Liverpool Manager, Jurgen Klopp has provided a rare insight into his management off the pitch, revealing how he deals with difficult players and how his Christian values define his principles, IgbereTV reports
Liverpool are preparing for the Merseyside Derby on Saturday September 3, where the Reds will be hoping to pick up a third consecutive victory. Ahead of the trip to Goodison Park to play Everton, the Reds’ manager was interviewed by BT Sport about his ‘non-negotiables’ as a manager.
During the interview released Friday, September 2, he opened up on how important discipline is to him as a manager and how there have been players during his management career that don’t fit his principles.
He said:
‘I’m very disciplined. I’m very relaxed, but sometimes things happen – not really bad things – and I ask ‘do we have a fine for that?’ And then they tell me ‘no, we don’t have a fine for that because it’s never happened before’.
‘Discipline is very important to me, but the players are used to that – they grew up in the football environment and you can’t do team sport without discipline. It’s better not to sign really ‘difficult’ players.
‘And if somebody develops into a ‘difficult’ player, you better bring him out of the building because they might help you in the short term but will always hurt you in the long term. So we never really have disciplinary issues.’
‘There have been players who didn’t fit with my principles, and that’s when we parted ways. I’ve never signed a player like this, but from time to time there have been. But in 22 years as a manager it’s not even a handful, so I think that’s a pretty good number.’
The German, who became Liverpool’s manager in 2015 following spells at Borussia Dortmund and Mainz, says his Christian values have defined his principles throughout life and is responsible for his success. He said;
‘I cannot divide that from me as a human being, so it’s definitely my parents and because I’m a Christian I have to mention Jesus Christ. That’s my line which I try to follow through life.
‘You never know exactly what other coaches are doing. How can you if you’re not around when they are acting in the role? I never thought about that – I never wanted to be like somebody else. Not because I think I am so outstanding, just because I have no idea how other people are, so I try to solve my problems myself.’
