Jürgen Klopp — ‘The Normal One’
What is the cost of being normal?
What is normal? The more people I meet, the further away I am from finding a normal person. I have seen a few that really try their best to be just normal, but that illusion usually breaks soon after the moon ascends in its full glory.
Take, for instance, that madman Jürgen Klopp. When one sees his dislocated jaw while he is raging at a four official through his clenched fake teeth, there is nothing normal to spot there.
Why did Klopp, when he first came to Liverpool nine years ago, described himself as ‘The Normal One’? Fans loved it. Perhaps they thought he was one of them? One of the normal ones. Just another God-fearing, working class man. Is that what normal is — being humble and not provoking your destiny with a hedonistic lifestyle? Is normality keeping your feet on the ground despite millions you earn? Whether that was what he meant or not, it helped him galvanised those sleeping fans and, using his words, turned doubters to believers. Nine years later, on the day Klopp was having his last match as a manager of Liverpool FC, he had an army of loyal fans standing behind him, following his every order.
I went to Liverpool on Sunday to experience some of that myself. The whole city was red. I am not talking about the stadium area or pubs. I am talking — the whole city. Red. Klopp’s face was everywhere, at the rail station, at the docks, in the parks. Jürgen was John, Paul, George and Ringo. Jürgen was everything. Which is strange because Klopp said that in nine years he spent in Liverpool he was in the city centre only a few times, two of which were on a bus during the winning parades. So he was not one of them after all. He was not drinking coffee with them, he was not singing the Beatles in local pubs.
Perhaps normality is having the same ideology as the majority of people in the society you live in? Does being normal mean wearing the same shoes as the most people? Is it thinking the same as the next man, and believing the same as the next woman? Is it about sharing the same moral values? Is normality really like being average — so average that you don’t need to worry about anything because you are protected at all times by the majority?
Klopp was definitively protected by the majority in Liverpool. They sang him ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ enough times to assure him he could feel safe. He shared the same principles as the rest of the community, but he was not one of them. He was their leader. Klopp was a queen ant, hidden in the wood nest.
He was building his identity as ‘The Normal One’ regardless. In fact, Jürgen Klopp as ‘The Normal One’ was so appealing that certain brands wanted that image next to their products. We could see Klopp doing adverts and saying such slogans as ‘Where the best is normal.’ So what is normal? Is the normal person the one who smiles at all times, calm and relaxed. The one who works from 8 to 4? The one who doesn’t drink or do drugs? Who doesn’t sin? The one who goes to sleep before 10PM after calling his parents to send them kisses. Help me here because I am not sure — Does being normal mean being boring?
He cemented himself in the conscious of the people as ‘The Normal One’.
And who doesn’t want to follow ‘The Normal One’, the one of us?
At the same time, his teeth were clenching, his veins were bulging as he was blaming referees, pundits and FA officials every time his team would come short — Not normal. So did he trick the fans? Was he fake as his teeth? Did he make them and others believe he was one of them to galvanise them? He had them on his side, that’s for sure. At all times. He was in control.
Is that what it means to be normal, then? To be in control?
Surely, it is that. Klopp likes order. He likes having things under control. His charisma and his presence made him put things in place and bring the great Liverpool back to glory. However, when you seek total order, almost inevitably a little dictator will surface from inside you and demand freedom of others for exchange of control. Just remember the COVID years when Liverpool was the most vaccinated clubs of all. According to Klopp, 99% of his players got vaccinated. Although he claimed players did it following their own conscience, it is also truth that he made it pretty clear the club wouldn’t be signing unvaccinated players. It was quite obvious to everybody what they needed to do. They had to be normal. Like the rest of the society. Obedient and compliant.
Is that what normal is then — listening to the authority? Respecting the laws society made? As much as Klopp was faithful to the government rules, he expected his players to abide by him. He was an unyielding authority for those players. Alexander-Arnold just recently said: “Klopp is a strange blend of intimidating and very welcoming. He can inspire and motivate at the click of his fingers.”
As much as it is true that he galvanised those players (and fans) like no one did before him, I believe the same need for control that once lead him to the Champions League and Premier League titles eventually lead him to his downfall. Perhaps ‘downfall’ is not the right word, but it seems they were missing something to get over the line in the crucial moments. They lost two Champions League finals and twice they lost the Premier League by a single point. He was running high on momentums he created, but that was not sustainable. You can’t keep the momentum high at all times. You need to add some flexibility into the mix, and give up on absolute control. Pep Guardiola had to leave Barcelona and take a year of break to find that balance, to allow himself to lose control.
But Klopp couldn’t do it. And that brings us to January 2024 when he announced that he was running out of energy and that this season would be his last in charge.
“I am still a normal guy. I just haven’t lived a normal life for too long now,” Klopp said back then.
Therefore, the real question is not what it means to be normal, but what it takes to be normal? What is the cost?
If you want to have control over everything, you will probably end up empty at one point. It will not only make you run out of energy, but it will also drain energy from others. At the crucial moment of this season, Salah and Klopp, two men who marked this great era of Liverpool, fell out on a touchline at the match against West Ham in London. Seconds later, as their heads were still boiling, West Ham scored the goal for 2–2, which proved to be the one that put Liverpool out of the title race. It was all over. That was probably Klopp’s biggest wake up call — the same passion that once brought him glory now ripped everything from him.
“I don’t want to wait until I am too old for living a normal life,” Klopp said recently.
Clearly, there is something inside him that bags for change, but dear Jürgen, I don’t think it is normality that you are looking for.
