‘We didn’t recognise ourselves as doubters – but Jurgen Klopp changed our ways’

Ten years have passed since Jurgen Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager, announced himself as ‘The Normal One’ and reminded us of who we really were.

The following piece is a passage from Adam Beattie’s new book, Jurgen Klopp: Power of the Collective.

Everything was about to change and the best bit was that we had sleepwalked into a position of blissful ignorance. A whole new world was opening up in front of us and we were about to get the Liverpool we deserved, the Liverpool that history demands of itself.

‘Doubters to believers’ has since taken on iconic connotations of its own but we hadn’t truly recognised ourselves as doubters in the first place, we had just become comfortable enough with accepting mediocrity.

We had five European Cups proudly sitting in our museum and, although the league title had eluded us since 1990, we had punched above our weight on more than one occasion and gone as close as it is possible to get.

If Everton are brazen enough to label themselves the sleeping giants, Liverpool should have been acting like the conscious giants.

We have been there and done it and, even when the going gets tough, we continually show ourselves to be capable of mixing it with the best.

This was going to be the man to bring that self-assurance and conviction back out of us. For all of this to work we needed undivided buy-in from the start, any self-deprecation only served to knock us out of our stride in our quest to prove ourselves worthy again.

There was a spring in Liverpool’s step and we simply had no choice but to make it the best place it could be. One downside that did come with Klopp’s unveiling was a stark realisation, one that was intrinsically linked to the heartache we had suffered in eras gone by.

We had got the fella we wanted and it looked for all the world like this would be the perfect fit at the perfect time, but what if this was it? What if we’d got exactly what we needed and even he couldn’t be the one to do it?

It became a question of now or never in our toxic, insecure minds and, all of a sudden, that much more familiar sensation of apprehension began to worm its way back in.

If Jurgen Klopp couldn’t bring the league title back to Anfield then we might simply be caught in an endless cycle of excruciating close calls.

It is a peculiar position to find yourself in as a football supporter.

We may have become European champions in 2005 but this was a lull as far as our historical benchmarks were concerned. Yet, here we were appointing perhaps the most coveted manager of the lot.

Did he truly see something within us that the rest of the world and, in all honesty, ourselves, were missing?

His promise of a league title within four years certainly did enough to insinuate as much, and no matter how distant that prospect felt as he uttered it, we believed every single word because of the conviction with which they were delivered.

Liverpool didn’t kick a competitive ball during that 13-day interlude but there was suddenly an overwhelming sense of hope in the air that we didn’t know we needed.

The outwardly knee-jerk reaction to the otherwise monotonous Everton draw gave many of us the kick up the arse we needed. Klopp’s press conference reminded us of our status and the duty to act accordingly, rather than simply providing us with a string of baseless assurances.

The fanbase had regained its swagger without the need to see a minute of action, what was vital from here was that we remembered to remain stoical.

The message from the boss – who had instantly garnered our respect as though he was a school teacher as much as our leader – was a simple one: “Please give us the time to work on it.”

As Liverpool fans, sometimes all we need is sufficient grounds for encouragement.

In four years, Brendan Rodgers was never able to earn the level of devotion Klopp pocketed within five minutes, but he did give us an excuse to believe we could do the unthinkable and that was all we really wanted from the opening weeks here.

He believed in us and that was all that mattered at that point, the rest would need to be worked on and we knew as well as anyone about the scale of the work required which, in part, was what made the “four years” claim so daring.

Either we were underestimating our potential or the incoming boss was overestimating it. One way or another, there was some degree of estimation going on.

Patience is an easy commodity to offer if tangible signs of progress are afforded in return. Liverpool’s October predicament meant Klopp’s immediate job was to maintain those levels of faith while fixing the defects around the edges.

The league title wasn’t any of our business in 2015/16 and, in all reality, the Champions League places weren’t worth worrying about either.

The team that went so close to reaching the promised land in 2013/14 had been dismantled piece by piece throughout each transfer window that ensued, it may be that that Luis Suarez-inspired journey led us to kid ourselves that we weren’t as far away as we truly were.

That the stagnation was more gradual than the capitulation of the Hodgson days meant the cracks remained papered over, addressing those cracks was the first point of order for the new kids on the block.

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You can buy Adam Beattie’s new book, Jurgen Klopp: Power of the Collective, here.