Former Liverpool Manager Jürgen Klopp Defends Red Bull Switch Amid Fans Criticism

Klopp has recently come under fire from fans of his previous German clubs after taking up the position of Red Bull’s Global Football Director. Klopp, who will assume this new role in January, said that he “did not wish to tread on people’s toes,” after receiving criticism for his actions, mainly from Dortmund fans and Mainz fans.

“I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, definitely not, and I love all my former clubs,” Klopp said during the podcast with Toni Kroos. He said that any decision he could have made to lead a different club would have probably been disappointing. “I don’t know what exactly I could have done to make everyone happy,” he said.

Red Bull, particularly the Leipzig team, has been an unpopular team among German soccer fans because the company is viewed as an intrusion of corporate America attempting to buy success in football. The fans of the clubs that Klopp has managed before showed their disappointment in this move. Mainz fans reacted with banners saying ‘Disappointing’ or ‘Why did you go to Red Bull?

Klopp, who was a player and then a manager at Mainz for 18 years before joining Dortmund in 2008, won two Bundesliga titles and reached the Champions League final with Dortmund. Still, the criticism does not seem to bother Klopp as much as the fans do about Red Bull’s investment. He pointed out that Red Bull has assisted in the return of high-level club soccer to the former East Germany with Leipzig’s promotion.

When Klopp left Liverpool in May, he had thought about taking a long break from football. “I am 57 years old, so I can still work for a couple more years, but I don’t see myself on the sidelines as a coach right now,” Klopp said. But it was always clear that I was going to do nothing at all. And then this opportunity with Red Bull emerged and as far as I am concerned it is incredible.”

In the new position, Klopp will be more of a consultant where he will have to liaise more with the coaches at the clubs supported by Red Bull. “I have always had the feeling that the coach is very often the most isolated person at the club,” he noted, implying why he would want to be the support for the coach.

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