Indeed, it’s already being viewed in an even more impressive light today, with Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City set to win a sixth championship in seven seasons.

Arsenal have done incredibly well just to compete with Pep Guardiola’s side for the past couple of campaigns, but Klopp’s Liverpool actually managed to blow away a club accused of 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations.

In truth, though, Liverpool’s love affair with Klopp was never just about titles. It was about moments and emotions; about how the manager made the fans feel. He evoked the spirit of Shankly. He made the people happy.

How? By reviving hope, and then restoring pride. He created a stirring sense of togetherness that sustained them through even the most devastating defeats, from Basel to Paris.

It was born on his very first day at a club in a state of crisis. Despite the sub-standard squad left behind by Brendan Rodgers, there was an unmistakable sense that Klopp and Liverpool were made for one another – and he felt it too.

“I heard from my agent that Liverpool is interested and I felt immediately, ‘Oh God!’ It’s like when I met my wife: I saw her and thought ‘OK, I marry her’, and it was like that with the club,” he explained. “It felt right from the first moment.”

The feeling was immediately mutual. He described himself as the “normal one” – but the supporters could already see that he was anything but.

The charisma was obvious, seductive almost. Klopp was more than a manager; he was a leader, meaning doubters quickly became believers.

Even after Liverpool lost three consecutive finals, the supporters stood behind him. They trusted the process because they remained utterly enthralled by the personality. And who could blame them?

This was a manager with a rare magnetism. He was as passionate and as entertaining as his team. He made for such compelling viewing that there was even talk of setting up a ‘Klopp-cam’ during matches. It was easy to understand why.

Even his interviews made for great TV. He swore, ranted and raved about referees, made Rocky references, turned up for one press conference in a Beatles tee-shirt and complimented a translator on his “erotic voice” in another.

More importantly than all of that, though, he embraced Liverpool and everything good about it. The boy from the Black Forest felt right at home among the ‘Boys from the Black Stuff’.

“I could have grown up here, definitely,” he said recently. “I’m not a city person. I’m obviously from the countryside. So, if I didn’t say hello to the lady in the street when I arrived at home, she called my mom and said, ‘What’s wrong with your boy?’

“So, that would never happen in a big city. But, a little bit, Liverpool kept that. The main thing is the people, the togetherness, the heart. I knew that I would love it here. It became home… It was everything you want it to be. I really believe there’s a Liverpool way. When you win one time with Liverpool, it is worth as much as five with another club.”

Rivals unsurprisingly found such claims nauseating, but Klopp wasn’t simply pandering to the masses. He meant every word. He was always so sincere, so passionate and so real – and Liverpool fans loved him for it, worshipping him like a god primarily because he was so human.

He made it seem as if anything was possible, that any obstacle could be overcome. “I didn’t make them believe,” he explained. “I just reminded them that it helps when you believe.”

Consequently, Liverpool became comeback kings, mentality monsters that struck fear into clubs with far bigger budgets all across the continent.

“If you put ‘European nights’ into Wikipedia or Google,” Klopp argued after the barely believable 4-0 second-leg win over Barcelona in 2019, “the answer must be ‘Anfield’!

“We know this club is a mix of atmosphere, emotion, desire and football quality. Cut off one and it doesn’t work – we know that. If I have to describe this club, then it’s a big heart and tonight it was obviously pounding like crazy. You could hear it and probably feel it all over the world.”

Obviously, the trophies that eventually arrived sustained the entire project. Liverpool fans were so glad that he delivered what he said he would, winning a title inside four years. But that success tasted so sweet because of the unbreakable bond that the manager had already built with the club.

The broken glasses at Carrow Road, the comeback against Barcelona, the Alisson winner at West Brom – these moments, Klopp quite correctly argued, “only happened because of us, because we created this atmosphere, because we pushed each other to the limit… These special stories, nobody can take away from us.”

And he’s right. The haters can say whatever they want about Klopp’s tenure, but their opinions are irrelevant. Sunday is solely about Klopp and the club. His club. And his people. And the simple fact that the made each other happy.

“We gave Liverpool the best time of our lives,” he said last week. “That’s the best thing that I take from here – that I’m obviously allowed to think that I will never walk alone ever again in my life.”