It has been nearly a decade since Jürgen Klopp last worked full time for a German football entity, but he remains the most ubiquitous face on television in the Bundesrepublik.
Switch on ARD/ZDF breakfast television any weekday morning and you’ll see segments of the show sponsored by financial services company Deutsche Vermögensberatung, accompanied by Klopp’s friendly and familiar hearty laugh. It doesn’t end there. Klopp is a natural product ambassador and has also helped promote everything from beer to exercise bikes to cars, chocolate bars and most recently, an electronics company.
So, it was no surprise that Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff went to tremendous lengths to secure Klopp for the ever-expanding RB football world. The surprise to many arrived in the form of the self-described “normal one” accepting the offer. Why Red Bull? It’s not exactly the most popular branch of football among German fans. Klopp surely could have picked from any number of next projects.
As “global head of soccer,” he’ll advise all the clubs worldwide within the RB stable. Not coincidentally, RB Leipzig are coached by Marco Rose, his former player at Mainz.
Meanwhile, RB Salzburg have Pepijn Lijnders, Klopp’s former Liverpool assistant at the helm. At the New York Red Bulls, it’s Sandro Schwarz, who played with and under Klopp in Mainz before either man had hit the big-time world of football.
It undoubtedly helps when you get paid a lot of money to work with friends and former associates.
I’ve been struck by the differences in reaction between England and Germany. The English attitude seems to be one of “Good luck to you, you’ve earned the right to do what you want next.”
In Germany, it was never going to be quite as relaxed. Leipzig remain polarising mostly due to the manner of their birth in 2009, buying the rights to the fifth-division Leipzig-area club SSV Markranstädt, and with only a limited membership, loyal to Red Bull management, thus avoiding issues with German football’s 50+1 ownership structure whereby members must own the majority of each club.
This makes RB pariahs to many traditional football fans, and for Klopp, the people’s man, to associate himself with them was never going to be met with strong approval. The cover of last Thursday’s Kicker, the specialty German football magazine, featured Klopp’s face and the self-explanatory words “Kultur-Schock.” Kicker’s online poll of readers showed 72% disapproved of his move.
The Klopp topic opened Sunday’s weekly Doppelpass panel discussion on Sport1 and, in contrast, most of the participants stood behind Klopp’s decision. Particularly vocal in admiration of Red Bull was former Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin sporting chief Fredi Bobic.
“They have the right structures. I’m thinking only of the game and the sport,” he said. “Many traditionalists are still living in their past and in their romance. Now they’re playing in the 2. Bundesliga.”
Ouch.
Klopp says he’s looking forward to learning again in his new role, but he already knows enough to understand that even though this is a move by Mintzlaff to make Red Bull seem more likeable, attitudes are hard to shift.
German fans seem to have more misgivings about Klopp’s new role than Thomas Tuchel taking over theEngland reins.
What is often not understood outside Germany is that England are simply not viewed as their ultimate rivals. Due to World Cup history, Italy and the Netherlands can lay claim to this status more than the Three Lions.
It’s well known that Tuchel, as he told my ESPN pitchside colleague Archie Rhind-Tutt nine months ago, feels a bond with English football and indeed feels more in tune with the country’s football culture.
German fans tend to value the traditional aspects and atmosphere of the English game, if not the commercialisation of the sport that stands in stark contrast to what most Bundesliga clubs — boasting considerable community focus — stand for.
That Tuchel has opted to experience this culture as England manager is not something that will whip up anyone in Germany as it has among some strident English newspapers this week.
Germany don’t have the problem right now of a paucity of high-level coaches. Julian Nagelsmann, a year into his work as Bundestrainer, has stamped his vision on to the national team and the performances have become easy on the eye.
I liked how ZDF analyst Christoph Kramer put it after the 1-0 win over the Dutch on Monday night: “If both teams had been playing in dark overalls, we would still know which team is Germany, because it has Nagelsmann’s signature and you can see it.”
Qualifying for the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals with such ease is not something we’ve grown accustomed to. Nagelsmann hit the jackpot with Stuttgart’s Jamie Leweling in his Germany debut, scorer of a thumping goal and unlucky to see an earlier strike chalked off for a controversial and complex offside.
The inclusion of striker Tim Kleindienst in both games also merits mention. At 29, Kleindienst, previously with Heidenheim and now with Borussia Mönchengladbach, was selected due to the Leistungsprinzip — performances dictate personnel.
Play well at club level and Nagelsmann is sure to notice. It marks such a bold change from the past when there seemingly had to be a Bayern Munich block and a Borussia Dortmund block and you filled in the squad from there.
It seems only fair to update manager Pellegrino Matarazzo’s situation in TSG Hoffenheim. I must admit while penning this column just before the international break, I thought there was a good chance he would have been relieved of his duties by now.
But the Leistungsprinzip has come to the Italian-American’s aid. It’s difficult to dismiss someone after supervising fine back-to-back performances against Dynamo Kyiv (2-0) in the UEFA Europa League and Stuttgart (1-1 away) in the Bundesliga.
In addition, Hoffenheim have just appointed highly regarded sporting director Andreas Schicker from Austrian champions Sturm Graz, and he’s not about to tear things up as he gets his feet under the table. The status quo for Matarazzo has been confirmed by Dr. Markus Schütz, chairman of the management board.
“We’ve never said it’s his last game, but that we all have to be successful and as quickly as possible,” Dr. Schütz said. “There is no identifiable final. That would also ruin the atmosphere to set such ultimatums. It’s pointless.”
Still, with only four points gathered from six games, this weekend’s home match against bottom club Bochum will tell us a lot.
