26 May 2024 00:19:46
Really weird season as a Liverpool fan.
I understand why Jurgen made the announcement when he did but I think the telling it - the making it public - took the wind out of his sails and the squad’s.
The loss to Arsenal in the league and especially United in the FA Cup just sucked whatever life was left out of the season. It was such a shame because the travesty of the Tottenham game aside the team had kept finding ways to win.
On a wider note and as a Liverpool fan and a fan of the game in general the real disappointment is that fans are being priced out of going to matches.
In a time of food-bank, a family with a couple of kids having bought the kit (or all of them), and the training kit, and the pre-match warm up shirts and jacket have no real chance of getting to a match, let alone on a regular basis.
I’m always happy when someone writes on here that, having been a fan for years, they are coming to Liverpool to either watch a match or are on a visit to Liverpool and are looking for tickets. Having said that it makes me sad the the best chance of getting in is to fork out £100s to get in through hospitality. Perhaps it’s me being old but it’d be great if we could rip out the corporate crap and let people who love the club get into the ground rather than clients being entertained by some company.
26 May 2024 05:11:47
Jurgen is not someone who pretends. It would have been impossible for him to not disclose it till the end. Indeed, the announcement emotionally drained the squad. They were desperate to win for him. During a close run, we need calmness. We lacked it.
26 May 2024 07:24:46
The only way the club could of held the announcement is if they put off their replacement search a little longer which could of been damaging,
When you start a search like that it only takes one agent/ family member to blow the whistle and the news is out. You can’t keep a story like that quiet.
I actually think the announcement gave us a shot in the arm, the problem, in my opinion, is that we seem to get fixated on the media noise of winning all four trophies. Once we lost to united and the way it happened. Remember, we dominated the game but couldn’t hit a barn door, we lost all momentum and ended all our trophy hopes in a week.
We shouldn’t of reacted the way we did but it’s been an ok season. We now just need to build on it.
26 May 2024 07:46:14
I think wdw as regards announcement I think there as such no good time to do it. I think when they did announce it was the least worst time. If we hadve tried to keep it quiet til end of season I feel that would be just impossible, too many of our staff are moving, not only manager, these staff need to find new jobs, in some cases enter there children into new schools etc. Impossible to keep quiet, look at the mess utd now in as regards 7hagg with news coming out day b4 cup final that they talking to other people about his job and about to sack him. Niw after winning it they in no win situation and looks v amateurish and ineos on back foot almost right away, damed if they do damned if they dont. ours was clean break which important i think. Most importantly it gave us bit of headstart on rest looking for a new manager, we had all our business sorted manager wise and director of football wise start of April roughly while lot of other big teams seem to be just scrambling about now.
26 May 2024 07:51:37
It’s hard to judge the effect that Klopp’s announcement had.
Initially it galvanised the team and helped create the scenario where we were competing in the latter stages on all fronts.
I think the squad just became mentally and physically drained. I don’t think it was just down to Klopp’s announcement.
Confidence is a funny thing, it can carry tired legs and tired minds through a tough spell.
Confidence was shattered against ManU in the FA cup and that shattering loss carried over into the Atalanta first leg. Suddenly we looked dead on our feet.
26 May 2024 08:01:39
Unfortunately the rising costs and the impossibility of getting tickets is all down the the marketing of the premier league being the best league in the world. It’s also the most expensive and exclusive. Lived in spain for years and bar maybe the Classico it was never an issue getting tickets for Barca. The Madrids or Valencia. They have category pricing so you know roughly what you’re going to be paying for depending who you want to see them play. My first game at Real Madrid was 2006 (Reyes was playing for them) it was €14 a ticket and I wasn’t up in the gods! I paid more than that first time I went to Anfield 10 years earlier.
It’s no wonder people buy fake kits and use dodgy Firesticks. The costs involved following footy teams is astronomical and that’s without going to match days.
But it’s the price we pay for wanting the best players in the world.
26 May 2024 08:50:04
We had a period of bad results that came weeks after his announcement.
I think far too much focus on trying to find an explanation as to why this and that happened. This may have been the best outcome out of all the possible outcomes.
Maybe Klopp says nothing until end of season and then we’re scrambling to find a replacement. Maybe leaks start to impact the club and players as it hasn’t been made public. It’s buts and maybes.
For me, they did the right thing to announce early and make it transparent.
26 May 2024 08:56:28
"I understand why Jurgen made the announcement when he did but I think the telling it - the making it public - took the wind out of his sails and the squad’s. "
Would you have preferred that he and the club kept it qiet and then, it got leaked to the media? Would that have not knocked the wind out of the team's sails, then? Come on, man. You're smarter than that.
There are no good options here refarding the timing. None whatsoever. There are ONLY less bad ones and the team took the less bad one to prevent leakage to the press. Look at the end of the day, this team was NOT ready to challenge for the title and even tho we all believed we could do it, the way we play, our inherrent issues and inconsistent play even within games. That is the reality, sadly. Just watch the Villa game and that is is a microcosm of our season, endd of. We all just need to accept that and move on, IMO. No point beaten a dead horse.
26 May 2024 10:10:57
WDW - Cup games can be a cheap as £25, I take my lad and every game for him ( he’s 10 ) is £9, anywhere in the ground.
26 May 2024 10:44:17
The club could have declined to speculate on Klopp’s future whilst still seeking candidates via agents.
It could have been done, like ETH situation at ManU.
Would it have been less damaging to the team?
I doubt it.
26 May 2024 10:55:27
I agree, Drogie. It's not so much as price being the issue, it's actually having access to tickets. There is no real solution to that. We have a world wide fan base, so a lot of tickets go abroad. Even though we've increased our capacity by 16,000, over the last 8 years, tickets are still no easier to get hold of.
26 May 2024 11:40:46
Rome 1977.The ticket situation is scandalous, they should always look after the local support . I get that we have a world wide fan base n people want to see us play, but what is happening now is that fathers can't take their children, like my dad did with me . the next generation are missing out n eventually won't want to go anyway. this isn't a dig at the outside support it's a dig at the way the ticketing is . That's why Everton say the majority of the city is blue because most of the fans at their ground is local.
26 May 2024 11:51:41
Stromsgodset, I totally agree with you, mate.
26 May 2024 12:55:48
The club has a local sale, putting them ahead of paying members in some instances. I agree, tickets are hard to come by.
26 May 2024 13:57:22
I think Jurgen’s decision was about to become common knowledge so he and the club did well in keeping the story under their control.
I have no proof but I think actually revealing his decision him harder than he might have imagined and also n the impact he had on those around him - the squad. I think that he thought they would kick on to the end of the season but the emotion of the situation seemed to drain the squad. Just my opinion and I may be completely wrong.