5 things advertising agencies can learn from Liverpool's manager, Jürgen Klopp.
Jürgen Klopp is widely recognized as being one of the best, if not the best football manager in the world. The German took reign of a mediocre Liverpool team in 2015, cut to today, Liverpool are European champions, World champions and are on their way to clinching a long-awaited English Premier League title after 30 years of failed attempts.
But, how? how could a man with half the budget of rival English and European powerhouses produce such unbelievable results?
Is he a great tactician? Undoubtedly, his high pressure, offensive football philosophy is matchless.
Is he the finest? that's debatable.
Klopp’s genius stems from a place that transcends football. His personality, attitude and most importantly the culture he has put in place, made him one of the most effective and inspiring leaders of our time.
You might be saying to yourself ‘ok smart-pants, but what is it exactly that we should be learning from him?’
Well, let me tell you.
#1 Success is due to a conflation of vision and consistency.
It wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies for the Merseyside team. Flashback to October 2015, J.K arrived from Dortmund to take charge of a team who had finished 6th in the previous 2014-2015 season with a whopping gap of 25 points behind crowned champions Chelsea, a team who was led by the notorious José Mourinho aka The Special One.
On his first press conference as Liverpool manager, Jurgen leveraged the occasion to share his vision for the club.
"If I sit here in four years, I am pretty confident we will have one title" said Klopp.
Then he went on to answer the much anticipated transfers subject saying:
"It's enough for me to have the first and last word, we only want to discuss really good players. I'm not a genius, I don't know more than the rest of the world. I need the other people to get perfect information. It's really easy to handle it."
Finally, when he was asked about Jose Mourinho's first press conference at Chelsea in 2004 when he labelled himself a 'Special One'. Klopp replied:
"I don't want to describe myself. I'm a totally normal guy, I'm the Normal One."
That was it, the tone was set, Klopp wasn’t coming to revolutionize Liverpool, instead, he had a vision of humble collaboration, his strategy was to empower and trust Liverpool’s staff, capitalize on the club’s existing assets while initiating a progressive long-term evolution.
#2 Age and fame are irrelevant, it’s the output that matters.
To strengthen his squad given the available resources, J.K had to adopt quite a different approach comparing to other top tier English clubs, one that was based on bargains, potential and technical judgement. Disregarding short-term gains and marketing benefits, Klopp chose players he believed would fit his long-term tactical approach and cultural vision.
Whether it be a 30 year old benchwarmer from Man City or an 18 year old kid from Liverpool’s academy, in Jürgen’s world, as long as you match the criteria you get a spot. As a matter of fact, both James Milner and Trent Alexander Arnold thrived under the German’s reign.
"Liverpool have become the blueprint for transfer success." AJ Swoboda, managing director for the Americas at 21st Club said.
"Liverpool's front three cost less than €120m but are now worth closer to €350m. The biggest mover in the statistics is Andy Robertson. Costing €9m from Hull in 2017, he is now worth €98m, with the Scot not the only Reds star in the top five. Georginio Wijnaldum has also seen his value increase to €67m from the €20m the Reds paid Newcastle United in 2016. Mohamed Salah, as expected, is also in the top five. Despite forking out €42m to secure the Egyptian’s services in the summer of 2017, due to incredible form he is now valued at €119m."
The German tactician created an equilibrium of veterans and hot prospects. Thus, enabling him to turn a group of fairly good lads into world class players.
#3 Create a culture that drives people.
Most managers focus on the business strategy and tactics of the game. But are they missing something important by not thinking of how they make people feel?
A few years into the job Liverpool was still trophy-less, criticism and pressure from the press was building up, but something was different within the club, the culture.
"We searched to create a culture of preparation inside our club, a culture of perfection, and we can feel this now in all the people through all the departments of the club."
"Each game had its own story. We had games where we dominated and owned the pitch from the start until the end, and we also had games where we had to find solutions and overcome adversity. But what was always there was the 'chasing over the whole pitch' attitude of the boys." Said Pep Lijnders Liverpool’s Assistant Manager.
Klopp’s secret ingredient is the emotional connection he established within the Liverpool structure. The amount of love, trust and recognition he infused into the team, created a fighter’s mentality. Although this was not quite recognized throughout the process.
"You don’t win trophies by hugging your players", was one of the most overused press criticisms.
hmmm well I guess you do?
#4 Free yourself from those who don’t fit in.
The German manager has performed some miracles in the transfer window down the years. Yet, most of the attention goes to the team pillars he bought in. If you only look at the arrivals you end up missing an important part of the puzzle. The team’s success isn’t solely due to those he transferred-in, but it is those he transferred-out that allowed him the freedom to shape the club’s identity.
Jürgen Klopp has sold 36 players at Liverpool for a combined ￡338m. The most prominent being wonder-kid Philippe Coutinho, a prodigy who was considered to be the most influential player of the squad. J.K wanted to keep him at the club, however, the feeling was not mutual, the Brazilian was dreaming of joining Catalan giants, FC Barcelona.
“Philippe was insistent with me, the owners and even his teammates this was a move he was desperate to make happen.” The key piece being: “teammates.”
Coutinho had placed Klopp in a inconvenient situation. The German coach positions harmony and trust between his team members above all. Football clubs are working environments like anywhere else, if someone is unsettled and lets it be known, the mood can spread quickly, harming the overall productivity and drive.
Despite being able to hold on to the player till the end of season, the German agreed to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona mid-season for a baffling sum of ￡148m.
However, misfortune is often opportunity is disguise, aside from the free cashflow generated which allowed Liverpool to significantly reinforce its ranks, the gap which was left behind by the Brazilian compelled other players to step up and fill the opening.
#5 The importance of psychology.
When it comes down to it, Liverpool’s success is definitely due to their incredible talents and tactical approach but the most catalytic factor would be the manager’s relentless focus on psychology. Nobody can deny the importance of a good mentality in football, but psychology is hard to measure, hence, it is the factor that gets the least analysis.
But all too often the best teams get mentally dominated on the pitch by much weaker sides. Having the drive to run a sprint to regain a ball instantly, or putting your head where another player would not put their leg is incredibly important, perhaps even more than tactical prowess.
Klopp thrives at hitting the right emotional chords with his players, he’s mainly able to do so thanks to two key elements, emotional intelligence and altruism.
Wijnaldum recently said that the manager did his pre-match team talk at the 2018 Champions League final in Kyiv wearing a pair of C.Ronaldo branded boxer shorts. It was a trick to ease the tension with a twist on the classic ‘picture them in their underwear’ advice given to job interviewees.
Not sure if this is the best example, but it sure is my favorite one!
Mohsen El-Sayed.