On 11 April 2014 at 10 p.m., Jürgen Klopp met Hans-Joachim Watzke for a drink at Munich’s Park Hilton Hotel and told him that he had made up his mind. He was staying put.
Earlier that day, ahead of the team’s departure for an away game at Bayern’s Allianz Arena, the Borussia Dortmund coach had still been undecided. He’d received a tempting, hugely lucrative offer from the north-west of England, a chance to take over and revolutionise one of the biggest clubs in the world. ‘We first met in my kitchen,’ says Watzke. ‘Without going into details, it was an interesting talk. I think it made a difference because he said to me on the plane that we needed to talk again in the evening. I was due to have dinner with my daughter, who lived in Munich, so I could only see him at 10 p.m. He straightaway said: “I can’t deal with this pressure any more. I’ve turned them down."
Not long before, Manchester United executive vice chairman Ed Woodward had flown out to see Klopp in Germany. David Moyes’ short tenure at Old Trafford was coming to an end, and Klopp was United’s favourite to replace him, to bring back a sense of adventure to the Red Devils’ game. Woodward told Klopp that the Theatre of Dreams was ‘like an adult version of Disneyland’, a mythical place where, as the nickname suggested, the entertainment on show was world-class and dreams came true. Klopp wasn’t entirely convinced by that sales pitch–he found it a bit ‘unsexy’, he told a friend–but he didn’t dismiss the proposition out of hand either. After almost six years in the job at Dortmund, perhaps the time was ripe for a change of scenery.
Aware of United’s interest, Watzke had intended to insist that Klopp honour his contract, which had been extended to 2018 only the preceding autumn. Sensing that the 46-year-old was quite conflicted, Watzke changed tack and opted for a very risky strategy. If Klopp wanted to go to Man Utd, he wouldn’t stand in his way, he told him, playing on their mutual trust and a connection that had long since crossed from business into the territory of friendship. After some deliberation–and the conversation at Watzke’s kitchen table–the BVB manager came to the conclusion that his work at the Signal Iduna Park was not yet done.
United, however, felt there was still a possibility of luring him away. When Moyes received his inevitable marching orders on 22 April, Klopp was quickly installed as the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed the Scot. Incessant media speculation in the UK prompted the Swabian to release a statement via the Guardian the next day, to kill the rumour. ‘Man Utd is a great club and I feel very familiar with their wonderful fans,’ it read, ‘but my commitment to Borussia Dortmund and the people is unbreakable.”
Klopp continued to attract interest from the Premier League, regardless. Six months after he had turned down Woodward, Manchester United’s local rivals Manchester City made an approach. Tottenham Hotspur, too, enquired about his services. At the same time, Klopp used an interview with BT Sport ahead of Dortmund’s Champions League game at Arsenal to make his long-term intentions known. Asked whether he would be coming to England once his time at Borussia was over, the answer was unequivocal. ‘It’s the only country, I think, where I should work, really, [after] Germany,’ he nodded, ‘because it’s the only country I know the language a little bit. And I need the language for my work. So we will see. If somebody will call me, then we will talk about it.’
The writing was very much on the wall then, Watzke says. Dortmund were having their first–and only–poor domestic campaign with Klopp in charge, and an escape to rainier climes all of a sudden held more attraction than before. Watzke: ‘Our season was already in the toilet, and you got that distinct feeling… For me it was clear that he wouldn’t go anywhere else in Germany after Borussia, he wouldn't be able to do that. He always said he didn’t study English but I’m pretty sure he polished it a little bit. I could observe that he had. It was obvious that he’d go to the Premier League. That’s his game.
Almost exactly one year after Klopp had said no to United, his bond with Dortmund turned out to be breakable after all. He announced he would resign at the end of the 2014–15 season, making sure to add that he didn’t intend to take a sabbatical.
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“Klopp’s name had first cropped up at Anfield in the spring of 2012, as possible successors to Kenny Dalglish were being sounded out. A middle-man got in touch with the Dortmund coach but was told in no uncertain terms that Klopp had no intention of leaving. He was on the way to winning a historic double.”
Excerpt From: Raphael Honigstein. “Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story.” Apple Books.