Klopp Admits Fearing Sack In Early Liverpool Reign
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he feared getting sacked in the early days of his Anfield reign had things not improved.
Klopp will be celebrating five years in charge of Liverpool in October, having been brought in to replace Brendan Rodgers in 2015.
The 52-year-old German has transformed Liverpool’s fortunes since his appointment.
Klopp led Liverpool to three cup finals, losing to Manchester City, Sevilla and Real Madrid in the Carabao Cup, Europa League and UEFA Champions League respectively before finally lifting silverware in the shape of Europe’s premier club competition last year.
Liverpool have added the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup to their trophy haul under Klopp and were on the verge of winning their first league title in three decades when the 2019/2020 season was suspended because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
"It was clear we needed time," Klopp told Sky Sports. "It was clear we couldn’t fix it overnight. Everybody wanted that but it was clear [it couldn’t be done straight away].
"So I had to ask for time, that’s how it is. Before in my career I had never got the sack so I had no real experience with that. But I knew now I’m on a different level [at Liverpool] and if I cannot deliver here quick enough then I’m going to get the sack, as easy as that.
"That’s why I said if I sit here in four years still then something happened (Liverpool improving and winning trophies) probably in between now and then. It’s not that I asked for four years, I asked for a little bit of time. We got that.
"The nice thing was that after seven or eight games… they (Liverpool's owners) were really positive about the situation of signing me and that it would be the right one, together with my coaches. They realised ‘okay, yes, they’re on the right path’ and from that moment on they didn’t question it for one second.
"They were full of faith and trust and said ‘this is the path we’ll stay on and everything will be fine’. Who knows if you can win something in that difficult league but we’ll try this way.
"But we never really thought about losing finals when we lost them like against Sevilla, City or Real Madrid. Pundits said 'if he doesn’t win the next one then they have to change something'. That’s how it is. Internally nobody thought like this."
