Ferguson, a master at playing mind games with rival managers, has gone on record to express his admiration for the German, who was less effusive in his praise for United’s current manager Louis van Gaal.
Advertisement
The pair met face-to-face about three years and it is an experience Klopp will never forget.
He said: I have a few really good memories with Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Between these two things you have to play football people want to talk about”.
“Maybe Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest ever – the John Lennon of football”.
Ultimately, the mantle of replacing the irreplaceable Scot went to compatriot David Moyes-and we know how that one ended-but things could all have been so different had Klopp been convinced. There was a time but I could not leave Dortmund.
Then Bayern president Uli Hoeness slammed van Gaal’s style, saying there was “nothing enjoyable about football at FC Bayern”, a sentiment no doubt many United fans would echo.
“As an opponent you have to respect this and work with the information”. The stories (going) around I am not interested in.
“We spoke. We spoke not a lot but, for me, it was a lot”, he said, in response to a question about Ferguson’s disclosure, made in his management book Leading.
“We had a good time together, that’s all, but that he is concerned, that’s good”.
Klopp’s main focus, however, is a huge game with Manchester United where Liverpool could display their big-game credentials once again. And ahead of a clash rich with history, he was asked about Sir Alex approaching him to take over the reins at United in 2013.
He said: “It is always the case if things don’t run the way you want – you have to think about whether to change things or not to change”. I enjoyed the atmosphere against Arsenal but we can do better.
Louis van Gaal is one of the most successful managers in world.
‘I am a German football coach and one of the ambassadors of our national sport, just like Warsteiner beer is one of the best ambassadors for the German beer tradition’.
The unthinkable happened on Friday, and perhaps it says as much about the faded powers of two of English football’s great clubs.
Advertisement
Manchester United issue De Gea transfer update after Real Madrid punishment; is Spanish stopper set to beat the ban?
