Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan has told fans what to expect from the club’s new manager search. Jurgen Klopp will step down this summer.
Liverpool will pick a new manager later this year for the first time in nearly nine years. Jurgen Klopp has announced that he’s stepping away from the club – and that brings all sorts of questions.
The Reds won’t just need to replace Klopp, either. Key members of the coaching staff will also depart, while sporting director Jorg Schmadtke will be leaving at the end of his contract.
All change, then, but the biggest decision coming is the new manager. Klopp himself has explained that he won’t be involved in the process, believing that’s best left to the people in the background.
One of those is CEO Billy Hogan, who explained what the upcoming process will be like.
“Credit to Jurgen, he’s come to the decision and wanted to give the club the opportunity to go through what will be an orderly process,” Hogan told a press conference on Friday. “That’s not easy to do if this news isn’t public.
“We will go through that process, as we have done in the past. The same process that brought us Jurgen almost nine years ago, and that’s something that we will do in private, that will be done with the people that are here. The ownership, Mike Gordon in particular, will be a part of that process.
“When we get to a place where we have further news on that, we can discuss it at that point. But it’s not going to be something that’s a running commentary. We prefer to operate that when we’re ready to talk about things, we will. Until that point, we won’t – and we won’t talk about other people and we won’t get into the name game.”
This is one of the biggest managerial decisions in Liverpool’s history. The Reds will be attempting to choose a manager to continue success and replace the club’s most successful manager since Kenny Dalglish.
They famously got it wrong when replacing the King as Graeme Souness struggled to maintain what came before him. Liverpool won’t want a repeat of history in that regard.
Of course, the club has replaced incredible managers successfully in the past. Bob Paisley replaced Bill Shankly, with Joe Fagan then following him. Dalglish picked up the mantle wonderfully from Fagan.
But now we’re going back 40 years since Liverpool have had to make a decision on this level. It’s an incredible task that faces Hogan and co. – another Klopp will be near-impossible to find.
