# Jürgen Klopp: Would You Go Back To Manage LFC...? The Real Reason I Fell In Love With Liverpool!

An episode of [The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1291423644), 20 Oct 2025, 2 h 29 min.

Audio: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1390/claritaspod.com/measure/p.podderapp.com/2544644999/mgln.ai/e/1651/episode.flightcast.com/01K7VY612HB586BAYFCQR4933Z.mp3

Liverpool FC legend Jürgen Klopp reveals the TRUTH about the Man United offer, Arne Slot, and Michael Edwards, revealing how leadership, success, failure, and fatherhood defined his football legacy, and what it would take for him to return to Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp is one of the world’s most successful football managers, leading Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, winning 13 major trophies, and Liverpool's first Premier League title in 30 years. Since retiring as manager in 2024, he has been Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull. He explains: ◼️His HONEST reaction to Liverpool’s £450M transfer window ◼️Whether he would ever return to manage Liverpool FC…? ◼️How his dad never let him win a single race, and why it shaped him ◼️The REAL story behind his “heavy metal football” high-intensity tactic ◼️The truth about pressure and how he managed it Follow Jürgen: Instagram - https://bit.ly/48B7eV8 Facebook - https://bit.ly/3IS9lcR The Diary Of A CEO: ◼️Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼️Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼️The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼️The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards (Second Edition): https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb ◼️Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼️Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY

## Transcript

[0:00] It was an intense time.
[0:02] We had to win football games, but all the rest was on my plate as well.
[0:05] I need a break, and you cannot do that in that business. You cannot say, give me a year, see you later.
[0:11] So, thanks the question.
[0:12] Do you think you could ever go back and manage Liverpool again?
[0:18] It's possible.
[0:19] So, what would it take?
[0:24] You changed the club, you changed the city.
[0:26] You arrived at a time when clubs were in a period of dysfunction to bring that club back to its glory.
[0:31] I needed that over and over and over again.
[0:33] Now, to win in a very decisive moment, you have to be the best team and to be the best team.
[0:39] Everybody has to buy into that team and walk through fire together.
[0:43] What do I get people to walk through fire?
[0:45] I better go back to the start.
[0:47] Growing up, my mum was very caring, she loved people, and my dad had expectations.
[0:52] The problem was, I was absolutely useless in most of the things, even with football.
[0:56] My teammates were better than me, and I thought, I only can't get on that level.
[1:00] If from the person to the last minute, I was a worry on the pitch, but it made me the guy I am today.
[1:06] And so, my team plays a little bit more like a heavy metal band, because you have 90 minutes, and there's no guarantee to get anything.
[1:13] But the only chance to get something is to give you all.
[1:16] So, do you want to have the maximum success?
[1:18] Don't waste time with holding back.
[1:21] I want to know why Manchester United didn't do this.
[1:23] No, to try it.
[1:24] But there are some reasons in that conversation, which I didn't like.
[1:28] Arnie Sloc coming in after you, and didn't change much.
[1:30] That's super smart, not changing much, and all of a sudden, you win the league by some distance.
[1:35] But this year, Liverpool have spent more $450,000,000.
[1:38] You never had a transfer window like that.
[1:40] Nobody ever told me that it's possible, that it becomes banned, that you seem to always see successful.
[1:46] How does someone succeed you?
[1:47] You want to be able to become the best team in England?
[1:50] You need to.
[1:52] Just give me 30 seconds of your time.
[2:02] Two things I wanted to say.
[2:03] The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning into the show.
[2:07] Week after week means the world to all of us, and this really is a dream that we absolutely never had.
[2:11] And couldn't have imagined getting to this place.
[2:14] But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started.
[2:17] And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this broadcast regularly and follow us on this app.
[2:25] Here's a promise I'm going to make to you.
[2:27] I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future.
[2:32] We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to,
[2:35] and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show.
[2:39] Thank you.
[2:40] To understand you and the man and the anomaly that you went on to be in your career and still are,
[2:50] what do I need to understand about your very earliest context where you came from?
[2:56] And how can you point out to me how that very early context created the person you are today and that everybody knows you to be?
[3:05] I think we all are who we are because of the environment we grew up.
[3:11] My dad was a salesman and my mom came from a family.
[3:15] My grandma had a brewery and she worked there in all these kind of things.
[3:19] But her only purpose was her kids.
[3:22] She loved me more than her own life, definitely.
[3:27] And my dad had expectations.
[3:29] He loved me as well, but he had expectations when my mom didn't.
[3:32] So my mom was so happy that I was there and my dad had always something where he was not really happy with.
[3:38] And all the things my dad wanted me to do, I loved doing.
[3:43] So he wanted me to be a sports guy, each sport, tennis, skiing, football, that was his life.
[3:51] So he wanted that his son is good at that and I loved doing it.
[3:55] If I would have been sitting at home and drawing or whatever, he would every day take me out and say go outside and play something.
[4:03] But then pretty quick, when I became better, it was never good enough.
[4:08] So that was the process.
[4:11] So that's how I was brought up.
[4:13] That's him.
[4:14] That's definitely.
[4:15] Can I keep this picture?
[4:18] Of course you can.
[4:19] That's good.
[4:20] Because I have them, but I'm not sure where.
[4:23] Yeah, exactly.
[4:25] Good looking guy, yeah.
[4:27] Was he a tough, tough man?
[4:29] Yeah.
[4:31] It's not long ago.
[4:33] I never, I never got hit, whatever, never, never, never.
[4:36] He was just, he wanted to bring the best out of me.
[4:39] I think that was what he wanted.
[4:41] Tough in a way.
[4:42] Yeah.
[4:43] How people who are brought up in that time, probably, but not tough, endless.
[4:48] That you thought, do you don't want to have to do anything with him?
[4:51] No, no, I loved him too.
[4:52] And he loved me.
[4:53] He was very proud, but never said it.
[4:56] And these kind of things.
[4:57] So he was a good guy, a really good guy.
[5:01] But with his son, he wanted him to be ambitious and was a bit afraid
[5:06] that I might be not ambitious enough.
[5:08] So a competitive manner here.
[5:10] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[5:11] Reading about stories of him racing, you on ski slopes and sprint races
[5:17] and never letting you win.
[5:19] That's true.
[5:20] Who knows if it was right?
[5:21] Probably it was right.
[5:22] I don't know.
[5:23] It was not nice in a way when you tell the story.
[5:25] It's like, my God, come on, let the poor boy win or whatever.
[5:28] He had no chance.
[5:29] It's just you stand on the touch line and you're on to the halfway line.
[5:33] And when you look back over the course of your career, are there moments
[5:37] where you have flashback to lessons that he taught you or principles
[5:40] or values that he taught you that you think, gosh, I got that from my dad?
[5:45] The one skill I realized that my dad had without knowing
[5:50] that time it was a skill he could speak publicly.
[5:53] You don't know that you have that, that I have it.
[5:56] Today I know it.
[5:57] I don't care if a camera is in my face or whatever.
[6:00] I say what I have to say in that moment without being too worried
[6:05] what might people think about it if I'm convinced it's right?
[6:09] And I say talking in public is not a problem.
[6:11] It's probably from him.
[6:13] My law for people unintentionally is from my mom.
[6:19] So this mix of a very confident and a very caring, very confident dad
[6:25] and very caring mom is where I was brought up in the middle of it.
[6:30] And you wanted to be a doctor before then?
[6:33] So you were aiming to be a doctor that didn't work out?
[6:36] Yeah, that's right.
[6:37] Why, why doctor?
[6:40] No, it was always something I wanted to do.
[6:43] So in all this wonderful upbringing,
[6:46] it was pretty clear that money is an issue,
[6:50] not in a sense that we didn't have enough.
[6:52] It was kind of enough.
[6:53] But I remember discussions, bad discussions about money.
[6:57] arguments if you want, who spent that, who spent that.
[7:00] I was the little one that just sat around and listened to it.
[7:03] But there was a moment in my life when I realized I have to earn a lot of money
[7:06] and they can solve that law.
[7:08] I wanted to earn money to not having this kind of discussions
[7:14] with my wife or with the kids or whatever.
[7:18] So it grew as a thought.
[7:20] When you are a young man and you think, what could you do with life?
[7:23] And for me it was clear I cannot earn my money with football
[7:26] because in my mind I wasn't good enough.
[7:29] And then I got surprised by some people they thought,
[7:32] oh, there's something that could be interesting.
[7:37] What did they see in you as a football player?
[7:40] What was it that they saw in you as a young man?
[7:43] Because I've got these wonderful photos of you as a young player.
[7:47] Oh my god.
[7:50] So in my village, I was the best player in my village.
[7:54] So I scored the goals.
[7:55] I was the fastest, all this kind of physical talent.
[7:57] I was really fast.
[7:58] Later on in a study sport science,
[8:00] I could jump far, I could jump high, all these kind of things.
[8:03] It was a physical talent.
[8:05] The problem was small spaces, technique.
[8:10] That was my problem.
[8:12] So what they saw probably is the attitude.
[8:15] I was a worry on the pitch.
[8:18] It was difficult to beat me stuff like this to get kicked out of the game
[8:23] or get me out of the game.
[8:25] I was really focused at a really good attitude for the game.
[8:28] But I didn't see it.
[8:30] So I was literally surprised by the approach from professional football clubs.
[8:39] I didn't think who's coming.
[8:41] The question was, are you number seven from the game before?
[8:45] Come on, let's have a chat.
[8:47] Do you want to come to Frankfurt?
[8:49] That was the question.
[8:50] It was before that.
[8:51] It was 87.
[8:54] And you were 20 years old at the time when you went to Frankfurt?
[8:57] Yeah.
[8:58] Well, I mean, a lot happens in your 20th year of life.
[9:00] Yeah.
[9:01] A lot happens.
[9:02] That was a change.
[9:03] Wow.
[9:04] Yeah, I came to Frankfurt.
[9:07] It didn't take long that I met Mark's mom.
[9:12] Your son's mom, yeah.
[9:14] Yeah, exactly.
[9:15] And then she got pregnant and December 88.
[9:20] I became a father.
[9:23] Were you scared?
[9:24] 20 years old become a father?
[9:26] Massively.
[9:27] When I heard she's pregnant, I wanted to run away and go, oh God, it's not me.
[9:33] So the moment when I got aware of the fact that I will be a dad, that was really scared.
[9:40] The night 13th December of December 1988 when Mark was born was the night when I became an adult.
[9:49] And the night who changed my life in the right direction.
[9:55] From that moment on, I was always more and adult than all the other people in my age group.
[10:02] So at the university, there were parties I couldn't go.
[10:05] The wedding holiday, I played football, low wages, third division Germany, had two other jobs.
[10:12] One in the morning, one at night, and playing semi professional football.
[10:19] That taught me to discipline.
[10:21] I didn't have to learn at home because I had no jobs to do in the house.
[10:27] So I got it a bit later, but it made me the guy I am today.
[10:32] Because if I experienced, when you became a manager yourself, did that become a bit of a personal reference point
[10:39] to understand the individuals that you were managing?
[10:41] Because if you were managing a 21-year-old dad versus a 21-year-old that didn't have kids,
[10:49] did you understand them to be different?
[10:52] One is, in your own words, one is potentially a man and an adult.
[10:57] And one doesn't know what that is yet.
[10:59] Yes, of course.
[11:00] I don't just want to say I like people, and I'm super curious.
[11:03] Everybody has a story to tell, so I want to hear it.
[11:05] I think I asked that question in part because I heard stories that Sir Alex Ferguson would prefer players
[11:10] who had a girlfriend or wife and kids.
[11:14] Yeah.
[11:15] And I was wondering if there's any truth to that.
[11:17] If they have a different stability or...
[11:19] Oh, it's probably.
[11:21] Yeah.
[11:22] The cover problems you can have a great partner, married or not, and everything is fine.
[11:28] It's a wrong partner.
[11:29] It's not great.
[11:30] You have no partner.
[11:32] Not great for some.
[11:33] And you have too many.
[11:34] It's not great.
[11:35] So there are so many things in life.
[11:37] So I never thought about that.
[11:40] I heard about it.
[11:41] I told you, Germany, very successful manager, Audrey Heigel.
[11:44] I love him to bits.
[11:45] Fantastic guy.
[11:46] He had a swell.
[11:47] I think he said it once as well.
[11:49] And he once married players because they go home and stuff like this.
[11:55] That's one part of the personality.
[12:00] But not the overwhelming or the most decisive or whatever.
[12:04] So it's like...
[12:05] And you need on the football.
[12:07] You need the cheeky ones as well.
[12:09] So they need them.
[12:10] The one who understood the street smart.
[12:12] You need as well.
[12:14] They get out of situations in life and on the pitch.
[12:17] Stuff like this.
[12:18] So it's a mix of everything.
[12:19] That's what I loved about football teams.
[12:22] I treated them.
[12:25] Let me say 50% of the time completely the same.
[12:29] And 50% what he needs, what he needs, what he needs.
[12:33] But in front of the other teammates.
[12:36] So players came to me.
[12:38] Why do you treat me like that?
[12:40] You would never say that to him.
[12:42] No.
[12:43] Because he's from Argentina, grew up with the other window
[12:45] and you are from Munich and everything was fine.
[12:48] You want me to treat you like him.
[12:50] Really?
[12:51] To bring all these people from different areas in the world together,
[12:55] you cannot expect that they all tick the same way.
[12:59] It's just not possible.
[13:00] Growing up in Germany is obviously different to growing up in Senegal.
[13:06] It is different.
[13:08] But then we come together in our dressing room and then everybody says,
[13:10] this is the rule for all of you.
[13:12] And yeah, be in time, of course, for easy.
[13:16] But then all the other stuff.
[13:17] Come on, come down.
[13:19] You want a football team full of different...
[13:24] skill sets, full of different talent, full of different personalities.
[13:28] You want that because that's what you need.
[13:30] That's what makes you unpredictable.
[13:32] But then you put just one, I don't know, helmet over it and say,
[13:35] so that's all of you.
[13:37] That's how we go.
[13:38] There are moments in the game where they have to act like this.
[13:41] In all the other moments, they have to be themselves.
[13:44] So treat them like that.
[13:46] This is one of the most shocking counterintuitive ideas that I have.
[13:53] That I heard from players with other managers,
[13:57] specifically because I've just interviewed so many of Sir Alex Ferguson's former players.
[14:01] One of the shocking things they all said was that he treated people differently.
[14:04] And to hear you say the same thing as well,
[14:06] it really is the opposite of what you hear in business.
[14:09] In business, you hear that you have to be a consistent leader.
[14:12] That you have to be consistent.
[14:13] Treat people the same.
[14:15] But in the world of football, people like you tell me that's my true...
[14:19] I think in business, in life, it's the same.
[14:22] So to lead, that's number one thing you lead yourself.
[14:27] So that's the first one.
[14:28] In the morning, you stand up, you have to kick your own body and say,
[14:31] come on, it's not a great state.
[14:33] But anyhow, we go.
[14:35] And then the people you lead, you need to understand to do it properly.
[14:40] So no, that means you talk to them.
[14:43] You listen to them.
[14:44] You ask them, where are you from?
[14:45] What's your background?
[14:46] What are we doing here and there and why did you do that and stuff like this?
[14:49] So it means it's already in that conversation, it's clear.
[14:52] It's different to the other guy.
[14:55] It's not about the rules, like punctuality, early in, laid out.
[15:00] Not about these kind of things.
[15:01] But how can we get the best out of people if it treats them all the same?
[15:04] It's crazy. It's in business.
[15:06] I don't think it is like that, but I've never only worked in this football business.
[15:09] Or maybe it's just working here.
[15:11] I cannot see that.
[15:12] For me, it's super important that you really pick the individual from where it stands,
[15:18] not from where you want it to be.
[15:20] No.
[15:21] Actually, where it's actually is.
[15:22] Can you give me an example that I would know of two people that you treated differently
[15:27] and why you made the decision to treat them differently based on that origin?
[15:32] So you have a young player as an example.
[15:34] So Drendelik Sandaluk comes up to the first team.
[15:37] And then James Milner is already 31 or whatever.
[15:43] He was that time.
[15:44] So James makes clear person foremost that Drendelik doesn't go crazy,
[15:51] because he sorts all these kinds of things.
[15:53] But there are so many things.
[15:54] Just as an example, but James doesn't have to do this and that because you know he is doing it anyway.
[15:59] So for Drendelik, you still have to educate the boy.
[16:02] This example, which you probably didn't think of, but it explains how different they are.
[16:07] The different age groups, one is 16 or 17 or the other one is 33.
[16:10] So that shows already that it's not possible.
[16:13] So you are talking about the rules in football.
[16:16] So everybody has to work hard.
[16:18] Everybody has to do in a market.
[16:20] Everybody has to defend the shit out of the opposition team.
[16:26] So that's everybody has to buy into that.
[16:29] There's no, no, no, no.
[16:31] I always said, if you're not Leonardo Messi, you have to defend.
[16:36] You have to defend.
[16:37] So because I never had Leonardo Messi, so they all had to defend.
[16:40] For example, everybody has to do that.
[16:42] But then to get there, that they really grow together as a group.
[16:49] In a group, everybody accepts that they are different.
[16:51] Otherwise, we are, I don't know, an army and they are different.
[16:55] But it's not, I mean, just because we are the same shirt.
[16:57] We have all our own qualities.
[17:00] So to bring them to life or let them shine, you have to get treated in the right way.
[17:07] And that's what I love to figure out.
[17:10] How is that possible?
[17:12] That was the conversations I had.
[17:14] The conversation with players during a season.
[17:17] Of course, they were football talks.
[17:19] But we had already enough meetings.
[17:21] The most important conversations were the private conversations.
[17:25] Why are, so when, when the players not training well?
[17:29] Could be, could, that he just is not ready for training.
[17:32] Had to drink last night, didn't sleep enough or you ask.
[17:37] So that's all what you think.
[17:39] He looks like he didn't sleep enough.
[17:41] But when you ask him, what's going on?
[17:43] And he will be surprised.
[17:45] Most of the time, they either slept enough or didn't sleep enough
[17:49] for the right reason because something happened and nobody could sleep.
[17:53] They had no drink, blah, blah, blah, but they lost focus right now
[17:57] because massive problems at home.
[17:59] Without asking, we'll never find out.
[18:01] So here's the one guy with problem.
[18:03] Here's another guy who's flying.
[18:05] Don't treat them the same.
[18:07] The one needs more support.
[18:08] And the other one, you need to bring down a little bit.
[18:10] So all these kind of things, that's how you work with people.
[18:13] And the end, what you want is that it's a job of a leader.
[18:16] It's to make the target, the aim, the final destination, whatever.
[18:20] That clear, like the Sun, that everybody's automatically going there.
[18:25] And you don't have to push them every day.
[18:26] And say, by the way, there's the Sun.
[18:28] That's right there.
[18:29] So that they know it on the way there.
[18:32] You support them in different, in different ways.
[18:35] It's not so important what I want to say.
[18:38] In a moment of anger or whatever it happens, emotion.
[18:42] Do that to us, especially around the football game.
[18:45] You shout to something.
[18:47] Did I really say that?
[18:48] Did I?
[18:49] I did.
[18:50] But it's not so important in a talk conversation with people.
[18:53] They, which depend on you, we are responsible for.
[18:56] It's not so important.
[18:57] You say it's much more important, but they need to hear.
[18:59] It's not them telling them what they want to hear.
[19:02] No, but they need to hear to deal with their situation.
[19:06] So that's what leadership means.
[19:08] Not just telling them off or whatever.
[19:11] That doesn't work.
[19:12] That doesn't work.
[19:13] Try to understand why.
[19:14] And that was, I love that part in my job.
[19:18] And I still do that, if you want.
[19:20] Right now, not with world-class players all the time.
[19:24] More coaches, point directors, whatever they all young.
[19:27] Younger than me, at least.
[19:29] And that's how I understand my role and I've stood my role.
[19:34] Was there certain plays in your team that you felt you could be tougher with?
[19:38] And others that you felt you could never really be tough with.
[19:42] Because that would make, that would hurt their performance.
[19:46] I'm reflecting off course.
[19:48] Yeah.
[19:49] Of course.
[19:50] You have that.
[19:51] Sadio Mane and Moussala to top examples.
[19:55] So in the end, not a lot of people who saw it coming, we knew they are great.
[20:01] We knew they're massive talents, they're fantastic potential.
[20:04] But they were not who they became later on.
[20:08] In that time, it's not that they came to Liverpool and said,
[20:12] I just want to tell you, I defend anyway.
[20:15] So we don't have to talk about that.
[20:17] Just explain me how we do it.
[20:18] And be obviously to be successful as a football team.
[20:21] You have to organize a football team to get stability, to get stability.
[20:25] You need to find a way to defend properly and together.
[20:29] If you have that, based on that, they can start flying.
[20:32] Then let's talk about the football part.
[20:35] And now they're obviously no defenders.
[20:37] But we were famous for our pressing and counter-pressing.
[20:40] I talked a lot to them and it was, and the way we spoke about it was just 100% clear.
[20:47] You want to win more often than not.
[20:49] You want to have the maximum success.
[20:51] You want to be able to become the best team in England at one point.
[20:56] Yeah.
[20:57] Okay, then do that.
[20:58] Come on.
[20:59] So agreement.
[21:00] And then from there, we went on.
[21:02] But then with years, and not because they changed or whatever,
[21:05] here a little bit less, there a little bit less.
[21:08] And I have to decide, do I go for them?
[21:10] Like I would go for a young boy playing in that position.
[21:13] And say, come on.
[21:15] Turned, run, fight, jump, and take them off in a moment.
[21:20] No, of course not.
[21:21] You don't do that in that moment.
[21:23] It's a story in the newspaper.
[21:25] We had this one argument, I think, with more at West Ham at the sideline.
[21:29] It didn't start, and I brought him on.
[21:31] And he was not happy.
[21:32] The problem, our problems then are always in public.
[21:35] It was not a real big thing.
[21:37] But in the moment, we didn't agree, definitely.
[21:41] So how do you deal with that the next day?
[21:44] I think I can say we have a very good relationship today,
[21:49] even though on that day, it didn't look like.
[21:52] And that's all the things.
[21:54] So you learn, you try to do it the right way.
[21:56] You try to show the players respect, but at one point,
[22:00] it's never enough.
[22:01] And you have to accept that as well.
[22:03] Because the players, they grow.
[22:06] They get bigger and bigger and bigger and at one point.
[22:09] You hear years later, he never spoke to me.
[22:12] Whatever, another player from wherever says about the former coach,
[22:16] about me, about Kosovo, he never spoke to me.
[22:20] I always spoke a lot.
[22:22] We just can't remember.
[22:23] And we didn't speak what you wanted.
[22:26] I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear.
[22:28] So you can never make it 100% right.
[22:31] But you can only do as good as you as it's possible for you.
[22:35] And that's what I tried all the time to create a relationship,
[22:38] where even when we had arguments, we always found a way out
[22:44] as me player.
[22:46] And it never got carried into the team.
[22:51] We lost respect.
[22:52] They lost respect for me because I acted that way.
[22:55] So we always stayed together.
[22:57] We always find a way to down the street.
[22:59] Okay, it's really important that we get through this,
[23:02] that they sorted, the boss sorted with him or the boss sorted with us,
[23:06] that we can go from here again.
[23:10] From a very young age, one of the things I found really surprising
[23:13] is in, as I was going through all of these football teams,
[23:15] you played in as a young man,
[23:17] it appeared that you were always the captain,
[23:19] repeatedly assigned to be the captain.
[23:22] And I wondered why, what was it that you were doing
[23:24] from a very young age that meant all of your coaches back then
[23:27] asked you to be captain of the team?
[23:29] I have no clue.
[23:30] The coach I learned most of, Wolfgang Frank,
[23:33] when he came back to mind, he was at mind,
[23:36] very successful, spelled, left,
[23:38] and then we were in trouble again, he came back,
[23:41] and I was the captain.
[23:43] I met a very experienced player from a first-hibition team
[23:46] coming to mind, and the second-hibition last mid was his name.
[23:48] So in Wolfgang,
[23:50] you can tell me, talk.
[23:52] Yeah, of course.
[23:54] You're going to want to make class the captain.
[23:56] Oh, yeah, good.
[23:58] So then you are not captain anymore.
[24:00] Yeah, I know.
[24:01] So it was exactly like that.
[24:03] It meant nothing to me.
[24:05] So my role was not, I was a leader in the team,
[24:08] not on purpose.
[24:10] I was on the pitch and aggressive leader,
[24:12] which I didn't like.
[24:14] So hard rate above 140,
[24:17] I lost it very often,
[24:19] and very, very not a good way.
[24:21] So really aggressive talk,
[24:24] shouting at everybody,
[24:26] and in all that, really.
[24:28] I had to, very often,
[24:30] I had to apologize to my teammates.
[24:33] Where did I come from?
[24:34] Because you're...
[24:35] I don't know.
[24:36] There's real dichotomy with you,
[24:38] because you're such a sweet, kind guy.
[24:41] You have your mother in you in terms of the empathy
[24:44] and the love of people.
[24:45] But then there's this other...
[24:47] It's a very stiff part.
[24:48] I didn't like it at all.
[24:49] And I was afraid,
[24:51] when I stopped playing,
[24:53] that I'd take it over.
[24:55] So I was emotional.
[24:56] I had moments where I lost it with referees
[24:58] and stuff like that.
[24:59] But generally,
[25:01] I was really...
[25:02] I'm a very calm person.
[25:03] So people think,
[25:04] because I'm probably,
[25:05] I think I'm a more too weight,
[25:06] or whatever.
[25:07] I do get up in the morning
[25:08] and come in the dressing room and say,
[25:10] come on boys, today we go again.
[25:12] Not at all.
[25:13] I mean, it happens
[25:15] from time to time,
[25:16] but not that often.
[25:17] No, I have no explanation for it.
[25:19] If I would have had an explanation,
[25:20] it was a little bit...
[25:21] I knew I'm not good enough.
[25:23] Actually,
[25:24] my teammates were better than me.
[25:26] And I thought,
[25:28] I only can get on that level
[25:31] if I squeeze everything out
[25:34] from an aggressive point of view,
[25:36] stuff like this.
[25:37] So that was a bit my explanation,
[25:39] because they are so much better up.
[25:41] And if I calm down
[25:43] and want to play cool football,
[25:45] yeah, I'm out.
[25:46] You eventually become the manager of Mines.
[25:48] Yeah.
[25:49] You're my age when you get that job.
[25:51] And the former manager has been sacked.
[25:54] The club have never gotten to the Bundesliga,
[25:57] the first division in Germany.
[26:00] You don't have experience managing
[26:03] a club of this size or scale previously.
[26:06] The chairman comes to you,
[26:07] the only comes to you and says,
[26:08] they want you to do the job.
[26:10] Why did they want you to do the job?
[26:12] Because I didn't find anybody else in the shot in the shot.
[26:14] A bit of time.
[26:15] So we played Sunday
[26:16] and the next game was on Wednesday.
[26:17] The idea was just to do that game.
[26:20] So,
[26:21] the whole story is that
[26:23] Eckhart Grautsson,
[26:25] the manager at that time,
[26:27] we lost the game on Sunday.
[26:29] And we had a little camp,
[26:31] the crisis camp.
[26:32] Let me say,
[26:33] because on Wednesday was another very important game.
[26:35] We had to play,
[26:36] so he took us to a hotel
[26:38] that we stay there,
[26:39] have two good sessions,
[26:40] and then we go for this very, very important
[26:42] and maybe decisive game.
[26:44] And at night we have a meeting,
[26:46] we have a meeting with all players.
[26:48] And he said,
[26:49] chairman,
[26:50] I want to ask one question.
[26:51] Do you still trust me?
[26:52] Are you still behind me?
[26:54] I don't want to answer now.
[26:56] I ought to be here for all of you.
[26:58] I go out,
[26:59] half an hour,
[27:00] I come back,
[27:01] and you tell me.
[27:02] So he goes out,
[27:03] we're just brings the beer in,
[27:05] we sit there,
[27:06] looking at each other and think,
[27:07] yeah,
[27:08] and discuss a little bit.
[27:10] And I was not captain at that time.
[27:12] I was not captain.
[27:13] But then it's like that,
[27:15] that the decisions no.
[27:18] What?
[27:19] Yeah, he asked.
[27:20] Why you asked?
[27:21] You're no.
[27:22] So it's like,
[27:23] everyone said that.
[27:24] Everyone said that.
[27:25] It's now we have a discussion.
[27:26] Yeah.
[27:27] The majority.
[27:28] Some players didn't speak,
[27:29] but it was clear.
[27:30] If you ask,
[27:31] the answer is no.
[27:32] So it's like,
[27:33] I'm not captain,
[27:34] but the captain says,
[27:36] it says,
[27:37] Global, you tell him.
[27:39] I tell him.
[27:40] Why?
[27:41] Oh.
[27:42] Okay, but he comes in.
[27:43] He comes in,
[27:44] and that,
[27:45] and that,
[27:47] actually,
[27:49] no.
[27:50] And he was shocked.
[27:52] It was really shocked.
[27:53] He didn't expect it.
[27:55] It's more like a little thing to do.
[27:57] And then we say,
[27:58] yes,
[27:59] we go through that together,
[28:00] something like that.
[28:01] But we said no.
[28:02] Why?
[28:03] Because he was not a right person.
[28:05] He was my,
[28:06] because he,
[28:07] we played bad.
[28:08] And he was,
[28:09] I love Eckert koutes.
[28:12] But that time for that team
[28:14] was really,
[28:15] he was just not a right coach.
[28:16] That can happen.
[28:17] It doesn't say anything about you.
[28:18] But we did,
[28:19] wrong training,
[28:20] wrong lineups,
[28:21] wrong tactics,
[28:22] wrong everything.
[28:24] So that's how things go bad
[28:26] in the wrong direction,
[28:27] but in that time.
[28:28] And we had no,
[28:30] at that time,
[28:31] and we didn't have to make the decision
[28:32] who can take over.
[28:33] Or whatever.
[28:34] We just could say no.
[28:35] We could have said,
[28:36] okay,
[28:37] I will prove you wrong.
[28:38] Or whatever.
[28:39] But he ran out.
[28:40] And said,
[28:41] tomorrow morning,
[28:42] nine o'clock training.
[28:43] Okay.
[28:44] And then he wanted to do a press conference
[28:46] where he wanted to tell the public
[28:49] that he kicks out
[28:51] all the experienced players
[28:53] and starts now the rest of the season
[28:55] and plays only the young kids.
[28:57] So I was one of the old players.
[28:59] I was 33.
[29:01] But I didn't know that that should happen.
[29:03] So he called,
[29:04] the sporting director,
[29:05] we needed press conference.
[29:07] And I want to talk to them
[29:08] and tell them,
[29:09] we change everything.
[29:10] And the sporting director says,
[29:11] yeah,
[29:12] we do a press conference.
[29:13] But the subject will be,
[29:15] we sack you.
[29:16] Okay.
[29:17] So done.
[29:19] And now they didn't have a coach.
[29:21] So,
[29:22] and they called me.
[29:23] And for that game,
[29:24] can you do it?
[29:25] And I said, yeah.
[29:26] I can do it.
[29:27] And I did it.
[29:28] And we won the game.
[29:29] And they didn't find a manager.
[29:30] So we had Sunday and other games.
[29:32] We won the first game.
[29:33] We won 1-0.
[29:34] The second game.
[29:35] We won 3-1.
[29:37] Yeah.
[29:38] From the first seven games,
[29:39] we won six and drew one.
[29:40] So,
[29:41] and we stayed in the league
[29:42] pretty comfortably.
[29:43] Comfortably incredible.
[29:44] We were a bunch of friends.
[29:46] There were all my friends.
[29:47] And I was there.
[29:48] But they had to tell me
[29:49] that they changed from now on
[29:51] in the coach's dressing room.
[29:52] But what are you doing here?
[29:54] Here's the coach's dressing room.
[29:55] That's your office.
[29:57] Okay.
[29:58] The first night,
[29:59] I think we had a twin room.
[30:00] Yeah.
[30:01] So,
[30:02] and I got one more game
[30:03] to sleep with my friend.
[30:05] You were in comedy there
[30:06] in the same room.
[30:07] And then the next day,
[30:08] they all told me,
[30:09] yeah, you'll get your own room.
[30:10] Oh.
[30:11] Okay.
[30:12] So, but all the rest,
[30:13] we were a real bunch of friends.
[30:15] And they respected me
[30:17] from the first second.
[30:19] What was your approach going into that?
[30:21] You go from being a player
[30:22] to a manager of these boys.
[30:24] What's in your mind?
[30:25] Are you thinking,
[30:26] I'm just going to let them do whatever they want to do?
[30:27] I'm going to,
[30:28] but we had Wolfgang Franger very, very, very,
[30:30] the best, the best manager we all had
[30:32] when we were at Mainz.
[30:33] She wasn't exception.
[30:34] We, at Mainz,
[30:36] we were a football team
[30:38] who lost all the games
[30:39] when the other team had better players.
[30:41] I think it sounds normal.
[30:43] But, you know, in football,
[30:44] it's a way to win games anyway.
[30:46] We never had that.
[30:47] So, then Wolfgang Franger
[30:49] comes in and implements
[30:50] four in the back,
[30:51] ball-orientated defending.
[30:52] And we did nothing else than that.
[30:54] And we changed overnight.
[30:57] Into the one opponent,
[30:59] nobody wanted to play against.
[31:01] We were like machines.
[31:02] We were like machines.
[31:03] We were not great football.
[31:04] We were like machines.
[31:05] They were games.
[31:06] Our goalkeeper didn't touch the ball once.
[31:09] We were just defending.
[31:10] There was new that time.
[31:11] So, it was really for all of them.
[31:13] That means we all became believer in that.
[31:15] Then Wolfgang left.
[31:17] And none of the other coaches
[31:19] could do that.
[31:20] No.
[31:21] There was no connection
[31:22] to the coaches after Wolfgang.
[31:25] So, I was one of the players
[31:27] who benefited massively
[31:28] from Wolfgang Franger.
[31:29] And now I arrived.
[31:30] And the only thing I did
[31:31] when the two sessions
[31:33] I had were both exactly about that.
[31:35] Fourth of two,
[31:36] ball-orientated movements.
[31:38] And we go for MSV Duisburg that time.
[31:41] There were third in the table.
[31:43] We go for them like nobody else.
[31:45] But I like these moments.
[31:47] I like to find the reason
[31:49] why it makes sense
[31:50] that why we give our absolute all
[31:53] in a moment like this.
[31:54] Why we don't invest only
[31:56] the minimum.
[31:57] Why invest the maximum.
[32:00] Why we would regret it
[32:02] if we don't do it.
[32:03] How better life is if we do it.
[32:05] How much more fun it is
[32:06] if we do it.
[32:07] I love these moments.
[32:08] And probably something like that.
[32:10] I told them.
[32:12] And from that moment on,
[32:14] nobody wanted to play against us anymore.
[32:16] So, like we were like,
[32:18] wow, animals.
[32:19] It was great.
[32:20] It was a fantastic time.
[32:22] Same team.
[32:24] Pretty much.
[32:27] Changed overnight.
[32:29] So you fixed the defensive situation,
[32:31] the formation.
[32:32] And you also told the players
[32:35] in that dressing room a story of why
[32:37] we had to give this,
[32:38] give everything.
[32:41] Showed up.
[32:42] They wrote us off.
[32:43] Showed it outside.
[32:44] Well, whatever you can do.
[32:45] Most of the time,
[32:46] it was real life.
[32:47] But that time,
[32:48] so in my meetings later on,
[32:50] I never prepared in a way
[32:51] that I wrote something down or whatever.
[32:54] Our life was preparation.
[32:55] What happened during the week
[32:57] with us in the world?
[32:58] That was preparation for meeting.
[33:00] I never thought long about it.
[33:01] Just remember that when I needed it,
[33:03] we spoke.
[33:04] I told the boys.
[33:06] But that time,
[33:07] they needed one person
[33:09] to believe in them.
[33:11] And I did.
[33:12] It was not that I had to convince myself.
[33:14] I have to tell them now.
[33:15] Before that season,
[33:17] I told in an interview,
[33:19] this is the best squad
[33:20] mindset for ever had.
[33:22] It would be really difficult for me to play.
[33:25] But good for us that the team is so good.
[33:28] And then we were in a hopeless situation
[33:33] before I took over.
[33:34] So when I became the manager,
[33:36] I was the one who thought
[33:38] this team is incredible.
[33:40] Nobody knows it yet.
[33:42] But we will make sure,
[33:43] and a few weeks,
[33:44] they will have a sense,
[33:45] at least.
[33:46] How important
[33:48] did that prove to be this idea
[33:49] of making sure that the players you have
[33:51] throughout your career
[33:53] had belief in themselves?
[33:54] That's all.
[33:56] It's all about that.
[33:57] It's not football.
[33:58] It's life.
[33:59] You had no,
[34:00] when you started your podcast,
[34:01] people probably told you,
[34:03] well, that might be something for you.
[34:05] But you were not sure.
[34:07] And then with each little thing here
[34:09] and there,
[34:10] oh, how many people listen to your first podcast?
[34:12] Do you remember?
[34:13] No, I think I read it somewhere.
[34:15] Or do you?
[34:17] Something around that.
[34:18] Something around you.
[34:19] So it's a start.
[34:21] So it's a start.
[34:22] And all the rest is,
[34:24] if you want history,
[34:25] and that's always in life like that.
[34:27] That's just,
[34:28] give it a chance.
[34:29] Of course, it makes sense.
[34:31] You believe in yourself.
[34:32] But not everybody can do that.
[34:35] But then if you meet somebody
[34:37] who helps you with that,
[34:38] who has a perspective,
[34:39] who can see something in you,
[34:42] then tell them,
[34:45] why you should keep it for yourself?
[34:46] Oh, my God.
[34:47] I think he's a teller.
[34:48] She's a teller, whatever.
[34:49] Why are she's good at that?
[34:50] She's good at that.
[34:51] Yeah, maybe don't tell each other.
[34:52] So where's the problem?
[34:54] Did somebody do that for you?
[34:57] It told you that you should believe in yourself.
[34:59] They saw something in you.
[35:00] Once I said,
[35:01] I never struggled with confidence.
[35:02] But I don't know why.
[35:04] That's the truth.
[35:05] But that's true.
[35:06] I never struggled with confidence.
[35:08] There's no reason for it.
[35:09] My two best friends in school
[35:12] were genius.
[35:13] And we sat together doing exactly this,
[35:15] reading the same books,
[35:16] did they invest the same amount of time?
[35:18] They had the best A-levels in school.
[35:21] And I was far of that.
[35:22] So a normal reaction would be,
[35:25] poor.
[35:26] I'm a dump, obviously.
[35:29] But I never thought that.
[35:31] I don't really know why that happened.
[35:33] So I took it how it was.
[35:35] I thought, oh, respect.
[35:36] You can remember all these things crazy.
[35:39] I can't.
[35:41] I had lots of players that struggled with confidence.
[35:43] Yeah.
[35:44] Yeah.
[35:45] I tried to create a situation
[35:47] to make sure that
[35:52] if they are not confident yet,
[35:54] they are confident.
[35:56] But, you know, there are moments
[35:57] when they lose it.
[35:58] Confidence is like,
[35:59] there's a little flower
[36:00] and constantly somebody steps on it.
[36:03] It's like that.
[36:04] Oh, and then it's growing again.
[36:05] Oh, now we are confident against stuff like this.
[36:07] In football,
[36:08] it's really difficult because it's like,
[36:10] you cannot play without making mistakes.
[36:12] So if a mistake costs you confident,
[36:15] that's a real challenge.
[36:18] But what I tried to feel,
[36:21] if you would believe as much
[36:23] in yourself as I do,
[36:25] I would be a start.
[36:26] But as long as you cannot do that,
[36:28] just trust me.
[36:31] So you are good
[36:33] because I don't work with other players.
[36:35] I don't waste time.
[36:37] And it's true, I don't.
[36:39] So I really see something.
[36:42] And if I see it,
[36:43] I'm patient enough to work on it.
[36:46] Much more patient than the public
[36:48] wants me to be.
[36:50] But of course, the idea is that
[36:52] at one day,
[36:54] I help you learn flying.
[36:55] But in the end,
[36:56] you have to fly yourself, obviously.
[36:58] I cannot do that for you.
[37:00] That's what it is football.
[37:01] You have to perform alone.
[37:02] They cannot look at me.
[37:04] What should I do?
[37:05] And that's my job,
[37:06] is to prepare them as good,
[37:07] to make it the education,
[37:10] the coaching as wide,
[37:13] as to just pick,
[37:15] for me, that's the idea.
[37:16] But not too much,
[37:17] as well.
[37:19] Yeah, it's obviously,
[37:21] was a good time in my life,
[37:23] doing all these kind of things.
[37:24] I worked with some of the best footballers in the world.
[37:29] Really good time.
[37:30] Do you sometimes have to lie in public
[37:33] to protect a player's confidence?
[37:35] I was wondering,
[37:36] I wonder this,
[37:37] because you see managers come out and say,
[37:38] oh, he can't play,
[37:39] because he's injured,
[37:40] or whatever,
[37:41] and they say things.
[37:42] But I wonder sometimes,
[37:43] if managers are protecting players,
[37:45] because they're struggling,
[37:46] or...
[37:47] Yes, we protect players.
[37:48] I'm not sure I ever had to lie.
[37:49] To be honest,
[37:50] I don't know,
[37:51] but we protect players.
[37:52] Super important.
[37:53] So, for me,
[37:54] super important.
[37:56] He likes confidence.
[37:58] That's in football, obviously.
[37:59] You see that?
[38:00] You're running one on the goalie,
[38:02] and you don't make it.
[38:03] You can see it.
[38:04] It's because you don't have confidence.
[38:05] That's how it is.
[38:06] There's not a lot of other reasons.
[38:07] It can be wind,
[38:08] weather,
[38:09] ball,
[38:10] opponent.
[38:11] It's there,
[38:12] but you do it once,
[38:13] you do it twice, three times.
[38:14] Yes, that's not good for the confidence of nobody.
[38:16] Having that in training,
[38:18] you have...
[38:19] The job is not to talk too much about it,
[38:21] to give him a chance
[38:22] to get confidence back
[38:24] with the things you do in training.
[38:25] That it doesn't last forever.
[38:27] So,
[38:28] the one thing you have to
[38:30] protect players from
[38:32] is public.
[38:33] Try too,
[38:34] because
[38:35] they are
[38:37] ruthless in moments
[38:38] and they don't care
[38:40] until something happens,
[38:41] or whatever,
[38:42] support us sometimes.
[38:43] I think we were really lucky with that.
[38:45] We created that bond
[38:46] between the supporters
[38:48] and the team
[38:49] that they were not angry,
[38:51] disappointed, yes,
[38:52] but not angry in a way
[38:53] that I don't want to see them anymore.
[38:55] So, that help.
[38:56] But, of course,
[38:57] you have to protect them sometimes.
[38:58] We have to protect them sometimes
[39:00] from themselves,
[39:01] as well.
[39:02] So, that's the job.
[39:03] Did you have to involve yourself
[39:05] much with social media usage
[39:07] of your team members?
[39:08] And did you ever consider
[39:10] someone's social media usage
[39:11] when you were considering signing them
[39:13] to join the club?
[39:14] Because I think this now
[39:15] is a Manchester United fan.
[39:16] I think some of...
[39:17] When some of our players
[39:18] are posting on social media
[39:19] little indirect messages
[39:20] and little emojis
[39:21] and commenting things,
[39:22] I just think,
[39:23] oh, God, trouble maker.
[39:26] We had situations that players
[39:29] texted or posted something
[39:31] at night and deleted it,
[39:33] but I still got aware of it.
[39:35] So, not that I read it,
[39:36] but people tell me,
[39:37] oh, last night,
[39:38] it didn't happen.
[39:39] When?
[39:40] Three o'clock.
[39:41] Three o'clock.
[39:42] Okay.
[39:43] What did you say?
[39:45] Yeah, this and that.
[39:46] Oh.
[39:47] What I do in these situations,
[39:48] even deleted.
[39:49] I go in the dressing room
[39:50] when they all lie on the house.
[39:52] Last night,
[39:53] this and that's happened.
[39:55] God, deleted.
[39:56] I know what's there,
[39:57] but maybe you want to tell everybody.
[39:59] You, it's awesome to say
[40:01] in front of everybody.
[40:02] Yeah.
[40:03] What did I say?
[40:05] The thing is,
[40:07] I don't go for them
[40:08] and tell them,
[40:09] how can you write that?
[40:10] Or whatever.
[40:11] So, I said, come on.
[40:12] Somebody told me,
[40:13] so I know it.
[40:17] Not important, really,
[40:18] but come on, tell the whole team
[40:20] what he wanted to say.
[40:22] And then you start,
[40:24] it's not great in that situation.
[40:26] I don't like to bring people in there,
[40:28] but I think that's a
[40:29] deserved punishment for something like that.
[40:32] But actually the effect is
[40:35] nobody ever did it again
[40:38] because nobody wants to be in that situation
[40:40] in a dressing room sitting there
[40:41] and be the one
[40:42] who has to explain something
[40:44] he did last night or whatever.
[40:46] I discussed individual problems
[40:50] if it was okay,
[40:52] in front of the team.
[40:53] It was important for the team.
[40:55] Yeah.
[40:56] Come on, explain why you did that,
[40:58] why you went out that long.
[41:00] What happened in the last two hours?
[41:03] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[41:05] It's great to hear as if
[41:07] things going well for you.
[41:08] Yeah, mines.
[41:10] Before I had
[41:12] that two get here.
[41:15] These are tears.
[41:17] The tears the year and two years
[41:19] before went out for the same reason.
[41:21] So you probably know
[41:22] we didn't get promoted for a point
[41:24] then a goal.
[41:25] First a goal.
[41:26] First a point, then a goal.
[41:28] And then this happened.
[41:29] That was the first day
[41:30] when it really went well.
[41:32] So this was the day that you
[41:33] put your mind forward for the first time
[41:35] in the history.
[41:36] It's up in the sligger.
[41:37] Yeah.
[41:38] But before winning that,
[41:40] I learned how to lose.
[41:43] This is very important, I would say.
[41:45] I think that's again,
[41:47] to learn,
[41:49] even though you want to be as successful
[41:51] as somehow possible.
[41:55] You have to accept that from time to time
[41:57] you lose.
[41:58] And then keep,
[42:00] when you then keep going,
[42:02] you have a good chance
[42:03] if you learn from it.
[42:04] The defeat is the defeat.
[42:05] If you don't learn from it.
[42:07] If you learn from it,
[42:08] it's a very, very important information.
[42:10] And obviously in football,
[42:11] we have a lot of opportunities
[42:13] to get beat,
[42:14] and opportunities to learn from it.
[42:17] But this was the biggest relief
[42:20] in my life,
[42:22] not happiness.
[42:23] That I was just pure relief.
[42:25] The pressure was mounting.
[42:28] That was crazy.
[42:30] Not only myself,
[42:31] nobody,
[42:32] not from outside,
[42:33] I don't know even nobody outside,
[42:34] well thought.
[42:35] But to make it happen that year,
[42:39] I was really special.
[42:42] But it took two years of coming close,
[42:46] dealing with the disappointment.
[42:48] Yeah.
[42:49] When I spoke to Jamie Carregor,
[42:51] I asked Jamie Carregor,
[42:52] actually this early this morning,
[42:53] I said to him,
[42:55] what was he curious about with you?
[42:57] And this is actually what he said.
[42:59] He said,
[43:00] there were so many near misses
[43:01] in your career,
[43:02] whether it was in the Champions League,
[43:03] or I remember when you were,
[43:04] I had to head with Man City
[43:06] in that season,
[43:07] and you were one point shy of winning the league.
[43:10] And his question was,
[43:12] he's fascinated with how you,
[43:14] you were so good at dealing
[43:15] with the disappointment of near misses.
[43:17] Because sometimes near misses
[43:18] can cripple people.
[43:20] They can turn them into a downward spiral.
[43:22] It can be like the plant that got stood on.
[43:24] It can crush someone's confidence.
[43:26] But it appears through your career
[43:27] that near misses ended up being
[43:29] positive forces for you.
[43:36] It's not that I knew that always,
[43:38] but what makes me spoke about very early,
[43:40] but maybe the person I am,
[43:42] these people of course,
[43:43] mom, dad,
[43:45] my faith as well.
[43:48] So, and I knew,
[43:51] always,
[43:53] that I'm not here to get everything.
[43:56] I'm here to give everything.
[43:58] So,
[44:00] that doesn't help in a moment
[44:01] when you fail for a point.
[44:04] But in the general understanding,
[44:06] as a person, of course,
[44:08] it helps.
[44:09] So, I'm not surprised that I fail.
[44:11] I don't,
[44:12] I don't think,
[44:13] I don't see myself
[44:15] as a constant winner in my,
[44:17] in my mind.
[44:19] I see myself as a constant triad.
[44:21] So,
[44:22] I don't know constant winners,
[44:23] but there might be some
[44:24] out there.
[44:26] But I just can't imagine a world
[44:29] that would be like that.
[44:31] All the people running around there,
[44:33] all the happy people there,
[44:34] we know all the time.
[44:36] Nobody wins all the time.
[44:38] Nobody does.
[44:39] So, it's all about dealing
[44:40] with the things you want
[44:41] and not get them,
[44:42] then you want it more
[44:43] or not any more of whatever.
[44:45] So,
[44:46] the moments were not great,
[44:48] but I learned it here.
[44:49] Doing it that day,
[44:50] changed the destiny
[44:53] of the club of mind,
[44:54] that's how it is.
[44:55] My destiny,
[44:56] the players destiny,
[44:57] changed everything.
[44:58] So,
[44:59] we wanted it that hard,
[45:00] but we learned before,
[45:02] we have to try harder.
[45:04] And that's what I always took.
[45:06] If you don't get,
[45:07] the result you want,
[45:09] try again,
[45:11] and try harder.
[45:13] It was Christian,
[45:14] that gave you that job, wasn't it?
[45:16] Yeah.
[45:17] Most of the idol.
[45:18] Christian Idol.
[45:19] I am,
[45:20] I spoke to Christian Idol.
[45:22] He made it.
[45:23] His English is very funny, isn't he?
[45:25] Yeah, I've had to,
[45:26] I'm going to translate it
[45:27] for the viewers,
[45:28] but I'm going to actually play
[45:29] what he said to you in,
[45:30] in German.
[45:31] Oh, of course.
[45:32] So, you can hear it.
[45:33] Here we go.
[45:34] Global.
[45:35] Yes, dear global,
[45:37] we've known each other
[45:38] for exactly 35 years now.
[45:40] First, we were both players,
[45:42] then you subsequently
[45:43] became my esteemed coach,
[45:44] but it all started in mites.
[45:46] You changed an entire club,
[45:48] you changed an entire city.
[45:50] Back then, we were promoted
[45:51] to the Bundesliga together,
[45:53] and today mites has been
[45:54] in the Bundesliga for over 25 years.
[45:56] Back then,
[45:57] that was actually unimaginable.
[45:59] You go to Dortmund,
[46:00] change your club,
[46:01] change an entire city,
[46:02] and win every title there is to win.
[46:04] You move to Liverpool,
[46:05] and the same thing happens
[46:06] for the third time.
[46:07] You change your club,
[46:08] you change your city.
[46:10] I don't think any coach
[46:11] before you has ever achieved that.
[46:13] And I'm always asked,
[46:14] what makes Jurgen Klopp special?
[46:16] To this day,
[46:17] he has simply remained
[46:18] a genuine person,
[46:19] always authentic,
[46:20] which is incredibly important.
[46:21] Apart from the fact
[46:22] that you are,
[46:23] of course, an outstanding expert.
[46:25] I hope we'll see each other again
[46:26] soon on our little
[46:27] shared island in Mallorca.
[46:29] And have a great day,
[46:30] and lots of fun with your podcast.
[46:32] Wow!
[46:33] You had a little walk.
[46:35] Yeah.
[46:36] A club walk.
[46:37] I told you.
[46:38] You changed a club.
[46:39] You changed the city.
[46:40] Yeah.
[46:41] You did that over,
[46:42] and over and over again.
[46:43] You went on and did that,
[46:44] again,
[46:45] at Dortmund,
[46:46] winning a huge range of awards there
[46:49] at a time when they were
[46:51] weren't considered to be hopeful.
[46:53] And then you went off to Liverpool
[46:55] and did the same.
[46:57] And as you,
[46:58] I was reading about how,
[46:59] when you traveled to Liverpool,
[47:00] there was 30,000 Liverpool fans
[47:01] watching your plane fly across
[47:02] the channel to Liverpool,
[47:04] because they were all very excited.
[47:06] And you arrived at a time when
[47:08] they were in a period of dysfunction,
[47:10] kind of similar to where Manchester United
[47:11] are now, I guess.
[47:12] Yeah.
[47:13] And you managed to bring them up
[47:14] from being a team that were
[47:15] dysfunctional,
[47:16] hadn't won.
[47:17] There was a lot of pessimism
[47:18] around the club.
[47:19] I think, as a Man United fan,
[47:20] I was hoping and wondering
[47:21] that if Liverpool
[47:22] would ever come back,
[47:23] I was hoping they would never
[47:24] come back again.
[47:25] But you brought them back
[47:26] annoyingly.
[47:27] When you arrived at Liverpool
[47:29] that day,
[47:30] you said in that press conference
[47:31] that you're the normal one.
[47:33] Remember that?
[47:34] What did you observe
[47:36] when you arrived?
[47:37] What was the culture?
[47:38] What was the feeling?
[47:40] And what was your first thought
[47:41] about what you had to do
[47:42] to bring that club back
[47:43] to its glory?
[47:44] The feeling I got to do,
[47:45] I had roughly a week
[47:47] to think about everything
[47:49] from the first call
[47:51] to the signature, I think.
[47:53] Did you have other offers
[47:54] from other clubs?
[47:55] Oh, in that moment,
[47:56] not.
[47:57] But in the summer,
[47:58] I had a lot of offers
[47:59] like before.
[48:00] I mean, I finished
[48:01] at Dortmund.
[48:02] But in that moment,
[48:03] it was just Liverpool.
[48:05] But it was kind of destiny
[48:07] because I didn't want to.
[48:08] It was not beware
[48:09] on a family holiday
[48:10] in Lisbon,
[48:11] but the two boys,
[48:12] well, I know,
[48:13] sitting there,
[48:14] phone goes,
[48:15] my agent,
[48:16] my is calling,
[48:17] boys looking at my face.
[48:19] I think,
[48:20] Liverpool.
[48:21] And both,
[48:22] yes,
[48:24] the boys.
[48:25] Yeah.
[48:26] And when I look,
[48:27] what did she,
[48:28] and she didn't see my lips
[48:29] when I spoke,
[48:30] what?
[48:31] And realised,
[48:32] oh, God,
[48:33] we start again.
[48:34] Before she knew,
[48:35] we will go to Liverpool.
[48:36] What did you, boys?
[48:37] Oh, yeah.
[48:38] Come on.
[48:39] If you are not a man
[48:40] united fan,
[48:41] you know what Liverpool means,
[48:42] to people.
[48:43] And they,
[48:44] they, they,
[48:45] yeah, they loved it.
[48:47] We fell instantly in love
[48:48] with that club.
[48:49] So,
[48:50] did you,
[48:51] did Manchester United ever
[48:52] spoke to them?
[48:54] So,
[48:55] in the year when
[48:56] so Alex retired,
[48:57] they,
[48:58] they spoke to me.
[48:59] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[49:00] Of course, they were interested
[49:01] at one point.
[49:02] So,
[49:03] I was, that time,
[49:04] I would have been interested.
[49:05] I was a young,
[49:06] I had a sensational team at Dortmund.
[49:08] My God.
[49:09] So,
[49:10] somebody, they probably thought,
[49:11] my God,
[49:12] what is she doing there?
[49:13] Later on,
[49:14] I heard that my players,
[49:15] Handel,
[49:16] Adam LaLana,
[49:17] James Melon,
[49:18] so that they flew
[49:19] to,
[49:20] to, to a rare Madrid,
[49:21] when we played the semi-final
[49:22] in the Champions League,
[49:23] to watch us
[49:24] and wanted to see what
[49:25] is Dortmund doing.
[49:26] My God.
[49:27] What a football that is.
[49:28] I,
[49:29] I mean, you cannot get
[49:30] bigger compliments.
[49:31] It's really,
[49:32] it's really good.
[49:33] I want to know why Manchester United
[49:34] didn't,
[49:35] no, no, no, no.
[49:36] They tried.
[49:37] It was a wrong time,
[49:38] wrong moment.
[49:39] For me,
[49:40] I was in contract at Dortmund.
[49:41] I wouldn't have left,
[49:42] not really for,
[49:43] for nobody in that time.
[49:45] They just needed a manager,
[49:46] but the manager,
[49:47] they wanted in that case,
[49:48] now,
[49:49] just one of a few options,
[49:50] I think.
[49:51] So it was you that
[49:52] returned down,
[49:53] Manchester United,
[49:54] not Manchester United,
[49:55] turning you down.
[49:56] Yeah.
[49:57] That way.
[49:58] So I,
[49:59] yeah.
[50:00] So we need someone else
[50:01] on negotiations.
[50:02] Yeah.
[50:03] Melon and I,
[50:04] he's not there anymore.
[50:05] I only negotiated that,
[50:06] so I know other people
[50:07] in charge.
[50:08] It's long ago,
[50:09] long ago.
[50:10] So why wouldn't,
[50:11] Manchester United
[50:12] often known as the
[50:13] biggest club in the world?
[50:14] Why wouldn't you
[50:15] take that job?
[50:16] Why didn't you take that job?
[50:18] Manchester United,
[50:19] the great Manchester United.
[50:20] It's just typical.
[50:21] We are now not in private,
[50:22] in a private space.
[50:23] So there are some reasons,
[50:24] but the people
[50:25] in that conversation
[50:26] told me,
[50:27] which I didn't like.
[50:28] Oh, really?
[50:29] So,
[50:30] United was that big.
[50:32] We get all the players we want.
[50:35] We are like,
[50:36] we can, this,
[50:37] we get him,
[50:38] we get him,
[50:39] we get him,
[50:40] and I was sitting there.
[50:41] So it was not my project.
[50:43] It didn't feel like my,
[50:45] it was a wrong time,
[50:46] but on top of that,
[50:47] it was not my project.
[50:48] I didn't,
[50:49] I didn't,
[50:50] I didn't want to
[50:51] bring back,
[50:52] I don't know,
[50:53] Pogba,
[50:54] Paul is a sensational player.
[50:56] My God,
[50:57] but these things don't work,
[50:59] usually.
[51:00] But these kind of things,
[51:01] or Christiano,
[51:02] my God, we all know
[51:03] that he's the best player
[51:04] or together with Messi,
[51:05] the best player in the world.
[51:06] So,
[51:07] but bringing back never helps.
[51:09] And that time,
[51:10] in 2013,
[51:11] it was obviously not about Christiano.
[51:13] Maybe about Paul,
[51:14] I'm not even sure
[51:15] to get the numbers together,
[51:16] but it was just the idea
[51:17] is we bring the best players
[51:18] together and let's go.
[51:20] It wasn't about the football.
[51:21] It was about it all.
[51:22] And I said then,
[51:23] it was like,
[51:24] I am not sure,
[51:26] that's not for me.
[51:27] So, and then the pure,
[51:30] pure football project
[51:34] comes up with,
[51:35] with Liverpool,
[51:36] and a sensational talk
[51:37] to my God,
[51:38] and should,
[51:39] that's really important,
[51:40] as well,
[51:41] like he was there,
[51:42] he's the owner,
[51:43] I know John,
[51:44] of course, as well,
[51:45] but Mike was responsible for us.
[51:46] I wanted,
[51:47] after the talk,
[51:48] I want to be his friend,
[51:49] he's such a good guy.
[51:50] So, that's how it started,
[51:51] and then in the end,
[51:52] yeah,
[51:53] it was pretty special.
[51:54] I find this fascinating,
[51:55] because as a Manchester United fan,
[51:57] I observed,
[51:58] from the moment Sir Alex Ferguson left,
[52:00] we adopted a very different approach,
[52:02] and we brought in
[52:03] all these massive name players,
[52:05] D Maria, Falkow,
[52:07] you know,
[52:08] you brought him a bit,
[52:09] Pogba, Ronaldo,
[52:10] and we failed.
[52:11] And,
[52:12] it taught me something,
[52:14] as an entrepreneur,
[52:15] about what matters more.
[52:17] And I actually,
[52:18] when I read through your philosophy,
[52:20] it's quite clear in your philosophy,
[52:21] that you prefer attitude,
[52:23] and character versus,
[52:25] how many Instagram followers you've got,
[52:27] and what you've learned in the past.
[52:29] Yeah, of course.
[52:31] And I wanted to get your take on why you think,
[52:33] the last,
[52:34] this is very selfish with me,
[52:35] the last sort of 15 years at Manchester United,
[52:37] haven't worked out,
[52:38] as an objective observer.
[52:39] I want to,
[52:41] I need to know,
[52:42] you can't,
[52:43] you,
[52:44] you're a man that was able to take teams
[52:46] and make them successful,
[52:48] and we are currently,
[52:50] underdogs in many regards,
[52:51] because of the last 15 years.
[52:53] What is it that we've missed in that time?
[52:55] What have we overlooked in your view?
[52:57] I know, you don't want to hear that.
[52:58] You have a hypothesis, though.
[52:59] I didn't think a second,
[53:03] since I joined Liverpool,
[53:05] about what Man United did right or wrong.
[53:08] I just did.
[53:09] So it's like,
[53:10] I buy into a situation.
[53:12] So I went to Liverpool,
[53:14] and at that moment,
[53:15] you became our opponent,
[53:16] not my enemy,
[53:17] but a very important opponent.
[53:20] One who is much more fun to beat,
[53:22] and maybe,
[53:23] and like others,
[53:24] like with Everton.
[53:25] I know so many Everton fans in Liverpool
[53:27] have lived there for nine years.
[53:29] So I know so many people,
[53:30] great people.
[53:31] Yeah.
[53:32] So absolutely,
[53:33] but then you go to the game,
[53:34] you think,
[53:35] oh my god,
[53:36] that's something different.
[53:37] It's like that.
[53:38] But I really didn't think.
[53:39] But what always in football is like this.
[53:41] And again,
[53:42] like in life,
[53:43] you have a problem,
[53:44] and you only try to find a solution
[53:46] for now knowing,
[53:48] you have two days later,
[53:49] another problem.
[53:50] You know it,
[53:51] but it's such for now.
[53:52] Just find a solution for that problem.
[53:54] There's no mid-no-long term.
[53:56] So generally, okay,
[53:57] we have to deal with that
[53:58] for another day or two,
[53:59] and then we can sort it,
[54:01] and that means,
[54:02] in Alexander,
[54:04] we have to deal with that for a year or two,
[54:06] and then we can make a big step.
[54:08] Then this,
[54:09] in our case,
[54:10] in football case,
[54:11] contracts are running out.
[54:13] Player goes anyway.
[54:14] We can sell him.
[54:15] We can do this.
[54:16] But because you're in such a rush,
[54:18] all the time,
[54:19] just because you want to
[54:20] or have to win the next game.
[54:23] A little bit like that,
[54:24] being now in a situation
[54:25] probably united,
[54:26] in the years,
[54:27] when they were not happy,
[54:28] they would buy the time
[54:29] from that time,
[54:30] because they were becoming second.
[54:31] I don't know what was really happy there.
[54:33] And you think,
[54:34] oh,
[54:35] remember that?
[54:36] And that time,
[54:37] second was not good enough.
[54:38] And now, you are not even
[54:39] close to that.
[54:40] But that's not a
[54:41] man-united story for me.
[54:42] It's just a football story.
[54:43] It's always like that,
[54:44] in the world of football.
[54:46] You win.
[54:48] You're the greatest.
[54:49] You lose.
[54:50] You know nothing about the game.
[54:52] You draw.
[54:53] You're boring.
[54:54] So there's not that,
[54:55] you're constant.
[54:56] And it's only about your own idea
[54:58] what you really want to do,
[54:59] and where you want to go.
[55:00] And everything in life
[55:02] is about development.
[55:03] Today, you were not the same
[55:04] ten years ago.
[55:05] I was not the same ten years ago.
[55:06] So it means the time between
[55:08] then and now counts.
[55:10] So if it counts,
[55:12] for me, the next ten years
[55:13] do the same.
[55:14] So it's important what I do.
[55:15] It's important what I see
[55:16] in a year, two, three.
[55:17] So I have to plan my own life,
[55:19] mid and long term,
[55:20] as much as I can do that,
[55:21] and especially the destiny
[55:23] and the future of a football club.
[55:25] A player can score a goal,
[55:28] can score five goals,
[55:29] but never solve the problems.
[55:31] If you have real problems,
[55:33] and I don't know the United
[55:35] Problems, but the Liverpool
[55:36] was the same.
[55:37] It's not about that.
[55:38] On the day when we lost
[55:41] sold,
[55:42] we'll continue.
[55:43] That was not the day when I thought,
[55:45] oh, good that we have the money.
[55:48] I lost a player.
[55:49] I want to do work with
[55:50] for the next ten years,
[55:52] if you want.
[55:53] It was not that I thought,
[55:54] and we can invest it.
[55:56] Yeah.
[55:57] We invested it smartly.
[55:58] That's true.
[55:59] It's not that we found a player
[56:00] for the position,
[56:01] and saw that that's
[56:02] we had to saw differently,
[56:03] but we found two really
[56:05] solid, solid and becoming
[56:07] world-class players
[56:08] with Alison and Pandai.
[56:09] That was for the future.
[56:11] To go from there.
[56:13] And now that's the difference, I think.
[56:15] I've had so many founders
[56:17] speak to me and say,
[56:18] why didn't this particular ad
[56:19] that I ran on this platform work for me?
[56:21] Maybe the copy wasn't good,
[56:22] the creative wasn't strong,
[56:24] but usually the problem is
[56:25] they're not having the right conversation.
[56:26] Because that ad never reached
[56:27] the right person.
[56:28] And if you're in B2B marketing,
[56:30] that is much of the game.
[56:31] And this is where LinkedIn
[56:33] ads solves that problem for you.
[56:35] Their targeting is
[56:36] ridiculously specific.
[56:37] You can target by job title,
[56:39] seniority, company size, industry,
[56:41] and even someone's skillset.
[56:43] And then network includes
[56:44] over a billion professionals.
[56:46] About 130 million of them
[56:48] are decision makers.
[56:49] So when you use LinkedIn ads,
[56:51] you're putting your brand
[56:52] in front of the right people.
[56:53] And LinkedIn ads also drive the highest
[56:55] B2B return on ad spend
[56:57] across all ad networks in my experience.
[56:59] If you want to give them a try,
[57:01] head over to LinkedIn.com slash diary.
[57:04] And when you spend $250
[57:06] on your first LinkedIn ads campaign,
[57:08] you'll get an extra $250
[57:10] credit from me for the next one.
[57:12] That's LinkedIn.com slash diary
[57:15] terms and conditions apply.
[57:17] Do any of you remember a conversation
[57:18] I had on this podcast
[57:19] with anthropologist Daniel Lieberman?
[57:22] It was one of our most viewed
[57:23] conversations of all time
[57:24] and the most replayed moment
[57:26] in that conversation
[57:27] was when I talked about this product.
[57:29] These are what I call
[57:30] barefoot shoes by Vivo Barefoot,
[57:32] which have significantly reduced support,
[57:34] which gives my feet
[57:36] the opportunity that they desperately
[57:37] want to need to strengthen.
[57:39] We're living in a comfort crisis.
[57:41] And that at all times
[57:42] in our lives were making this trade
[57:44] of whether to have more comfort now
[57:46] and therefore more discomfort
[57:47] in the future,
[57:48] or a little bit less comfort now,
[57:50] but to be stronger
[57:51] and healthier in the future.
[57:53] And research from Liverpool University
[57:55] is back this up.
[57:56] They've shown that wearing
[57:57] Vivo Barefoot shoes for six months
[57:59] can increase foot strength
[58:00] by up to 60%.
[58:02] So if you want to start strengthening your feet
[58:04] and your body,
[58:05] visit VivoBarefoot.com slash Steven.
[58:08] And you'll get 20% off
[58:09] when you use code
[58:10] StephenB20
[58:12] a checkout
[58:13] that also comes with
[58:14] a 100 day money back guarantee.
[58:17] What I love about football
[58:19] is the analogies to
[58:21] the world I'm in,
[58:22] which is the world of business,
[58:23] where you can watch a team
[58:24] like we're seeing
[58:25] I think Crystal Palace at the moment,
[58:26] who objectively don't have
[58:28] maybe the best players in the world,
[58:29] they don't have the most money.
[58:31] Bournemouth as well.
[58:32] Bournemouth as well, yeah.
[58:33] But they're doing something
[58:34] which is creating this magic.
[58:36] And it's this wonderful narrative
[58:38] of you don't need to have the most
[58:40] talent or resources
[58:42] to have the best outcome.
[58:44] So what is that gap between...
[58:46] And that's...
[58:47] There must be something.
[58:48] Now, look,
[58:49] it's a situation in the moment
[58:50] and the situation
[58:51] where Crystal Palace and Bournemouth
[58:52] is massively different
[58:53] to the situation for United.
[58:54] If Bournemouth wins a game one
[58:56] and doesn't perform particularly well,
[58:58] you take it and you go on.
[59:00] I'm not sure you would redefine
[59:01] an article in the newspaper
[59:03] about it just when and go.
[59:04] But United is United.
[59:06] United each step
[59:07] is under the focus.
[59:10] And they're like,
[59:12] oh, they won.
[59:13] But he didn't play great.
[59:14] So they win a game
[59:16] and then somebody doesn't perform well.
[59:18] So pick him out and go for him
[59:20] for it or at least think,
[59:21] wow.
[59:22] So the coach has to pick him up
[59:24] again.
[59:25] No, it's all right.
[59:26] Stuff like this.
[59:27] And the next one.
[59:28] And then there are
[59:29] completely different
[59:30] situations.
[59:31] The only problem you have now
[59:33] in the time
[59:35] you try to sort your problems
[59:37] all the other clubs
[59:39] improve their situations.
[59:41] So Liverpool has an incredible squad.
[59:44] Yes.
[59:45] Are there 100% happy right now
[59:46] with the three defeats?
[59:47] No, probably not.
[59:48] But incredible squad.
[59:49] Arsenal is an incredible squad.
[59:51] City is city.
[59:52] I mean, I want to strike back.
[59:54] There's already three clubs.
[59:56] Chelsea.
[59:57] Huh?
[59:58] In that time when everybody thought,
[1:00:00] do they have an overview
[1:00:01] about their transfer market?
[1:00:02] Do they know who they own
[1:00:03] and who they're loaned
[1:00:04] and stuff like this?
[1:00:05] Obviously, somehow it pays off.
[1:00:07] So they have already five clubs.
[1:00:10] They are above you.
[1:00:11] Are you happy with the position six?
[1:00:13] No.
[1:00:14] Yeah.
[1:00:15] And here's the problem.
[1:00:16] Should you be happy theoretically
[1:00:18] with position six?
[1:00:19] Maybe.
[1:00:20] This year.
[1:00:21] And below that.
[1:00:22] So find a reason.
[1:00:25] Find a reason to enjoy
[1:00:27] the situation again.
[1:00:28] Find a reason to enjoy
[1:00:30] a one-nil victory,
[1:00:32] a two-nil victory at home,
[1:00:33] whoever against whoever
[1:00:35] Southampton tried to enjoy that.
[1:00:38] Really.
[1:00:39] Be happy.
[1:00:40] Go home.
[1:00:41] And not listening to others
[1:00:42] would tell you then.
[1:00:45] But Southampton.
[1:00:46] That's what we had years ago
[1:00:48] when we decided after a draw
[1:00:51] against West Brom
[1:00:54] to say thank you to the supporters.
[1:00:56] We stand in front of the cup
[1:00:58] and hold his other hand
[1:01:00] and said thank you.
[1:01:02] And then the press conference
[1:01:03] Tony Poulis,
[1:01:05] what a world we are living in
[1:01:07] when Liverpool with the money they spend
[1:01:09] to celebrate the point
[1:01:12] against West Brom.
[1:01:14] Thank you.
[1:01:15] But it's your choice
[1:01:18] how you grow together again.
[1:01:20] And I think
[1:01:21] after all the years now
[1:01:23] without a lot of good football,
[1:01:25] they need to find a way
[1:01:26] to grow together again.
[1:01:28] I fully believe in ribbon, Amarim.
[1:01:31] I think he's a man
[1:01:32] that's focused on culture
[1:01:34] and I like how honesty is as well.
[1:01:36] And I think with the team
[1:01:38] that they have around them
[1:01:39] with people like Jason Wilcox
[1:01:40] and Inos,
[1:01:41] who I've met and colour
[1:01:43] and all the others that are there,
[1:01:44] I think we've never been
[1:01:46] in a better place.
[1:01:47] I personally feel like that
[1:01:48] because I just think
[1:01:49] they're aiming for
[1:01:50] more long-term things.
[1:01:51] They're aiming at the only
[1:01:52] long-term things.
[1:01:53] The only problem
[1:01:54] is you have an old crew
[1:01:55] about football,
[1:01:56] besides that.
[1:01:57] That's a small problem.
[1:01:59] So good on you.
[1:02:01] Good on you.
[1:02:02] I have faith.
[1:02:04] That's great.
[1:02:05] I'm like,
[1:02:06] yeah.
[1:02:07] I don't know what my friends do,
[1:02:08] but I certainly do.
[1:02:09] And the only reason I have faith
[1:02:10] is because I see the club
[1:02:11] aiming at more long-term things now.
[1:02:13] And not buying.
[1:02:14] That's what they have to do.
[1:02:15] They have loads of Instagram followers.
[1:02:17] When you got that phone call
[1:02:19] from Liverpool and they asked you
[1:02:20] to come and join,
[1:02:21] you said,
[1:02:22] well, the reason you chose Liverpool
[1:02:23] is because they felt like
[1:02:24] a football project,
[1:02:25] versus Manchester United,
[1:02:27] who seemed to be a bit more
[1:02:29] less football or into it.
[1:02:30] That's not the same year.
[1:02:31] Two years before.
[1:02:33] I'm wondering
[1:02:36] what is it about their proposal
[1:02:38] that made you think it was a football project?
[1:02:41] Oh, just a situation.
[1:02:42] I knew the club.
[1:02:43] I knew the team.
[1:02:44] So if you look at,
[1:02:46] on top of that,
[1:02:47] I didn't think that way.
[1:02:48] But when Celtics left,
[1:02:51] it was,
[1:02:52] and they became champion
[1:02:53] in the last year,
[1:02:54] but it was not that the team
[1:02:55] was one you build a future on.
[1:02:57] So that's how it is.
[1:02:58] When you come in,
[1:02:59] it's a bit built to fail,
[1:03:00] if you want it.
[1:03:01] But I didn't see it that way.
[1:03:02] And that time it was
[1:03:03] at other reasons.
[1:03:04] But if I would have thought
[1:03:05] longer about it,
[1:03:06] probably,
[1:03:07] yeah.
[1:03:09] So David,
[1:03:10] more fantastic,
[1:03:11] fantastic manager,
[1:03:12] what it proves every year,
[1:03:14] couldn't do the job
[1:03:16] and since then,
[1:03:17] it's a bit of a problem.
[1:03:18] So a new team needs time.
[1:03:20] He was stitched up.
[1:03:21] So needs time.
[1:03:22] So Liverpool,
[1:03:24] the team,
[1:03:25] as said,
[1:03:26] when I came,
[1:03:27] nobody likes the team.
[1:03:28] Not even the team likes the team.
[1:03:30] I like the team.
[1:03:31] I knew the team.
[1:03:32] I knew the players.
[1:03:33] I thought,
[1:03:34] Bobby Fominion moved there.
[1:03:35] I said,
[1:03:36] oh, that's smart.
[1:03:37] That's smart transfer.
[1:03:38] I know Chris,
[1:03:39] I knew Chris Schumpen take it.
[1:03:40] I loved Liverpool Reggie.
[1:03:41] I knew John Henderson.
[1:03:42] I knew Adam Lannan.
[1:03:43] I know plenty players.
[1:03:44] And I heard only,
[1:03:45] kind of good enough.
[1:03:46] And I thought,
[1:03:47] oh,
[1:03:48] well,
[1:03:49] let's see.
[1:03:50] So I liked the team.
[1:03:51] So that's the football team.
[1:03:52] Probably football.
[1:03:53] Super attitude.
[1:03:54] I mean,
[1:03:55] just on day one,
[1:03:56] I could have
[1:03:57] played
[1:03:59] Handle, Millie and Adam
[1:04:00] together in midfield.
[1:04:01] Maybe I did.
[1:04:02] I don't even know my
[1:04:03] first liner,
[1:04:04] but that's a proper
[1:04:05] engine room.
[1:04:06] It's smart players.
[1:04:07] It's people who really
[1:04:08] want to,
[1:04:09] want to perform,
[1:04:10] want to work hard
[1:04:11] and all these kind of things.
[1:04:12] That's what you need for start.
[1:04:13] I knew Liverpool was not the same club
[1:04:15] than ever before.
[1:04:16] It's not that I
[1:04:17] went into the shiny
[1:04:18] room.
[1:04:19] I played there
[1:04:20] a year before
[1:04:21] with Dortmund in
[1:04:22] some of the preseason.
[1:04:23] And it was
[1:04:24] massively disappointed
[1:04:27] about the dressing rooms.
[1:04:28] I remember,
[1:04:29] you have this
[1:04:31] pictures in your mind.
[1:04:32] You think,
[1:04:33] oh my God, it's
[1:04:34] envy.
[1:04:35] And you walk in
[1:04:36] and make two steps
[1:04:37] into the dressing room
[1:04:38] when you run against a wall.
[1:04:39] And you think,
[1:04:40] kidding?
[1:04:41] Is that all?
[1:04:42] Where's the rest?
[1:04:43] So,
[1:04:44] English dressing rooms
[1:04:45] are really,
[1:04:46] really small in the old
[1:04:47] stadiums.
[1:04:48] They were thinking,
[1:04:49] oh my God,
[1:04:50] how can you bring it?
[1:04:51] It was built for 11 players
[1:04:52] and now we come here with 30.
[1:04:53] So people
[1:04:54] in that room
[1:04:55] doesn't help.
[1:04:56] So,
[1:04:57] I knew about the history.
[1:04:58] I knew that nobody is happy.
[1:04:59] I knew that I like the team.
[1:05:01] That's a good start.
[1:05:04] And did they tell you
[1:05:05] that they were going to
[1:05:06] develop the ground,
[1:05:07] the stadium?
[1:05:08] Did they make any promises
[1:05:09] to your assurances?
[1:05:10] Did they tell you?
[1:05:11] No.
[1:05:12] You didn't really
[1:05:13] speak about that in the first
[1:05:14] conversation.
[1:05:15] That's nothing I need to
[1:05:16] talk about in this kind of
[1:05:17] conversation.
[1:05:18] I know that the job I had
[1:05:19] in that moment was just
[1:05:20] to improve the football team,
[1:05:21] not the club.
[1:05:22] That I was involved
[1:05:23] in all the other stuff
[1:05:24] happened with time.
[1:05:25] With time.
[1:05:27] Just to be realized,
[1:05:28] this is my responsibility now
[1:05:30] as well.
[1:05:31] You never know.
[1:05:32] I don't plan
[1:05:33] seven, eight, nine years
[1:05:34] belts in a club.
[1:05:35] It just happens.
[1:05:36] It's like I don't
[1:05:37] think they could
[1:05:39] sack me, but I know
[1:05:41] could happen.
[1:05:42] So I plan
[1:05:43] from a specific moment on
[1:05:45] when I sorted the first few
[1:05:47] things, then I plan,
[1:05:48] mid and long term,
[1:05:49] or always did,
[1:05:50] knowing it might not be
[1:05:52] for me.
[1:05:53] But I was never
[1:05:55] worried about that too much.
[1:05:56] But what was the first
[1:05:57] couple of things you
[1:05:58] thought you had to change
[1:05:59] to get them winning
[1:06:00] and to get the confidence
[1:06:02] back and to ultimately
[1:06:03] bring this city behind you?
[1:06:04] Was there anything you
[1:06:05] thought, okay, the first
[1:06:06] thing I'm going to have to
[1:06:07] do is get rid of him,
[1:06:08] change this.
[1:06:09] So, a year before,
[1:06:11] and not in that season,
[1:06:12] but two years before,
[1:06:14] they nearly became
[1:06:15] chairman.
[1:06:16] It was a different team.
[1:06:17] It was a very
[1:06:18] specific way of football
[1:06:19] offensively.
[1:06:20] Oh, my God,
[1:06:21] ever.
[1:06:23] Ridiculously good defensively.
[1:06:25] Yeah.
[1:06:26] Lucky or good goalie there.
[1:06:27] Stuff like this was not
[1:06:28] the same.
[1:06:29] So we didn't have the team
[1:06:30] from that time.
[1:06:31] We didn't have Suarez.
[1:06:32] We didn't have
[1:06:33] sterling.
[1:06:34] Yeah, we had
[1:06:35] still tennis storage stuff
[1:06:37] like this.
[1:06:38] But it was different,
[1:06:39] different team,
[1:06:40] completely different.
[1:06:41] So I arrived there
[1:06:42] at five strikers.
[1:06:43] It was
[1:06:44] Christmas
[1:06:45] take.
[1:06:46] Dennings,
[1:06:47] DiVogoregi,
[1:06:48] Bobby Feminio.
[1:06:49] Daniel started five
[1:06:50] strikers.
[1:06:51] He wanted to play
[1:06:52] in one striker
[1:06:53] system.
[1:06:54] How do we deal with that?
[1:06:55] But it was fine.
[1:06:56] And there was
[1:06:57] so much quality,
[1:06:58] just not really sorted.
[1:06:59] So the first thing
[1:07:00] I had to sort is
[1:07:01] to organize them.
[1:07:02] So find a way
[1:07:03] to make sure
[1:07:04] that they understand
[1:07:05] that we have a chance
[1:07:06] to win the next football game.
[1:07:07] We have to do a couple
[1:07:08] of things for that.
[1:07:09] For Tottenham,
[1:07:10] three days time to train.
[1:07:11] Yeah.
[1:07:12] Jump in their face.
[1:07:14] And let's see what
[1:07:15] we get for it.
[1:07:16] It's not organized.
[1:07:17] It's like,
[1:07:18] we'd be started
[1:07:19] with an organized chaos.
[1:07:20] So I gave them a few ideas about
[1:07:22] where we have to,
[1:07:23] where we want to put them
[1:07:24] on a pressure.
[1:07:25] And in that moment,
[1:07:26] now do it.
[1:07:27] And afterwards, we work,
[1:07:28] we talk about it,
[1:07:29] how it worked out,
[1:07:30] because there was no time
[1:07:31] to train.
[1:07:32] Anyway, we had no time.
[1:07:33] It began after we played
[1:07:34] European League.
[1:07:35] I think in the mid-week
[1:07:36] and then we play again.
[1:07:37] And though it's like,
[1:07:38] you are in a rush
[1:07:40] at a coaching career
[1:07:42] with all the games
[1:07:43] you have to play.
[1:07:44] If you really want to
[1:07:45] a top team especially,
[1:07:46] you really want to
[1:07:47] develop a style of football.
[1:07:48] You are set up to fail.
[1:07:50] Because it's like,
[1:07:51] you have no time in the preseason.
[1:07:52] There's no,
[1:07:53] there are players
[1:07:54] everywhere playing big tournaments,
[1:07:55] blah, blah, blah.
[1:07:56] And you only come two weeks
[1:07:57] before the season starts
[1:07:58] into your camp.
[1:08:00] Okay.
[1:08:01] So let's go from here.
[1:08:03] Then you play,
[1:08:04] top teams play every three days
[1:08:06] from a specific date on.
[1:08:07] We obviously,
[1:08:09] we lost a lot of finals.
[1:08:10] That means we played a lot of finals.
[1:08:12] That means we played all the games
[1:08:14] until the end of the season,
[1:08:15] which is a lot.
[1:08:17] So there's no really time.
[1:08:19] So we were to train
[1:08:20] and really develop things.
[1:08:22] So you have to use each little moment
[1:08:24] to implement a specific idea
[1:08:27] we all can buy into.
[1:08:30] And that's what we did.
[1:08:31] I lost our first game against Tottenham.
[1:08:34] Simon Minule had to make
[1:08:36] a good, really good saves,
[1:08:38] but they had to do as well.
[1:08:39] And that year Tottenham was really strong.
[1:08:41] There became second behind Lester.
[1:08:42] I think that was that season.
[1:08:44] And that's a start.
[1:08:46] What are those little ideas
[1:08:48] that you would start
[1:08:49] into implement one by one?
[1:08:52] So many,
[1:08:53] if you don't have time to change football,
[1:08:55] you can have a tour.
[1:08:56] You mean we are all not geniuses.
[1:08:58] And we cannot go there
[1:08:59] and show them a little bit possible here,
[1:09:00] possible there.
[1:09:01] And if you're possible back again,
[1:09:03] you can shoot on your own
[1:09:04] in front of the goal.
[1:09:05] That doesn't work like that.
[1:09:06] So I, I'm 100% convinced
[1:09:09] if you have to make sure
[1:09:11] that you are stable.
[1:09:12] If you are stable,
[1:09:13] that means that the other team,
[1:09:15] whatever they try,
[1:09:16] it's not easy for them to get through
[1:09:18] and shoot just finish.
[1:09:20] I don't like that.
[1:09:21] So if you can avoid that, do it.
[1:09:23] Because we are people,
[1:09:24] but we are now realized a few times.
[1:09:26] It's not easy.
[1:09:27] If they have five, six chances
[1:09:29] after each other,
[1:09:30] opportunities after each other,
[1:09:32] then it's like that you don't feel great.
[1:09:34] Nobody plays to his best football
[1:09:36] if each attack of the opponent
[1:09:37] ends in the arms of your goalie.
[1:09:39] That just doesn't work.
[1:09:40] So how can we do that?
[1:09:41] And stability is to organize a team
[1:09:44] that's number one, two and three
[1:09:46] on the to-do list
[1:09:47] of a successful manager.
[1:09:48] And that's what I did.
[1:09:49] We organized.
[1:09:50] And then we maybe told them
[1:09:52] to run their socks off.
[1:09:53] If people have to show,
[1:09:55] you have to show the people
[1:09:56] that you want to change something.
[1:09:57] You have to show the people
[1:09:58] that you want to achieve something.
[1:09:59] How we can tell,
[1:10:00] I can tell them.
[1:10:01] But in the end,
[1:10:02] you have to show them.
[1:10:03] So run.
[1:10:04] And they went for it.
[1:10:06] I loved it so much.
[1:10:07] They loved it so much.
[1:10:08] It's easy. They all top fit.
[1:10:09] They want to run.
[1:10:10] So just show them
[1:10:11] which direction and it goes.
[1:10:12] And then we developed step-by-step
[1:10:14] our own way of football.
[1:10:16] Broad players in step-by-step.
[1:10:18] But we got stable pretty quickly.
[1:10:21] Not as much as we wanted.
[1:10:22] I think we became 678.
[1:10:24] I don't even know for a season.
[1:10:26] Two finals.
[1:10:27] Great.
[1:10:28] Lost both.
[1:10:29] Not great.
[1:10:30] But then we knew each other
[1:10:33] and we loved working together
[1:10:35] with this group,
[1:10:36] brought in super players,
[1:10:38] really super, super players,
[1:10:40] super characters, super players.
[1:10:42] And stick together.
[1:10:44] And I mean,
[1:10:45] what can you do?
[1:10:46] We lost it.
[1:10:47] We lost the European League final in Basel.
[1:10:50] How it always is,
[1:10:51] there's some party after the game.
[1:10:53] So you cannot organize a party.
[1:10:55] But you all know if you lose.
[1:10:56] What's it going to the party?
[1:10:58] So I was a new manager.
[1:11:00] Yes.
[1:11:01] Not that new anymore.
[1:11:02] Seven, eight months.
[1:11:03] You know, so.
[1:11:04] And I realized some players are on the there.
[1:11:06] But it wasn't a team hotel.
[1:11:07] So I called them.
[1:11:09] And told them all here.
[1:11:11] Come on.
[1:11:12] Come on.
[1:11:14] I tell you what.
[1:11:16] This was only the start.
[1:11:17] We only are together in six months.
[1:11:19] This is not the last final we played.
[1:11:20] This is the first final we played.
[1:11:22] Okay.
[1:11:23] We lost.
[1:11:24] It's not important.
[1:11:25] The first international final.
[1:11:26] We lost.
[1:11:27] No problem.
[1:11:28] We go again.
[1:11:29] And they went on a dance floor.
[1:11:30] It was a dance floor.
[1:11:32] And they're all coming.
[1:11:34] And we're saying we are level push.
[1:11:36] But I mean, I had had a few parties after finals we lost.
[1:11:41] And I always thought I don't waste time at all on not being happy about what we achieved over the whole year.
[1:11:49] Because qualifying for a final is a real achievement.
[1:11:53] Losing it is not great.
[1:11:56] But until then everything was fine.
[1:11:58] And I never accepted that we ignore the rest.
[1:12:01] So we have a party.
[1:12:03] And then we went on to achieve new things.
[1:12:08] And we needed a bit of time obviously.
[1:12:11] But it was okay.
[1:12:12] And this goes back to the point earlier about controlling the mindset and the psychology after you lose to make sure that you don't get pressed.
[1:12:19] If you don't learn from a defeat, it's a real defeat.
[1:12:23] If you learn from it, it's just, it's a very, very important information.
[1:12:27] And that's how I always understood it.
[1:12:30] I had enough opportunities to learn really.
[1:12:34] How I say, I lost more chemist league finals than most people play.
[1:12:38] It's not a great thing to say.
[1:12:41] It's the truth anyway.
[1:12:43] You're known for what they call heavy metal football.
[1:12:46] Yeah, but that's yeah.
[1:12:48] Like that phrase.
[1:12:50] And you know, I've had a lot of things.
[1:12:52] But it's like, I said that joint, it was not in my mind that I thought,
[1:12:57] I really want to play heavy metal football.
[1:12:59] They asked me about Arzen Mowanger and the comparison.
[1:13:03] And they did think we are similar in a way.
[1:13:05] And I thought, what?
[1:13:06] Arzen, I know.
[1:13:08] So come on.
[1:13:09] Don't be disrespectful to Arzen.
[1:13:11] I'm a young, blah, blah, blah man from somewhere.
[1:13:13] But if you want to compare us, then I'm not sure that's possible because Arzen's football is rather like an orchestra.
[1:13:20] And my team plays a little bit more like a heavy metal band.
[1:13:23] But that was the first statement I thought about my team.
[1:13:26] I got a heavy metal band.
[1:13:28] But it's true.
[1:13:30] Yes, somehow.
[1:13:31] It is true.
[1:13:32] And I know that more than anyone is a Manchester United fan watching.
[1:13:35] I'd hate playing your football teams because they ran so much.
[1:13:39] They were so passionate.
[1:13:40] They never let out.
[1:13:41] They could always win in the last minute.
[1:13:43] And the intensity was, you were just anxious as a football fan watching the games
[1:13:48] because it was so full on.
[1:13:51] And it was overwhelming emotionally.
[1:13:53] And I remember through your era, sometimes you've been games by seven, you'd score seven goals, five goals.
[1:13:59] Every week when I pull up my phone to check the scores, that week I'll live up all of score five again.
[1:14:02] Oh, they scored seven again, they scored six again.
[1:14:04] Sometimes you would concede three.
[1:14:06] But it was crazy how high intensity the way you played football was.
[1:14:12] Don't waste time with holding back.
[1:14:15] I don't understand it.
[1:14:17] We have nothing to do there.
[1:14:18] 90 minutes, 95 minutes, whatever.
[1:14:21] I don't.
[1:14:22] We had to learn.
[1:14:23] I had to learn to manage games inside me until the last eight.
[1:14:28] I was like, come on.
[1:14:30] Come on.
[1:14:31] Try.
[1:14:32] But then I made it back and grow up and I got more matured stuff like this.
[1:14:36] I was like, okay, come on.
[1:14:37] Hold the ball.
[1:14:38] Control the ball.
[1:14:39] All the things you, at one point you do, you learn at any time on your journey.
[1:14:46] And that's that's how it is.
[1:14:47] And I loved the game so much and could play it not that good.
[1:14:51] That I was so happy that I could work with these outstanding players.
[1:14:55] I couldn't.
[1:14:56] I loved it.
[1:14:57] I enjoyed it so much.
[1:14:58] Seeing them.
[1:14:59] Doing what they're doing.
[1:15:00] I was number one supporter of my team.
[1:15:04] Teams.
[1:15:05] Well, I was.
[1:15:06] I love what they did.
[1:15:07] So that's what I carried through the week.
[1:15:09] I didn't tell them.
[1:15:10] I told them.
[1:15:11] I want to be your friend, but I cannot be your best friend.
[1:15:13] Because I'm the one who tells you off very often.
[1:15:15] And they'll tell you this is not right.
[1:15:16] This is not right.
[1:15:17] This is not right.
[1:15:18] But the feeling, the general feeling was I love them.
[1:15:21] In my mind, my ex players, I love them all.
[1:15:24] And some of them don't love back.
[1:15:27] Let me say like that probably for some reasons or whatever.
[1:15:30] But that doesn't mean anything to me.
[1:15:31] I love my clubs.
[1:15:32] Do you think it's important how you win?
[1:15:36] Because you know, this heavy metal high intensity for your win was great for fans.
[1:15:41] They love watching 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
[1:15:44] They love watching that stuff.
[1:15:45] Do you think that matters?
[1:15:46] Or do you think it's just about getting the three points?
[1:15:48] I just said we didn't been dead often.
[1:15:50] 5, 0, 7.
[1:15:51] It felt like it.
[1:15:52] It felt like every day.
[1:15:53] And against United, we did.
[1:15:55] Yeah.
[1:15:56] Now, you can cut it out.
[1:15:59] No.
[1:16:00] It's, yeah, of course, important.
[1:16:02] So if you have your backpack going to stadium as a player,
[1:16:07] if you have boots and if you have a wear shirt,
[1:16:10] don't waste time with anything then giving you all.
[1:16:12] There's no guarantee to get anything.
[1:16:15] But the only chance to get something.
[1:16:17] So give you all the person till the last minute.
[1:16:20] You have to understand this game is only that fun for us
[1:16:24] because all the people are watching it.
[1:16:26] That's why we earn money.
[1:16:27] And I mean it.
[1:16:28] I know that's what people want to hear.
[1:16:29] But we earn money because everybody's interested in it.
[1:16:31] Everybody wants to see it.
[1:16:33] Knows about it, reads everything about it.
[1:16:35] All these kinds of things.
[1:16:36] And for that, with all the stories around,
[1:16:38] the only thing we really have to deliver is
[1:16:42] give you absolute all in a game like that.
[1:16:44] Whatever.
[1:16:45] Which ever game is there?
[1:16:47] 530, 230, 330.
[1:16:49] Whenever the game starts, give you absolute all.
[1:16:51] But why not just one nail and defense and boring
[1:16:54] and pass it around?
[1:16:55] And that happens.
[1:16:56] That happens in games.
[1:16:57] You realize, okay.
[1:16:59] It's called to go about the days and the other days.
[1:17:01] Come on, let's get it over the line.
[1:17:03] That happens.
[1:17:04] But it cannot be the target or the purpose for the next game again.
[1:17:07] Let's do it like that.
[1:17:08] Not for their clubs, if you own the only realistic target
[1:17:13] is to stay in the league.
[1:17:15] It's a wonderful result.
[1:17:17] But we talk about a club like Liverpool.
[1:17:19] We are bigger than that.
[1:17:23] You have to win each football game.
[1:17:25] When you are a manager of Liverpool.
[1:17:27] That's what people, that's not that before the season,
[1:17:29] anybody thinks, oh, 38 games.
[1:17:34] More than 100.
[1:17:36] Nobody had ever.
[1:17:37] So it's not like that.
[1:17:38] But still, each defeat and each draw is like,
[1:17:41] how could it happen?
[1:17:43] That's why you have to play in a specific way.
[1:17:47] Not all clubs have the same things to do.
[1:17:49] But the top clubs, they have to win all the games.
[1:17:52] When you have the chance, you win them clear.
[1:17:54] You have in them high, with the proper results,
[1:17:56] stuff like this.
[1:17:57] You have to make the people enjoy the football you play.
[1:18:00] And I love to do that.
[1:18:03] I loved it.
[1:18:04] Honestly, it's like the games we played, the results we had
[1:18:09] were just incredible.
[1:18:11] It's just amazing.
[1:18:12] Not all of them.
[1:18:13] And I love the bonnills as much as I do all the others.
[1:18:16] The Champions League final was the worst final of all the four.
[1:18:19] My teams played.
[1:18:21] But we won it.
[1:18:22] Would I take, would I change?
[1:18:24] Is that okay?
[1:18:25] The other three as well.
[1:18:26] The performance, the other games were really good.
[1:18:28] But we lost.
[1:18:29] Well, here we are.
[1:18:30] It was not fantastic.
[1:18:31] But we won.
[1:18:32] All fine.
[1:18:33] It's about the result.
[1:18:35] But if you have a result and another result,
[1:18:38] it has to lead to really good football at one point.
[1:18:42] As good as possible for your specific team.
[1:18:45] You want to stay in the league?
[1:18:46] Do it with good football.
[1:18:48] You want to qualify for Europe?
[1:18:50] Do it with good football.
[1:18:51] Because we are there for the people.
[1:18:53] It's not there.
[1:18:54] We just go home and the people think it's unwatchable.
[1:18:58] I'm not trying to come next week again.
[1:19:00] That's not fair.
[1:19:02] Try to play.
[1:19:03] The game is really cool games.
[1:19:05] So let's make sure that everybody sees it.
[1:19:07] And what is the Liverpool way?
[1:19:09] What is inherent in when you come to Liverpool,
[1:19:12] you are the manager or you are a player,
[1:19:14] what is the thing that you have to do that specific to Liverpool
[1:19:17] in order to be successful?
[1:19:18] You have to understand the community and the community
[1:19:21] just the city community and the bigger community around the world.
[1:19:24] So many people in this club went through a lot,
[1:19:26] not as the only club in the world.
[1:19:29] But, come on, for that moment,
[1:19:31] we just think about ourselves, went through a lot.
[1:19:33] The reaction to these situations was always exceptional
[1:19:37] to be 100% honest.
[1:19:39] And that's what you have to understand,
[1:19:41] what you have to learn.
[1:19:42] This club means more to the people than just football.
[1:19:46] And that's why what we do is more important
[1:19:51] than it maybe is somewhere else.
[1:19:53] That that's the responsibility we always took
[1:19:57] and understood 100% our players understood.
[1:20:00] To play for Liverpool is not just a club
[1:20:03] where you played during your career.
[1:20:05] It's the club and it's something you will definitely remember for life.
[1:20:10] So we try to make sure that the boys understood.
[1:20:14] If we give our absolute everything now,
[1:20:18] we meet in 10, 15 years, look back,
[1:20:21] and we think it was the best we could have done.
[1:20:24] It's the absolute best we could have done.
[1:20:26] I think that's how my view on life is as well.
[1:20:29] Or the other side is just sorting the problem in front of you.
[1:20:33] There's something we have to sort,
[1:20:36] but when you sort, you think about what's the effect for the rest.
[1:20:39] And that's what some people, some clubs maybe don't want to see
[1:20:44] because the pressure is too big just to make sure,
[1:20:48] okay, tomorrow at least they will not write.
[1:20:51] We have no clue.
[1:20:53] Tomorrow at least they will say they found a solution.
[1:20:55] And then we can think about the next day or whatever.
[1:21:00] How does someone succeed you?
[1:21:04] Because you have such a big aura.
[1:21:06] Are you aware that you have a big aura?
[1:21:08] I don't know if anybody has the awareness of that.
[1:21:11] I heard about it, but they don't know what it means.
[1:21:15] What 100% to be honest.
[1:21:17] You receive with other people.
[1:21:18] In energy when you arrive, it's the passion,
[1:21:20] it's the ability to talk, it's the ability to inspire people.
[1:21:23] It has an impact on the rival team you're playing
[1:21:26] because they go clubs here and big personality, big charisma.
[1:21:31] So Arnie slot coming in after you.
[1:21:33] He doesn't appear to be as have the same size of an aura.
[1:21:38] And I don't know, I just think big shoes to fill
[1:21:43] in terms of your aura.
[1:21:45] I have to go to a toilet.
[1:21:48] Arnie, okay.
[1:21:51] Okay.
[1:21:54] That's good.
[1:21:56] Big shoes.
[1:21:58] Big shoes.
[1:21:59] I would not want to fill such shoes.
[1:22:02] A couple of things, first and foremost,
[1:22:05] I thought I have to say what I had to say
[1:22:11] when I've been announced my exit, if you want,
[1:22:15] my retirement, very well called it.
[1:22:18] At the time, people judge that wrong woman,
[1:22:21] blah, blah, blah, whatever.
[1:22:23] It cannot change that.
[1:22:24] The first find, the feeling was I have to say that
[1:22:26] then you have to finish the season as good as somehow possible
[1:22:29] in idol world.
[1:22:30] You win something, we couldn't do that for whatever reason.
[1:22:33] And then you have to make sure, because that's still something you have to do,
[1:22:36] you have to try to make it as easy as somehow possible
[1:22:42] for the guy who's coming after you.
[1:22:44] That's what I tried as well.
[1:22:46] Because I wanted them all to do incredibly well.
[1:22:52] And I also thought if somebody is not doing it that way,
[1:22:55] it's the first hint you can get that,
[1:23:01] maybe he wants the next guy not to do it.
[1:23:04] Well, there is shouting, oh my God, he did that, he did that, he did that.
[1:23:07] And I don't need that.
[1:23:09] I want Liverpool to do well.
[1:23:11] I want Liverpool to win what they did.
[1:23:14] So I would have liked a lot about Arnett.
[1:23:16] Arnett didn't hesitate.
[1:23:17] But you said, no, I don't want to go on these shoes.
[1:23:19] Arnett didn't have that problem.
[1:23:20] He thought, okay, that's a great club, that's a great team.
[1:23:23] And he's right, it was a fantastic club,
[1:23:26] and it's a fantastic team.
[1:23:28] He stepped into that.
[1:23:29] We had a lot of contact after that.
[1:23:31] He was super, he's a super, super good guy.
[1:23:36] And with him, I got what the team, wow.
[1:23:40] Thanks a lot, blah, blah, blah, all these kinds of things.
[1:23:42] And he made the best, he got the best out of this team
[1:23:46] and they became champion in an incredible manner, to be honest.
[1:23:50] So, and I'm really, really happy about that.
[1:23:52] So that's all, that's all.
[1:23:55] It all about the shows again, it's all about how you see it.
[1:23:58] You can see you step into my footsteps, how you said called it.
[1:24:03] Or you take over a fantastic football team.
[1:24:05] It was a brilliant, I mean, my best friend's Liverpool fan,
[1:24:08] and he said, before you left, actually, he said,
[1:24:11] this is the best squad Liverpool have ever had.
[1:24:14] Arnett has inherited that squad, which is considered to be the best squad
[1:24:17] by many people that Liverpool have ever had.
[1:24:20] And in that first year, didn't really change much.
[1:24:23] There wasn't really, there wasn't any big signings come in.
[1:24:25] I actually heard from one of the players in Liverpool that,
[1:24:28] they say, to a really good friend of mine,
[1:24:31] that the best thing Arnie had done was actually in that first year,
[1:24:34] don't change much, don't come in and try and radically change things.
[1:24:38] That's what Arnett's lot would say himself.
[1:24:40] Probably, I think he said it.
[1:24:42] It's super smart.
[1:24:43] So it's not about what Arnett wants to show the world what he can do.
[1:24:46] It's about how to get the best out of this team.
[1:24:48] And that's exactly what he did.
[1:24:50] Not changing much means he changed a little bit.
[1:24:53] We became 30 years before.
[1:24:55] So there's not a lot you have to change.
[1:24:57] But a few decisive things you have to change.
[1:25:00] And all of a sudden, you win the league by some distance.
[1:25:03] So that's what it is.
[1:25:04] Not that he has to put his new own stamp this team was good in a lot of ways.
[1:25:10] But we didn't win the year before.
[1:25:13] And that's what his job was.
[1:25:16] And he did that in an incredible, impressive manner.
[1:25:19] So, and that's all you want.
[1:25:22] And you need people who have the confidence to do these kind of things.
[1:25:28] Because it doesn't make sense if you have a manager who is not 100% sure about the things he wants to do.
[1:25:36] And I want us to play like this.
[1:25:38] Or if that's impossible, I want to play like this.
[1:25:41] Or I want to, but maybe completely different.
[1:25:44] That doesn't work.
[1:25:45] Being a football manager is already a challenge.
[1:25:48] Because all the different things you have to do.
[1:25:51] Being a football manager in such a competitive league like the Premier League is a real challenge.
[1:25:58] Being a football manager in the world we are living in with media, social media and all these kind of things.
[1:26:04] It's an incredible challenge.
[1:26:06] Believe me, you have no clue what's coming up the next day.
[1:26:12] You think, oh my God, where's that coming from?
[1:26:15] Who was that?
[1:26:16] Oh, my player.
[1:26:17] You'll read the story, whatever, and all of a sudden, you think.
[1:26:22] From a problem, it turns into you a problem and a win.
[1:26:27] So, sort that and all the rest as well.
[1:26:30] So, you need this kind of thing.
[1:26:31] I love that about Arnold as he came in and took over.
[1:26:35] And he knew he got a good team, yes, it was.
[1:26:39] And did a perfect job.
[1:26:41] I mean, in terms of making changes this year, you live up all of Spen, what?
[1:26:46] 450 odd million, which is a crazy number.
[1:26:49] I think he broke in the transfer record in various positions several times with words and with EZAC now as well.
[1:26:57] So, change has arrived.
[1:26:59] These are new people that are coming in with their own ideologies from their previous clubs.
[1:27:04] They've all arrived at once, a lot of new faces at once.
[1:27:07] Is this not now where the challenge begins?
[1:27:09] Because this is going to become only his team now.
[1:27:13] Yeah, but that's not a problem.
[1:27:14] It's just completely normal.
[1:27:16] That doesn't mean exactly today.
[1:27:18] There's a lot of change.
[1:27:19] I mean, no team, by the way, it's 450 odd, but I don't know the exact numbers,
[1:27:26] but they earned a lot of money as well.
[1:27:30] And change always has an impact and change always needs time.
[1:27:33] But people talk then about this.
[1:27:36] If, no, that's not like that.
[1:27:38] He keeps his exactly same team like us.
[1:27:40] Yeah, Darwin, you're still there.
[1:27:42] Luis Diaz is still there as an example.
[1:27:44] So, they start playing and they'll have problems.
[1:27:46] So, yeah, we need a change.
[1:27:49] So, now they're not there anymore.
[1:27:50] The new guys are there and they're really, really good players.
[1:27:53] It's not working out.
[1:27:54] I mean, yeah, why?
[1:27:55] Why is it working out?
[1:27:56] Because development needs time.
[1:27:59] Then nobody can change that.
[1:28:00] And people need to find, need to adapt to situation, need to adapt to things and all these kind of things.
[1:28:06] So, it's all good.
[1:28:07] It's all in place.
[1:28:08] What you have at Liverpool this year has to be in the competition in the decisive moments.
[1:28:13] And then they have to be ready to go for it.
[1:28:16] And there's no guarantee that you then will win it again.
[1:28:19] That doesn't happen just like this.
[1:28:22] You cannot be championed, spend money and be championed again.
[1:28:25] The other teams don't sleep.
[1:28:28] That's how it is.
[1:28:29] And to become champion, you need luck in moments here and there.
[1:28:32] That's how it is.
[1:28:33] Nobody wants to hear that.
[1:28:34] But crossbar, over the line, not over the line, all these kind of things.
[1:28:38] It can go in your direction or in the other direction.
[1:28:41] So, it's all fine.
[1:28:42] And we discuss the situation now like it's a struggle.
[1:28:46] It's a price.
[1:28:47] Yeah.
[1:28:48] We take the money and throw it against them.
[1:28:51] 450 million.
[1:28:52] Yeah, but they earned 200 million as well.
[1:28:54] So, it's all fine if you're with Liverpool and only these people are really.
[1:29:00] There's only only people who matter if you are with Liverpool.
[1:29:03] Yeah.
[1:29:04] You trust them and they do the right, they did the right stuff, they do the right things.
[1:29:09] So, work on it and become the best football team this team can be.
[1:29:13] You never had a transfer window like that where you spent that much money in.
[1:29:17] No, we built three stands and a training ground.
[1:29:20] Yeah.
[1:29:21] Exactly.
[1:29:22] And you remember the press conference, I think, when you were referring to city's ability
[1:29:25] to spend money, I had no clue that it is as possible.
[1:29:29] Nobody, nobody ever told me that it's possible that we can, that we can spend like that.
[1:29:34] My last year Liverpool, so we obviously.
[1:29:38] So, they added us to the new stadium, all these kind of things.
[1:29:41] Yeah, there are more money.
[1:29:42] But it was never, never, ever I could have asked for the amount of money.
[1:29:46] But that's not a problem, that time, it was not there, no problem at all.
[1:29:51] Really not.
[1:29:52] And I loved the fact that we were as successful as we were and built new stands and build
[1:30:02] the training ground because we talk now about a transfer window in the way you want to talk
[1:30:07] about it, spend a lot of money.
[1:30:10] But there's no discussion about the stands and no discussion about the training ground.
[1:30:14] A second to none, the training ground, the stands are wonderful.
[1:30:18] So, and at the same place where Enfield is, they could build pretty much a new stadium without
[1:30:24] leaving the old one.
[1:30:25] So, that's a fantastic story and that will stay forever.
[1:30:28] Maybe at one point, they decide the cup could be even for more people or whatever.
[1:30:34] I don't know if that ever will happen, but you could do stuff there.
[1:30:37] And that's what I love about this.
[1:30:39] I think I really want as much as I can.
[1:30:43] It's not my first target because I have to win football games with my team, but I want
[1:30:48] that a club benefits from the time we were together after we left.
[1:30:53] I want that.
[1:30:54] This might be a quite a naive observation, but in the time when you were at Liverpool, my assessment
[1:30:58] and Liverpool was you never, you didn't necessarily have the world's most famous starting
[1:31:03] 11 team, but you could be anybody.
[1:31:07] So, you know, when you brought in Milner, who was it city before and when you brought in
[1:31:11] these other players, I would say, I'd be like, why are they signing him?
[1:31:15] He's not, but then when they'd play for Liverpool, they would be unbelievable players
[1:31:19] and you could be anybody.
[1:31:20] So, there was almost this culture at Liverpool, which I observed, where you didn't
[1:31:24] necessarily go for the galactico players you weren't trying to get Ronaldo and Messi.
[1:31:28] You were going for sort of these players that had character in a culture fit, and ultimately
[1:31:34] that meant that at times it looked like you were playing with 12 men.
[1:31:38] And so, this transfer window that I've just observed, where you have gone for the very,
[1:31:44] very best names, you know, some of the best players on Planet Earth, that were number one choices
[1:31:48] for Real Madrid and the big clubs on Earth.
[1:31:51] I almost don't recognise Liverpool.
[1:31:53] It moving like that in a window.
[1:31:55] There's part of me that I'm hoping that this is their foul-cali, the Maria
[1:32:00] moment, Ronaldo moment, where they were, they were big players, but they didn't think
[1:32:03] of culture.
[1:32:04] I'm praying.
[1:32:05] Yeah.
[1:32:06] You wish.
[1:32:07] I wish.
[1:32:08] That's a difference.
[1:32:10] You wish.
[1:32:11] Yeah, I guess so.
[1:32:13] Incredible striker.
[1:32:15] Incredible striker.
[1:32:16] Florever, it's your oval.
[1:32:18] It's your word.
[1:32:19] If you have the wrong word.
[1:32:20] Use the wrong word.
[1:32:21] Incredible talent.
[1:32:22] And etiquette, they're incredible player.
[1:32:25] Yeah, just offensive players.
[1:32:28] It's a really, really, really good.
[1:32:31] Well, you're squat.
[1:32:34] If the young centre-half is not getting injured, it's a perfect squat.
[1:32:39] Now, he's injured, that doesn't help.
[1:32:41] Then you might be a bit sure to understand the opposition besides that.
[1:32:44] It's a perfect squat.
[1:32:45] Two super left-backs, really, super right-back.
[1:32:48] So, it's just a really good football.
[1:32:50] That's how you set a team up.
[1:32:51] And now, you have to deal with the situation.
[1:32:53] They all think they have to start the game, but that's a normal job.
[1:32:56] It's not that difficult over.
[1:32:58] That's the normal job.
[1:32:59] You have this discussion, who will start?
[1:33:01] We go to in a third week.
[1:33:03] One is injured and you are happy that the other can start.
[1:33:06] So, that's the world.
[1:33:08] Football manager is living in.
[1:33:11] We don't have to worry about what's that.
[1:33:16] We're really interested.
[1:33:18] So, you don't have to worry about Liverpool.
[1:33:20] They will be fine.
[1:33:21] This was just the next spend graph of the different clubs.
[1:33:27] Well, you were there.
[1:33:29] And it's quite clear that you weren't spending the same as your rivals during your time.
[1:33:35] And a lot of the fans in the media speculated that the only family sports group
[1:33:39] just weren't giving you the money.
[1:33:41] But you were still getting the results, which is pretty...
[1:33:43] No, no, no.
[1:33:44] So, yeah.
[1:33:45] What's the public perception that I didn't ask for the money.
[1:33:49] It's probably not right.
[1:33:50] I probably had just conversations, but I didn't ask in a way if you don't get it.
[1:33:56] We can do it.
[1:33:57] It's not my job to think about how much we can squeeze out of whatever area.
[1:34:03] I felt massively respond.
[1:34:06] My idea was always with the boys we have.
[1:34:12] Become the best team you can be.
[1:34:15] And you arrived and you said we were maybe not the best team.
[1:34:19] I think it was a period when football you could have thought
[1:34:24] that's maybe the best played by the best team.
[1:34:27] I don't know exactly between 18 and 20.
[1:34:29] There was a bit of long spell.
[1:34:32] But we always.
[1:34:34] And it was the idea.
[1:34:36] We always were able to beat the best team.
[1:34:39] It was the idea.
[1:34:40] Because that's a constant thing.
[1:34:43] The next best, the next best, we can beat you.
[1:34:45] We can beat you.
[1:34:46] Be the best.
[1:34:47] You know, you're the one.
[1:34:48] Everybody wants to beat.
[1:34:49] I love that.
[1:34:50] That's net spend and stuff like this.
[1:34:52] I was never too worried about.
[1:34:53] We had all these conversations.
[1:34:55] Yeah.
[1:34:56] I was happy with how it was.
[1:34:58] I couldn't have discussions with people.
[1:35:00] No, I cannot decide how much money we spend.
[1:35:02] It's not just impossible.
[1:35:03] I'm a slot cannot decide how much money Liverpool spend.
[1:35:05] That's how it is.
[1:35:06] There are other people who decide that.
[1:35:08] And if you have the money, then you spend for really good players.
[1:35:11] What Liverpool did this year.
[1:35:13] And I think it was.
[1:35:14] It was the right thing to do.
[1:35:16] And I'm pretty sure.
[1:35:19] One specific moment.
[1:35:21] Change the whole transfer window.
[1:35:24] That was the saddest day of last year.
[1:35:30] And how do you.
[1:35:33] How do you.
[1:35:35] Replace.
[1:35:37] Somebody like Djogo.
[1:35:39] It's not about the player itself.
[1:35:41] It's about the guy he was.
[1:35:49] Even if it was good.
[1:35:50] It's absolutely everybody.
[1:35:51] Absolutely everybody.
[1:35:53] His.
[1:35:54] He arrived.
[1:35:55] He had no real.
[1:35:56] I think he was a bit surprised that we approached him.
[1:35:59] That we asked for him.
[1:36:00] And he came.
[1:36:01] He delivered from day one.
[1:36:03] I remember still when I saw him the first time playing for wolves.
[1:36:07] Who.
[1:36:08] What's that?
[1:36:09] When I went to the...
[1:36:10] You always hear these stories when people tell me.
[1:36:12] And it's true that Mo Salad had to convince me and stuff.
[1:36:15] Like it's not convinced that I'd take him.
[1:36:17] But it was like there were other players as well.
[1:36:19] And Mo was one of the others.
[1:36:21] And we decided all together for more.
[1:36:23] But it's fine.
[1:36:24] But this nobody came to me and told me.
[1:36:26] Come on.
[1:36:27] Let's have a look at Djogo Jota.
[1:36:29] I saw him.
[1:36:30] And I said, please.
[1:36:31] Give me more material.
[1:36:32] I have to see him.
[1:36:33] And that's.
[1:36:34] And he.
[1:36:35] He.
[1:36:36] He excelled all the expectations as a guy.
[1:36:38] Super smart.
[1:36:39] Super.
[1:36:40] Super teammate.
[1:36:41] And now.
[1:36:42] He sits in a dressing room.
[1:36:44] And I cannot imagine right now the dressing room without him being there.
[1:36:48] That's as.
[1:36:49] So hard.
[1:36:50] It's so hard.
[1:36:51] I still cannot speak properly about it.
[1:36:53] It's.
[1:36:54] It's really like that.
[1:36:55] It was an incredible.
[1:36:57] And that's for the boys as well.
[1:36:59] And I don't.
[1:37:00] We could think we don't speak about it because otherwise some bad journalists make a story of it.
[1:37:05] But I said about him and how it what it means.
[1:37:08] Nobody at Liverpool will ever use it as an excuse.
[1:37:11] But.
[1:37:12] It is the situation.
[1:37:14] You walk every day in this room where he was omnipresent.
[1:37:18] He was.
[1:37:20] Can you imagine?
[1:37:22] To talk about him.
[1:37:24] He was.
[1:37:25] So close with James Milner.
[1:37:27] They're not the same age group.
[1:37:28] They're nothing the same.
[1:37:29] It's just he was so bad on the other side very close with Costa Stimicas.
[1:37:32] That's like mountain mountain moon and Mars.
[1:37:35] So that's.
[1:37:37] There was him.
[1:37:38] And dealing with that.
[1:37:40] As a person on a personal level.
[1:37:42] Not easy.
[1:37:43] Impossible.
[1:37:44] And now as a club.
[1:37:46] Take all the emotional stuff out and think how do we replace him?
[1:37:50] To think about that.
[1:37:52] Wow.
[1:37:53] That's difficult.
[1:37:55] Impossible, I would say.
[1:37:56] And now we charge the transfer window where they buy the players.
[1:37:59] It was not the plan.
[1:38:00] I'm pretty sure.
[1:38:02] The two that he had to get.
[1:38:05] Replaced.
[1:38:07] Do you remember where you were when you had the news?
[1:38:10] Yeah.
[1:38:13] I got a message in the morning.
[1:38:15] The boss I had bad news.
[1:38:17] And I got a message from a friend from Liverpool.
[1:38:22] And I couldn't believe it.
[1:38:27] I was not possible.
[1:38:29] I heard it.
[1:38:30] And I know what it means.
[1:38:31] But I couldn't believe it.
[1:38:33] The whole story.
[1:38:35] I saw all the pictures obviously from the wedding and all the boys were there.
[1:38:39] And stuff like that.
[1:38:40] And it was so.
[1:38:41] Not only before that.
[1:38:43] I know exactly where I was.
[1:38:47] I was exactly how long I sat there without speaking a word.
[1:38:51] So.
[1:38:53] It is.
[1:38:54] It is.
[1:38:55] It is a family member.
[1:38:57] It is exactly like that.
[1:39:03] So look, it's.
[1:39:04] It's really like that.
[1:39:05] You have.
[1:39:06] It's an example.
[1:39:08] For the things you have to deal with without knowing at all.
[1:39:11] You cannot be prepared to deal with things like that.
[1:39:14] And today we talk about the.
[1:39:17] The trends are being done.
[1:39:18] And if you want a little pull, that would have looked completely different.
[1:39:21] So you have to sort.
[1:39:23] The things you didn't have expected.
[1:39:26] You have to think about.
[1:39:28] Everybody wanted this boy to play the next.
[1:39:33] Ten years at Liverpool.
[1:39:35] All around player.
[1:39:36] All positions.
[1:39:38] Can play with boss.
[1:39:41] On July the 3rd, 2025, Diego was killed in a car crash alongside his brother in Spain.
[1:39:47] I think we just just before then he had got married to his partner.
[1:39:52] And he had several beautiful children.
[1:39:54] He said of you.
[1:39:55] He said the first time you and him at.
[1:39:57] He just felt your presence.
[1:39:59] He said, I think that's one of his main characteristics the way you can.
[1:40:03] You can just feel him only with his presence.
[1:40:07] And Diego went on to be incredibly successful under your leadership at Liverpool.
[1:40:13] Yeah.
[1:40:14] It's true.
[1:40:15] Yeah.
[1:40:16] Same.
[1:40:17] I could say the same.
[1:40:18] I could say the same about him.
[1:40:19] I was impressed with his presence.
[1:40:22] Very very special.
[1:40:24] Very special.
[1:40:26] Young man.
[1:40:27] I have to say.
[1:40:29] How much of a role do does a manager like you play in the transfer window?
[1:40:35] This is something that's always speculated by the fans.
[1:40:37] Do you remember the first when I came and told me about the transfer committee?
[1:40:41] I never had.
[1:40:42] The day they told me that the journalist asked me, yeah, because they implemented a transfer committee
[1:40:47] because they didn't want to have the managers that decisive in a transfer window.
[1:40:52] Obviously before me there were some issues.
[1:40:55] There's no problem with that.
[1:40:57] I can discuss with everyone as long as no player signs for the club I don't want.
[1:41:01] I'm used to not getting all the players I want.
[1:41:04] That's completely normal.
[1:41:05] It's not up to the coaches.
[1:41:06] Let me say we need one that play on SAI.
[1:41:08] It's too expensive.
[1:41:09] You can ask again.
[1:41:10] Sorry.
[1:41:11] Can we make it happen?
[1:41:13] Knowing they all try up everything to get the right price and get the player in.
[1:41:18] You cannot do anything with that.
[1:41:21] That anybody in a club would bring in a player you don't agree on.
[1:41:25] That's not possible.
[1:41:27] It's very, very normal in a football called the manager of life
[1:41:31] that you don't get all the players you want.
[1:41:33] No problem with that.
[1:41:35] As long as the transfer window is open, you try to create, build the best possible squad.
[1:41:42] On the day after the transfer window you have the best possible squad
[1:41:48] which ever transfers you made and that's the way you go into the rest of the season.
[1:41:53] Michael Edwards left during your tenure.
[1:41:55] He was one of the key people that was responsible for looking for players
[1:42:01] and signing them.
[1:42:02] He's back now.
[1:42:04] First and foremost, before I don't want to say anything,
[1:42:07] it's because I really have a really good relationship.
[1:42:09] Michael Edwards is absolutely great in what he's doing.
[1:42:12] But he was not on one day his job alone to bring in players.
[1:42:16] There were a lot of other junior board, Ian Graham.
[1:42:19] So many people, they were involved in very hunter.
[1:42:23] And all these kind of things were involved in these kind of things.
[1:42:26] It was a process.
[1:42:27] We were really, we were really close together.
[1:42:29] It's not one sitting there and being the genius and having producing ideas and anything.
[1:42:34] Oh my God.
[1:42:37] He's available.
[1:42:38] I didn't even know him.
[1:42:40] We know football players.
[1:42:43] It's like negotiating, finding the right moment to sell, finding the right moment to buy.
[1:42:48] That's spotting director's job, but he was before.
[1:42:52] And now it's, I don't even know exactly the role.
[1:42:54] Something in the holding company.
[1:42:56] Yeah.
[1:42:57] So Richard Hughes is now there doing an incredible job.
[1:43:01] So this company is, it's really, it's all in the idle world.
[1:43:05] So like people from outside are idolizing.
[1:43:08] Sometimes people like that.
[1:43:09] They definitely, some of them with me made it with Michael.
[1:43:12] But Michael never did a job alone.
[1:43:14] I never did a job alone.
[1:43:16] It was always like a really good.
[1:43:19] Yeah.
[1:43:20] We worked together just really well.
[1:43:22] We didn't have a lot of disagreements where I think,
[1:43:27] where is that coming from?
[1:43:29] I want him.
[1:43:30] It's a process.
[1:43:31] A football team is an open book.
[1:43:33] Everybody can read it every day.
[1:43:35] So if you want to add something, it should not be a surprise to everybody and think,
[1:43:40] where is that idea coming from?
[1:43:42] You think we need a left back.
[1:43:43] Why?
[1:43:44] We have already forward.
[1:43:45] That doesn't happen.
[1:43:46] We work on progress all the time during the season, but the transfer windows,
[1:43:50] it clashes, obviously.
[1:43:52] And English people in professional football enjoy the day a bit more than probably in other countries.
[1:43:59] So that's what I didn't get that to a full extent.
[1:44:03] But I learned a lot about the excitement of a good transfer window.
[1:44:10] Did you always get home with them?
[1:44:11] Yeah.
[1:44:12] I would say 100%.
[1:44:14] Michael definitely and Richard, I don't know.
[1:44:16] We've spoke quite a few times after I left.
[1:44:20] So I like him.
[1:44:21] And I think they did an incredible job, honestly.
[1:44:24] Because you became bigger than the coach.
[1:44:28] You became such a huge...
[1:44:30] I mean, you still are such a huge figure in the city.
[1:44:33] My assistant, who's been with me for 10 years, she's from Liverpool and I'm probably going to embarrass her now.
[1:44:40] But you're like the king to her.
[1:44:42] Not even in Liverpool.
[1:44:43] You're the king globally.
[1:44:44] Yeah.
[1:44:45] If I was a Michael Edwards or someone else at the club and I was trying to...
[1:44:51] You had ultimate power, kind of like Sir Alex Ferguson.
[1:44:55] He became...
[1:44:57] He was everything.
[1:44:58] He's on the stadium.
[1:45:00] He is the club.
[1:45:01] So I always wondered how anyone would be able to overturn your opinion or argue with you when you are the city.
[1:45:08] You're like...
[1:45:09] You're the great young and clock.
[1:45:11] But that's the outside world.
[1:45:12] Come on.
[1:45:13] I'm not...
[1:45:14] I'm an idiot.
[1:45:15] I don't...
[1:45:16] I don't sit there and I always said I need other people to understand things.
[1:45:21] It's like my own opinion.
[1:45:23] I know already.
[1:45:24] Well, the more I get up, I know my opinion.
[1:45:27] So come on.
[1:45:28] How can you get a better view on it on things?
[1:45:30] That's how it is.
[1:45:31] It's just by discussing with people.
[1:45:33] Yes, the final decision I have to make and I have no problem with that.
[1:45:36] But for that I need all people being really involved.
[1:45:39] And if you want to have an argument, have an argument and in the end I will make the decision.
[1:45:43] The absolute problem.
[1:45:44] Did we have argument?
[1:45:45] Maybe yes.
[1:45:46] I don't remember them.
[1:45:47] But it's not important because it's just in the end.
[1:45:50] It's about the outcome.
[1:45:51] It's about what is best for the club and I never had a problem with that.
[1:45:55] I never thought they all have to please me.
[1:45:58] So I realized how famous I am after I left Liverpool.
[1:46:06] I have no clue.
[1:46:07] I was never in Liverpool out there.
[1:46:09] And on the bus it's normal that the people cheer because everybody is there cheer for everybody.
[1:46:14] So I realized how good I was to coach since I'm not in the job anymore.
[1:46:18] So because I thought what I can do, everybody can do.
[1:46:21] Maybe not.
[1:46:22] So it's 100% the truth.
[1:46:25] Because in the job you just do try to sort every day the things in front of you.
[1:46:32] That's what you try.
[1:46:33] Can I ask you about Nunez?
[1:46:34] He didn't seem very happy on your last day.
[1:46:37] Darwin.
[1:46:38] Yeah.
[1:46:39] We had an absolutely good relationship.
[1:46:41] S could this can be where the striker is not scoring as often as he wants.
[1:46:47] As the people want and as I think he could have.
[1:46:51] And with a striker who didn't play as often as definitely he wants.
[1:46:56] So how can you have a fantastic relationship?
[1:46:59] Would it be if he would I didn't see that picture I heard about it.
[1:47:03] If he would have stand there and beat the number one and jumping after me, crying his eyes out and hugging me for 10 minutes.
[1:47:11] I was okay.
[1:47:12] What's going on here?
[1:47:13] Completely normal situation.
[1:47:15] I cannot.
[1:47:18] My first concern cannot be to please everybody.
[1:47:21] It's just not possible.
[1:47:22] It's not possible in that job.
[1:47:24] Easy.
[1:47:25] The first problem starts with 25 players 11 starting for sessions.
[1:47:31] So sorry.
[1:47:32] More players are not happy than you make happy.
[1:47:35] That's already where it starts the problem.
[1:47:37] So now you have to get through this.
[1:47:39] And I'm pretty sure he had super moments.
[1:47:43] We had super moments together.
[1:47:45] And in my last day, if I would have been him, I would have thought as well.
[1:47:50] Okay.
[1:47:51] Come on.
[1:47:52] The next one is a new chance for me.
[1:47:53] Because players do that.
[1:47:54] If it goes really well for them, it's not that they think tanks to the coach.
[1:48:00] If it's not going well, they think.
[1:48:03] It doesn't bring me open enough.
[1:48:05] My fault.
[1:48:06] We are humans.
[1:48:07] We are all the same.
[1:48:08] Though it's not that they are special in that moment.
[1:48:10] And some of them think, I have to do more.
[1:48:13] I have to do more for the week one, week two, week three and anything.
[1:48:16] I did three weeks more.
[1:48:18] It's still not picking me.
[1:48:20] So it's a bit.
[1:48:22] You cannot have always harmony and flowers and all these kind of things.
[1:48:27] That's a competitive environment.
[1:48:29] And you need to perform to get what you think you deserve.
[1:48:34] When did you decide that you wanted to sign Darwin?
[1:48:38] How did that decision sign exactly like before?
[1:48:41] We decided it all together involved in that process.
[1:48:45] And yes, that's how it is nowadays.
[1:48:47] We would have loved to sign him for lesser money.
[1:48:51] Of course.
[1:48:52] But it wasn't in that moment not possible.
[1:48:54] We need a striker.
[1:48:55] We only wanted to have an extra option.
[1:48:59] A striker like we had Bobby always the best faults nine in the world.
[1:49:04] And now we needed somebody with a bit more speed and stuff like this.
[1:49:08] We need to have the action.
[1:49:09] It's a move.
[1:49:10] And Sadio.
[1:49:11] I'm not sure if Sadio was still there.
[1:49:13] Probably not.
[1:49:14] So.
[1:49:15] Sadio went that year.
[1:49:16] Yeah.
[1:49:17] I think Sadio went that year.
[1:49:18] So we had to we had to change as well.
[1:49:19] So we're a Luish D.
[1:49:20] As great.
[1:49:21] Codicacbook grade.
[1:49:22] What kind of player we don't have.
[1:49:24] I thought Codic can play a little bit like Bobby.
[1:49:27] Good football on the side, but feels much better on the on the on the wing.
[1:49:31] All these kind of things.
[1:49:32] So, yeah, of course, we all signed him together.
[1:49:34] No problem to admit that it maybe didn't work out as good as good.
[1:49:39] But without Darwin, you know, so many things won't have happened.
[1:49:44] The biggest comeback of all times.
[1:49:47] A new castle.
[1:49:48] For example, I love that day.
[1:49:52] I love that day.
[1:49:53] We came on.
[1:49:54] Yeah.
[1:49:56] Just give me 15 seconds to explain how you can build a viable business online.
[1:50:00] The people I see winning in life don't have a perfect plan.
[1:50:03] They just take the first step and then the next and then they keep going.
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[1:50:44] We launched these conversation cards and they sold out and we launched them again and they sold out again.
[1:50:48] We launched them again and they sold out again.
[1:50:50] Because people love playing these with colleagues at work, with friends at home and also with family.
[1:50:55] And we've also got a big audience that use them as journal prompts.
[1:50:58] Every single time a guest comes on the die of a CEO, they leave a question for the next guest in the diary.
[1:51:04] And I've sat here with some of the most incredible people in the world and they've left all of these questions in the diary.
[1:51:09] And I've ranked them from one to three in terms of the depth.
[1:51:13] One being a starter question and level three, if you look on the back here, this is a level three,
[1:51:18] becomes a much deeper question that builds even more connection.
[1:51:22] If you turn the cards over and you scan that QR code, you can see who answered the card and watch the video of them answering it in real time.
[1:51:31] So if you would like to get your hands on some of these conversation cards, go to the diary.com or look at the link in the description below.
[1:51:37] Why did you leave? Why did you leave?
[1:51:39] I watched your videos announcing your departure so many times and I was almost trying to read between the lines.
[1:51:47] Oh, I was trying to read between the lines. I know what you read.
[1:51:50] I was just, you know, because you talk about just the energy, not having the energy for it.
[1:51:55] That's kind of how I was interpreting you, you know, you sat down with your board.
[1:51:59] Your board talked about plans for next year and you realized in that moment that you didn't have the energy to rebuild and go again, etc.
[1:52:06] No, no, not to rebuild.
[1:52:08] We didn't have to rebuild that.
[1:52:10] Yeah, no, I knew I know that the team is a good team, John.
[1:52:15] My expectation on myself is I'm the energy giver to everybody in this environment.
[1:52:21] Like, what am I? If somebody is struggling, come on.
[1:52:24] You can have my money. Don't need it. Let's go.
[1:52:27] I have to be on top of absolute top of my game to be the guy who deserves to be the Liverpool manager.
[1:52:34] And that's what I said when I said in the day when I feel, I know that anymore.
[1:52:40] So that I say, okay, let's wait until everybody sees it.
[1:52:44] And then they can give me a second.
[1:52:46] All these kind of things. I cannot do it like that.
[1:52:48] Not after the time we had to get, I realized I don't want to be there after all the time we had together.
[1:52:54] I don't want to be the guy. I don't want to go on tour to USA.
[1:52:58] Why? Because I loved it all every day.
[1:53:02] So it's then you realize, I need a break.
[1:53:05] Whatever I need to have something else and you cannot do that in that business.
[1:53:09] You cannot say, ladies and gentlemen, give me a year, see you later.
[1:53:14] And it's just not like that.
[1:53:16] And I really think we did what we had to do to say what we felt and thought in that moment.
[1:53:24] And it was exactly like that. I didn't have the energy to think about what's next.
[1:53:30] I didn't want to think about what's next. I just wanted to go.
[1:53:33] I was happy with finishing the season.
[1:53:36] But then don't ask me, what can we do here? What can we do there?
[1:53:40] What can we do there? What can we do?
[1:53:42] It was all my responsibility for all the time because yes, I don't decide money.
[1:53:47] But all the rest, it was in my hands from a specific moment on.
[1:53:51] Covid kicked in, no spoiling director, Michael came after I left.
[1:53:55] It was not there anymore. It was not because we had a problem or whatever, not at all.
[1:54:00] It was just, they wanted to find a leader for the pack and found it with Michael and Richard.
[1:54:07] And Anne obviously now working really close together.
[1:54:10] So that was the decision.
[1:54:12] But there was a time, there was no Richard, no Michael, no Julian word.
[1:54:17] So there was just me sitting there, like on the top of all the things.
[1:54:24] And we had to win football games.
[1:54:26] But all the rest was on my plate as well. It was an intense time.
[1:54:30] It wasn't a structure around you in that regard.
[1:54:34] Covid changed a lot. I mean, people didn't fly as much anymore.
[1:54:39] The owners didn't come that often over. It was like budget calls were on the phone.
[1:54:45] Well, unless we brought in Yorke Smartgate at church, because we didn't have a spoiling director at the time.
[1:54:51] In fact, Julian came back, but then I don't even know exactly why he left again.
[1:54:57] So these kind of things that just happened.
[1:55:00] And the only guys who were over there were we, the coaches and the football team,
[1:55:03] so they were just the normal stuff over a day.
[1:55:06] So he was doing the sporting director stuff.
[1:55:08] Yeah, us and together in that one window with, I think it was with Yorke Smartgate.
[1:55:15] The general guy we brought over.
[1:55:17] I don't even know if Julian Warrant was still there.
[1:55:20] The lawyers, the scouts.
[1:55:23] So do you think you could ever go back and manage Liverpool again?
[1:55:28] Is that within the realm of possibilities?
[1:55:31] I said, I'd build another coach on a different team in England.
[1:55:35] So that means if then it's Liverpool.
[1:55:39] Yeah, so theoretically it's possible.
[1:55:43] What would it take?
[1:55:45] Theoretically, for you to want to do that.
[1:55:48] Psychologically.
[1:55:50] I don't even know exactly what I trusted.
[1:55:53] It must be...
[1:55:56] I love what I do right now.
[1:55:58] I don't miss coaching.
[1:56:00] I mean, I do coach, but just different.
[1:56:02] Not players.
[1:56:03] So, and I don't miss it.
[1:56:05] I don't miss standing in the rain two and a half, three hours.
[1:56:09] And I don't miss going to press conference.
[1:56:14] Four times, three times a week.
[1:56:18] Having 12, 10, 12 interviews a week.
[1:56:24] I don't miss that.
[1:56:25] I don't.
[1:56:26] So I don't miss being in the dressing room.
[1:56:32] Like in a sense of that I didn't have it often.
[1:56:35] I coached 1080 something games.
[1:56:37] So I was in the dressing room very, very often.
[1:56:39] I don't want to die in the dressing room just because so nice.
[1:56:43] It smells.
[1:56:44] So it's these kinds of things.
[1:56:46] But there might be something.
[1:56:48] I'm 58, 58.
[1:56:49] That's from your perspective, old.
[1:56:51] From other perspective, from the other side.
[1:56:53] It's not that old.
[1:56:54] That means I could make the decision in a few years.
[1:56:57] I don't know.
[1:56:58] Do I have to make the decision today?
[1:57:00] I will not coach again.
[1:57:02] But thank God I don't have to do that.
[1:57:04] I can't just see what future brings.
[1:57:06] But now I'm involved in a project.
[1:57:08] I really love.
[1:57:09] And I love the people I'm working together with.
[1:57:12] And the clubs we are responsible for.
[1:57:14] And the countries the clubs are in.
[1:57:16] So I like doing what I'm doing right now.
[1:57:21] And in my mind, only if I'm focused 100% on it,
[1:57:26] I can do it really good.
[1:57:28] And that's what I always want to do.
[1:57:30] Those are the things you don't miss.
[1:57:32] What do you miss?
[1:57:34] Sometimes people.
[1:57:37] I wish I don't miss a dressing room as a dressing room.
[1:57:46] But sitting there in the restaurant with the players and having a nice chat.
[1:57:50] It's nice.
[1:57:52] It was always nice when they were just in a good mood.
[1:57:55] We won a lot of games.
[1:57:57] There was often a very good mood in the building.
[1:58:01] And standing there, hearing them laugh.
[1:58:04] I still have virtual laugh in my ear, for example.
[1:58:07] Yes, this kind, this part of the job.
[1:58:11] It's obviously...
[1:58:13] But that's for these players, which I had the last time.
[1:58:16] It's now...
[1:58:18] Do I miss it in general?
[1:58:19] But football players not right now.
[1:58:21] It's not like that.
[1:58:23] But there's really not a lot to be honest with.
[1:58:26] Because I'm still in the business I know most about.
[1:58:33] So the football part, I don't miss because I have it.
[1:58:37] And the only thing is that I don't have to be outside.
[1:58:40] I'm not the guy in the chair before a game and stuff like this.
[1:58:45] Honestly, that's probably the best.
[1:58:48] I don't miss anything.
[1:58:50] That's how it is.
[1:58:51] When I look at your career, mind, Dortmund, Liverpool,
[1:58:54] you seem to always be successful.
[1:58:59] And it's extremely rare.
[1:59:01] It's extremely rare.
[1:59:02] And you seem to always succeed with a lot of passion
[1:59:04] and all those things.
[1:59:05] But my question is, I think about the audience we have,
[1:59:08] which are often business people, leaders, CEOs.
[1:59:11] Is there anything else that we haven't touched upon
[1:59:13] that is central to your idea of getting the best out of a group of people?
[1:59:16] We talked about being a sort of bespoke leader,
[1:59:19] being the jigsaw piece you need to be to get the best out of a person.
[1:59:22] We talked about giving everything.
[1:59:24] Is there anything else that's really central to your philosophy of leadership?
[1:59:28] And management that you think is important that we haven't touched upon yet.
[1:59:33] That young coaches might be able to create the best team possible.
[1:59:39] And I mean in an understanding of the team.
[1:59:41] Like really, there must be a reason why this team wins and not the other team
[1:59:45] because there are other teams out there, they try absolutely everything.
[1:59:48] So don't waste time with walking next to each other,
[1:59:52] not knowing anything about each other,
[1:59:54] not being bothered about the problem of each other,
[1:59:56] not being interested about each other, no, no, no.
[1:59:58] I want to grow together.
[1:59:59] And it was my job to help them to grow,
[2:00:01] to create a situation where they could do that,
[2:00:03] to make sure, and if I had to be harsh to all of them,
[2:00:06] that they found a way to get together, I did that.
[2:00:08] It was not what I said.
[2:00:10] It was what they needed to understand
[2:00:12] why we are a very special team in a very hard and difficult competition.
[2:00:19] But we have to find the reason why we deserve it more than others.
[2:00:23] Yes, that's what I say, what you have to do.
[2:00:26] And that's what I, people want to convince today with knowledge.
[2:00:30] They want to say, I know everything about that.
[2:00:32] I can tell you, I can explain it to you stuff.
[2:00:34] But in the end, that's one thing,
[2:00:36] and other people can know as well.
[2:00:37] It's about how close can we really grow together to go out there
[2:00:42] and smash whatever out of them.
[2:00:46] So that's the thing,
[2:00:48] what I always did.
[2:00:51] So it was always clear for us,
[2:00:55] we would walk, I don't know,
[2:00:58] we would go through fire.
[2:00:59] I'm not sure if you say that or anything,
[2:01:00] but we really would do absolutely everything.
[2:01:02] And without me telling every day to find it,
[2:01:04] so to find a way to grow as much together, that was obvious.
[2:01:07] How do I get people to walk through fire?
[2:01:10] So you're talking about making sure the buns amongst themselves are strong.
[2:01:13] I had stories of you making sure everybody knew everybody's name
[2:01:16] when you first arrived and things like that.
[2:01:18] Things like that.
[2:01:19] Players, wonderful stuff.
[2:01:20] The staff names, etc.
[2:01:22] What were you doing to get people to walk through fire?
[2:01:25] And that's exactly it.
[2:01:26] That's exactly it.
[2:01:27] That's a good question.
[2:01:28] There's no answer for the question,
[2:01:29] because it means it would mean you say one thing
[2:01:32] and for everybody to run.
[2:01:35] That's not like that.
[2:01:36] You have to create a culture,
[2:01:37] an environment, a situation, a vibe
[2:01:41] where everybody realized this is special.
[2:01:44] The underlining message is this.
[2:01:46] This is special.
[2:01:47] And now let's go for it.
[2:01:48] This is worth it.
[2:01:49] This means really more to all of us
[2:01:51] that we really can fight more for it.
[2:01:54] What is special?
[2:01:55] The togetherness, the way we had...
[2:01:58] The way we...
[2:02:00] And people can say that's in our club the same,
[2:02:02] but the way we interacted in the training ground
[2:02:06] with the kitchen stuff,
[2:02:07] with the respect we showed every day,
[2:02:11] with the kids, with the gardeners,
[2:02:13] with all the people there.
[2:02:14] That was, for me, most important,
[2:02:17] because it just, you just realized
[2:02:19] that's the respect you show,
[2:02:21] it's the respect you get.
[2:02:22] You can't show respect,
[2:02:23] you don't deserve any.
[2:02:24] So that's how it is.
[2:02:25] And you don't have...
[2:02:26] It's not a lesson in the sense of that I tell you.
[2:02:28] Wait.
[2:02:29] Sit here.
[2:02:30] You have to respect the gardener,
[2:02:31] and then the other people will respect you as well.
[2:02:34] It said, you don't do it like that.
[2:02:36] It's just you learn that.
[2:02:37] Show respect, you get respect.
[2:02:39] Don't show respect, you don't deserve it.
[2:02:41] So all these little things over there,
[2:02:43] there's not a big thing.
[2:02:44] It's not every day I go for them
[2:02:46] and tell them why it's this different,
[2:02:48] why it's that different.
[2:02:49] The way you deal with situations,
[2:02:51] we found a way for us
[2:02:53] that the most important information
[2:02:55] about the game was what I said,
[2:02:57] and not what's in the media,
[2:02:59] not what's in social media.
[2:03:00] And I said, that was good.
[2:03:02] It was good.
[2:03:03] There were still all the things
[2:03:05] out there were written,
[2:03:06] but they were not important anymore.
[2:03:08] When I said it was not good,
[2:03:10] then could they write, yeah,
[2:03:11] but you won three now,
[2:03:12] and then we found a way to talk about it
[2:03:14] and worked on it.
[2:03:15] We created our own world in that time,
[2:03:18] which was more important than the outside world.
[2:03:22] How is not being respectful to the gardener,
[2:03:25] going to lose you the Champions League?
[2:03:28] What is the three lines?
[2:03:30] I believe just in,
[2:03:31] if you cannot do that,
[2:03:32] if you don't appreciate what other people do,
[2:03:35] then you can appreciate what your teammate is doing.
[2:03:37] If you don't, that's just a little sign.
[2:03:39] It's not that, of course,
[2:03:41] there's not direct impact from here to there.
[2:03:43] But in the end, I'm pretty sure
[2:03:45] if you would really have a brief look at it
[2:03:48] in one or two situations,
[2:03:50] like, wow, it doesn't look like a proper fella
[2:03:53] and then you go back to the beginning
[2:03:55] and say, yeah, because it isn't.
[2:03:57] I can tell you.
[2:03:58] I'm fascinated by this point
[2:03:59] because when I was a little traffic
[2:04:02] and the ladies who served the food
[2:04:04] in the boxes and lounges,
[2:04:07] when I'd ask them what was different
[2:04:09] after Fergie left,
[2:04:11] the thing they kept saying to me was,
[2:04:12] oh, it's just so different around here.
[2:04:13] And I'd say it would explain to me how they go,
[2:04:15] I don't know, just,
[2:04:16] let's focus on just new our names.
[2:04:18] Yeah.
[2:04:19] That's what they would say.
[2:04:20] And it's a strange thing to hear
[2:04:21] that the only symptom
[2:04:23] that some of the staff in the stadium
[2:04:25] could point at was just
[2:04:26] the new leadership don't know our names.
[2:04:28] Yeah, but this is obviously not the answer
[2:04:30] to the men united problems
[2:04:32] that's just the situation
[2:04:34] with the ladies
[2:04:35] or whatever working in that area.
[2:04:37] But it shows if that doesn't,
[2:04:39] then you don't know theoretically
[2:04:40] and names what it shows
[2:04:42] is the togetherness is not there anymore.
[2:04:44] It starts over there.
[2:04:46] So it's just different.
[2:04:48] And then you get,
[2:04:49] but not on day one.
[2:04:51] But after 23 years,
[2:04:52] of course, it was different.
[2:04:53] Of course, you knew your name.
[2:04:54] So you're growing up.
[2:04:55] So how can you compare that?
[2:04:58] This was an Edward with just the colleagues.
[2:05:00] Yeah.
[2:05:01] This wasn't under any also,
[2:05:02] I remember him this was before
[2:05:03] then a couple of years ago.
[2:05:04] Yeah.
[2:05:05] And I just always found that for me
[2:05:07] that as a business leader
[2:05:09] became a really interesting reference point.
[2:05:12] Because as you said,
[2:05:13] it's just a downstream symptom of something
[2:05:15] where the club has gone from feeling
[2:05:17] like a family and special
[2:05:18] in close and tight
[2:05:20] and these values
[2:05:21] to the decay of the values
[2:05:23] and it's all the way down to the stream
[2:05:26] at the bottom.
[2:05:27] But this is a generation discussion,
[2:05:29] isn't it?
[2:05:30] In the past,
[2:05:32] again, I'm not that old,
[2:05:34] that I say in the past,
[2:05:35] everything was better for sure or not.
[2:05:36] But we are differently raised.
[2:05:39] That's how it is.
[2:05:41] I came home.
[2:05:42] I walked home in a 1,200 people village.
[2:05:45] I had a 400 meter walk
[2:05:47] from the bus station to my home.
[2:05:49] I walked home.
[2:05:50] Obviously a lady crossed my way.
[2:05:52] I didn't can't remember it.
[2:05:53] I arrived at home after 200 meters,
[2:05:56] more meters and then my mom said,
[2:05:58] why didn't you say hello to Mr. Sonsor?
[2:06:04] What?
[2:06:05] So, that's that helped me in life.
[2:06:08] I'm not sure.
[2:06:09] It's just how you get raised.
[2:06:11] I didn't run back and say,
[2:06:13] sorry, hello.
[2:06:14] But next time, believe me,
[2:06:16] it leaded to in my life
[2:06:18] where a lot of people recognize me.
[2:06:20] So it's difficult not to say hello to people
[2:06:23] because of that.
[2:06:24] But I start obviously getting attention
[2:06:26] if I can't get through something and I would say,
[2:06:28] hello, that doesn't work properly for me anymore.
[2:06:31] But it's still in me.
[2:06:32] One thing is the things we read,
[2:06:33] the other things we feel,
[2:06:35] the other things is how we get treated.
[2:06:37] We all are the result of a lot of things
[2:06:40] that happen to us.
[2:06:41] And as long as we are together,
[2:06:43] let's make sure that we influence
[2:06:45] each other as positive,
[2:06:47] as somehow possible.
[2:06:49] And let's see where it leads us to.
[2:06:51] That's the idea I have.
[2:06:53] A lot of managers or leaders or CEOs
[2:06:56] would focus on tactics and strategy first and foremost.
[2:06:59] And as you say, the information and all those things.
[2:07:02] But it appears that you focus somewhere else.
[2:07:04] Not first.
[2:07:06] Same time.
[2:07:07] It's not first.
[2:07:08] It's not same time.
[2:07:09] It's same time.
[2:07:10] I, 24 hours a day,
[2:07:13] two hours time for training.
[2:07:15] There's not a lot more you can do.
[2:07:17] Maybe you have another,
[2:07:18] and it's pretty indefinitely more than another session,
[2:07:20] 24 hours,
[2:07:21] 20 hours left,
[2:07:22] 7, 8 hours sleep,
[2:07:24] 12 more hours.
[2:07:25] Welcome.
[2:07:26] What can we do with that?
[2:07:27] Let's become the best group we can be.
[2:07:29] So that's 100% interested in.
[2:07:32] Definitely.
[2:07:33] The best group we can be.
[2:07:34] Yeah.
[2:07:35] That's those relationships,
[2:07:36] those values.
[2:07:37] Yeah.
[2:07:38] And were there any particular changes you made
[2:07:40] to how the team interacted with each other?
[2:07:42] I know that,
[2:07:43] that any of your guys told me it matches you like,
[2:07:45] they've changed the like canteen
[2:07:47] so that people don't sit on separate tables
[2:07:50] now and the team are together when they eat.
[2:07:52] Just small things like this
[2:07:53] that some people might think are inconsequential.
[2:07:55] Are there any things that you changed?
[2:07:58] Any rules or policies?
[2:08:00] I don't like these obvious things too much.
[2:08:06] If you don't like each other,
[2:08:09] the size of the table makes no difference,
[2:08:13] to be honest.
[2:08:14] I don't say that's not important.
[2:08:16] I don't see the real effect.
[2:08:19] I want to reach it in a different way.
[2:08:24] I want to introduce them to each other
[2:08:28] in a specific way on the pitch, by the way.
[2:08:31] That's where it starts
[2:08:32] because we have football team,
[2:08:33] we are not the community
[2:08:34] and just sit there and drink tea
[2:08:36] and biscuits.
[2:08:37] It's a really competitive environment
[2:08:39] and it's all to get the best out of the boys
[2:08:42] on the football pitch.
[2:08:44] Rules, pitch, rules,
[2:08:46] dressing room,
[2:08:47] but then there are so many things
[2:08:49] left and right of the rules
[2:08:50] there are so many things you can do together.
[2:08:52] There's so much to talk about,
[2:08:53] so much to know about,
[2:08:55] and that's what life is.
[2:08:57] Otherwise, we just live next to each other
[2:08:59] and we don't benefit from each other.
[2:09:01] That makes no sense.
[2:09:02] I don't want to make it bigger than it is
[2:09:04] but my general understanding
[2:09:05] from football team is
[2:09:07] to become the best football team you can be.
[2:09:11] This is as important as tactics.
[2:09:14] As important as tactics.
[2:09:15] The best tactics, the guys
[2:09:17] don't respect, don't like each other.
[2:09:19] Nobody will see them ever, ever.
[2:09:22] So, after worst tactics,
[2:09:24] but a lot of each other,
[2:09:26] boy, they still can win.
[2:09:28] That's possible.
[2:09:30] I, the world,
[2:09:31] great team,
[2:09:33] good coach,
[2:09:35] you have a good chance of his successful.
[2:09:39] I have two pictures that we haven't shown yet
[2:09:41] but this particular picture is of Elizabeth.
[2:09:45] Yeah, mama.
[2:09:46] Yeah, mama.
[2:09:48] 2011, we became champion
[2:09:51] with Dortmund,
[2:09:52] my home club.
[2:09:55] That's what Gladden invited me
[2:09:57] to build a stage.
[2:09:59] My elder sister,
[2:10:01] wrote a poem,
[2:10:03] my mom couldn't have been proud of.
[2:10:06] Obviously,
[2:10:08] that day,
[2:10:10] I saw my teammates
[2:10:11] from my first football team
[2:10:12] they were all there.
[2:10:14] Nobody would have thought
[2:10:15] that somebody from there
[2:10:17] would arrive where I was there.
[2:10:21] Yeah, great day.
[2:10:23] Elizabeth was a really,
[2:10:24] really nice woman,
[2:10:26] I have to say.
[2:10:28] She passed away
[2:10:29] in 2021 after falling ill,
[2:10:33] because of everything
[2:10:34] that was going on at the time
[2:10:35] the pandemic,
[2:10:36] you weren't able to attend
[2:10:37] her funeral,
[2:10:38] because of the travel restrictions
[2:10:39] and all those kinds of things.
[2:10:42] Is she did get to see
[2:10:44] your success?
[2:10:45] She got to see.
[2:10:46] That's a big difference.
[2:10:47] So I was not in a funeral
[2:10:49] and that was the sounds crazy.
[2:10:51] The online funeral
[2:10:52] was one of the saddest things
[2:10:54] I experienced in my life.
[2:10:57] But then it happened,
[2:10:58] at least,
[2:10:59] that was good,
[2:11:00] that we could see it,
[2:11:01] that we could be part of it,
[2:11:02] we couldn't be there.
[2:11:05] My mom had in the anted dementia,
[2:11:07] so it's not that she would have known,
[2:11:09] that I was not there
[2:11:10] when she was lying there.
[2:11:12] That's not a nice thing.
[2:11:15] But she saw the majority
[2:11:17] of my working life,
[2:11:22] if you want.
[2:11:23] My dad didn't see my coaching life,
[2:11:25] so there's nothing is perfect.
[2:11:29] But mom was super happy,
[2:11:32] she was a very happy lady
[2:11:34] until she could remember us
[2:11:36] and see us and recognize us.
[2:11:40] And the time when he couldn't do that anymore,
[2:11:43] it was not too long.
[2:11:46] But that's a...
[2:11:48] I can't wait for the day
[2:11:49] when somebody finds a solution
[2:11:50] for these kinds of things,
[2:11:52] for these kind of diseases.
[2:11:54] And...
[2:11:56] Because your age obviously don't think about it,
[2:11:58] but if you come all the other thing,
[2:12:00] who dies today,
[2:12:02] just of heart attack,
[2:12:05] and not by having already dementia
[2:12:07] or stuff like this
[2:12:08] and don't recognize the kids anymore
[2:12:10] and stuff like this,
[2:12:11] you don't want that.
[2:12:12] You just can't get through this
[2:12:14] by ignoring the fact
[2:12:16] and hoping that science will find a way
[2:12:18] until we get there.
[2:12:21] Yeah.
[2:12:26] She started to lose her memories
[2:12:28] of her family
[2:12:30] because of dementia.
[2:12:31] Yeah.
[2:12:32] So like the normal things on phone,
[2:12:34] she didn't know,
[2:12:35] she didn't recognize my voice.
[2:12:37] First...
[2:12:39] This is a strange, strange disease
[2:12:43] or whatever,
[2:12:44] however, call it.
[2:12:45] You close so many doors
[2:12:47] and opens others.
[2:12:48] So long time memory,
[2:12:50] incredible.
[2:12:51] She recognized ladies in the street.
[2:12:53] They were together
[2:12:54] in primary school,
[2:12:55] stuff like this,
[2:12:56] but didn't know.
[2:12:58] We were such these kind of things.
[2:13:00] It's not a competition
[2:13:02] of things you forget
[2:13:03] or whatever.
[2:13:04] There are a lot of things
[2:13:05] you forget,
[2:13:06] especially for the people
[2:13:07] and it was my sister
[2:13:08] who took care of her, obviously.
[2:13:10] That's not nice.
[2:13:11] If she doesn't recognize you,
[2:13:13] who are you?
[2:13:14] Boa, go away.
[2:13:15] These things.
[2:13:16] How is that to deal?
[2:13:18] How is that to deal with
[2:13:19] as a family member
[2:13:20] when someone you love
[2:13:21] a parent can no longer
[2:13:23] recognize who you are?
[2:13:26] It sounds like a grief.
[2:13:28] It's a heartbreak.
[2:13:29] Yeah.
[2:13:30] I think, obviously, my sisters
[2:13:32] were around.
[2:13:33] So, but it was harder.
[2:13:34] Of course, because they were around.
[2:13:36] For me,
[2:13:37] it's not a problem at all,
[2:13:38] because I knew
[2:13:40] she loved me more than our life.
[2:13:42] In a moment,
[2:13:43] she can recognize me anymore
[2:13:44] that it was not a problem for me.
[2:13:45] I just felt for her.
[2:13:47] That is really...
[2:13:49] That's so hard.
[2:13:50] It must be so hard.
[2:13:51] If you have bright moments,
[2:13:54] oh, I know.
[2:13:55] Oh, my God, you are here.
[2:13:56] What are you doing here?
[2:13:57] Going again.
[2:13:58] It's really not nice.
[2:14:00] I really sincerely hope
[2:14:02] I'll be fine.
[2:14:04] Yeah.
[2:14:05] Medication for that.
[2:14:06] I think science is,
[2:14:07] you know,
[2:14:08] in a good way,
[2:14:10] but still a long way to go.
[2:14:12] But thanks for this picture.
[2:14:14] I don't...
[2:14:15] I'm happy on my phone somewhere,
[2:14:16] but I don't have it as a...
[2:14:17] Yeah.
[2:14:18] Thank you very much.
[2:14:19] Faith is a big part of your life as well.
[2:14:21] Yeah.
[2:14:22] Your belief in God.
[2:14:23] Yeah.
[2:14:25] And from what I understood,
[2:14:26] that's not always been the case.
[2:14:27] When you're a young man,
[2:14:28] you aren't...
[2:14:29] Religious in the same way that you are now?
[2:14:31] Is that accurate or...?
[2:14:32] I wouldn't even say I'm religious.
[2:14:34] I...
[2:14:35] I believe.
[2:14:36] But I don't...
[2:14:37] I don't know 100% what religious means to be 100% honest.
[2:14:39] But it's...
[2:14:40] This lady, my mom,
[2:14:42] prayed every life before going to bed.
[2:14:44] But the problem was...
[2:14:46] The one thing we prayed,
[2:14:47] the other thing,
[2:14:48] she said,
[2:14:49] because she couldn't be hard with me.
[2:14:50] She just had no weapons.
[2:14:51] The only thing she could say,
[2:14:52] don't forget,
[2:14:53] if you do that again,
[2:14:54] I will have to tell the dad at the weekend,
[2:14:56] when he's coming back.
[2:14:57] So it was like,
[2:14:58] the only threat she had...
[2:14:59] The only weapon...
[2:15:00] She carried her out.
[2:15:02] And I obviously was smart enough to realize that,
[2:15:04] whatever I did,
[2:15:05] she never told my dad.
[2:15:07] And from time that I went to church,
[2:15:10] I had a short spell
[2:15:13] where I thought,
[2:15:14] because Sunday morning church
[2:15:16] was when I played games.
[2:15:17] I have to go to church.
[2:15:18] I'm not...
[2:15:19] I cannot play football anymore,
[2:15:20] but that lasted exactly one game.
[2:15:23] So one Sunday,
[2:15:25] I thought,
[2:15:26] God cannot be that hard.
[2:15:27] He cannot think that
[2:15:29] I have to go to church,
[2:15:31] but I love football so much.
[2:15:34] The cannot...
[2:15:35] He can't be like that.
[2:15:37] And he isn't ambitious.
[2:15:39] So I found my way.
[2:15:42] For me, it's...
[2:15:44] For me, it's...
[2:15:47] To live together,
[2:15:49] we have to make sure that we...
[2:15:51] That we don't think the only thing
[2:15:53] what is interesting is my own well-being.
[2:15:55] We have to make sure that we understand
[2:15:57] being alone in a good position doesn't help.
[2:16:00] Yes, it's completely normal that we all try
[2:16:03] to get as far as we can in our career, in our life,
[2:16:06] and all these kind of things.
[2:16:07] But it's really important that we make sure
[2:16:09] that we really try to work properly together,
[2:16:12] to live properly together,
[2:16:13] and all these kind of things.
[2:16:14] For me,
[2:16:16] this is my faith.
[2:16:17] It's based on...
[2:16:18] This understanding is based on my faith.
[2:16:23] And common sense, obviously.
[2:16:26] And that's the way I believe.
[2:16:28] And I think that's the best thing
[2:16:30] you can say about religion.
[2:16:32] When it's like that,
[2:16:34] that it keeps people
[2:16:37] in a good place.
[2:16:38] If religion can't do that,
[2:16:40] then that's not the right religion for me.
[2:16:43] It's really about that.
[2:16:44] We have to be tolerant.
[2:16:45] We have to...
[2:16:46] There's no problem.
[2:16:47] It's a wonderful planet.
[2:16:48] It's a wonderful world we are living in.
[2:16:51] But it's not for one or two.
[2:16:54] It's for all of us.
[2:16:55] And we have to make sure that that works out.
[2:16:57] And I think the right faith
[2:17:00] can help you with that.
[2:17:02] But I don't know what is the right faith.
[2:17:04] I only know what is for me.
[2:17:06] So, yeah, for me,
[2:17:08] it's the right thing to do.
[2:17:09] And I never doubted it, to be honest,
[2:17:11] with all the information you get
[2:17:13] over life,
[2:17:15] God is real for me.
[2:17:17] And Jesus, of course.
[2:17:21] Yeah.
[2:17:23] What goals have you got left to accomplish?
[2:17:25] Yeah, again.
[2:17:26] What is left on your list,
[2:17:27] if anything at all?
[2:17:28] Because you're right.
[2:17:29] You're probably halfway through your life,
[2:17:31] the way things are going in terms of people.
[2:17:33] Life expectancy increasing.
[2:17:35] Halfway through 116.
[2:17:36] We have the next podcast.
[2:17:38] Yeah.
[2:17:39] I want to travel.
[2:17:40] That's what we're doing.
[2:17:41] Start now.
[2:17:42] I want to be together
[2:17:43] with Ola as much as I can,
[2:17:44] but not that much that she,
[2:17:46] or I don't want to be around each other anymore
[2:17:49] because I really think you see people
[2:17:51] and think,
[2:17:52] what is your up and doing?
[2:17:53] Oh, God.
[2:17:54] So, no, no, no.
[2:17:55] I'm not that,
[2:17:56] but I'm very busy.
[2:17:57] So, I'm a lot of way.
[2:17:58] So, that's fine.
[2:17:59] But I won't spend with her,
[2:18:00] with the kids,
[2:18:01] with the grandkids.
[2:18:02] I don't have this kind of ambitions.
[2:18:04] I want to do really well for it, Bull.
[2:18:06] Really well.
[2:18:07] I feel already responsible
[2:18:09] for all the people I work together with.
[2:18:10] That's a very interesting thing for me.
[2:18:14] I feel so quick, really responsible,
[2:18:16] but I do.
[2:18:17] So, I want to do it as good as we can.
[2:18:19] Have the best time possible.
[2:18:21] Let's see what happens then.
[2:18:22] But on a private basis,
[2:18:23] I can tell you,
[2:18:24] with all the things happening around,
[2:18:26] stay healthy and enjoy this part of life,
[2:18:29] because you know now most things happen,
[2:18:32] and most things were really good.
[2:18:34] There was another time,
[2:18:36] when you're not sure where we want to go,
[2:18:38] where we can,
[2:18:40] what's possible,
[2:18:41] how safe you will be,
[2:18:43] and all these kind of things.
[2:18:44] Where will you live in the future?
[2:18:45] And so, I know where we will live.
[2:18:47] I know how things worked out.
[2:18:49] That's really good.
[2:18:50] I'm not that old that I cannot move.
[2:18:52] So, move.
[2:18:54] And try and do sports and travel,
[2:18:56] and all these kind of things.
[2:18:57] So, I'm more than happy with the things,
[2:19:01] how they,
[2:19:04] how they happened.
[2:19:06] I'm really, really happy.
[2:19:07] I'm surprised,
[2:19:08] how my career was.
[2:19:10] I never thought that,
[2:19:11] and you cannot plan it,
[2:19:12] and stuff like this.
[2:19:14] I'm super happy with my private life,
[2:19:17] how it is,
[2:19:19] super happy with the Mrs,
[2:19:20] super happy with the kids,
[2:19:21] super happy with the grandkids.
[2:19:22] It's all really good.
[2:19:23] So, what can you want more really,
[2:19:25] without sounding ridiculous,
[2:19:27] that you think,
[2:19:28] oh,
[2:19:29] you always do that on that.
[2:19:30] And the rest is job.
[2:19:32] And the job I always want to do
[2:19:34] as somehow possible.
[2:19:36] And,
[2:19:37] that's still the case.
[2:19:45] Is he a man United, then?
[2:19:47] Right.
[2:19:49] No, I'm just kidding.
[2:19:50] If you ever want to job at a football club,
[2:19:52] Manchester United, we're down.
[2:19:53] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[2:19:54] After all the time you spent together,
[2:19:56] you wanted to tell me that.
[2:19:58] Yeah.
[2:19:59] No, but, you know,
[2:20:00] it's really,
[2:20:01] it's really interesting to me,
[2:20:02] because I think there's always an assumption
[2:20:03] that people want to continue to,
[2:20:05] I don't,
[2:20:06] I don't understand it.
[2:20:07] Do the same,
[2:20:08] because that's what you are good at.
[2:20:10] I know I'm good as a manager.
[2:20:12] I know,
[2:20:13] so why should I,
[2:20:14] I don't have to prove that,
[2:20:15] not even to me,
[2:20:16] I have to prove that.
[2:20:17] I can raise my hand,
[2:20:19] and tomorrow I can coach,
[2:20:21] clap,
[2:20:22] x, y, and set,
[2:20:23] clubs who are happy now
[2:20:24] would sack their manager,
[2:20:25] and I don't want that.
[2:20:26] So,
[2:20:27] but to be my best friend,
[2:20:29] that might come back
[2:20:30] that I say,
[2:20:31] okay, I'm ready,
[2:20:32] that might,
[2:20:33] I don't know today,
[2:20:34] but in this moment,
[2:20:35] it's not that I cannot do what I do,
[2:20:36] why I think it would,
[2:20:37] or on lack,
[2:20:38] being still there.
[2:20:39] I was never like that.
[2:20:40] I never would look right or left
[2:20:42] when I was at mines.
[2:20:43] I could have changed the club every year
[2:20:46] for the first seven.
[2:20:48] It was so obvious
[2:20:49] that something is going on,
[2:20:50] they're pretty special.
[2:20:51] The clubs won,
[2:20:52] we want to have him.
[2:20:53] And I never thought a second
[2:20:55] that I want to go there.
[2:20:56] I wanted to stay at mines
[2:20:57] to do what we do,
[2:20:58] and to learn what I thought I have to learn.
[2:21:00] Same at Dortmund, same at Liverpool.
[2:21:02] Until I thought,
[2:21:03] it's not right.
[2:21:04] If that comes again,
[2:21:05] let's see what we can,
[2:21:06] but we will do.
[2:21:07] That's what the decision I wanted.
[2:21:08] I didn't want to make the job
[2:21:10] until I barely can move.
[2:21:12] I barely can travel.
[2:21:13] I barely,
[2:21:14] Mrs.
[2:21:15] can you help me?
[2:21:16] I didn't want to do that.
[2:21:18] Here, we're sitting,
[2:21:19] and yes,
[2:21:20] I'm 25 years older than you,
[2:21:22] but we both could
[2:21:25] probably run around
[2:21:27] at the corner now,
[2:21:28] and it would not be the biggest difference.
[2:21:30] You're in great shape.
[2:21:31] Yeah, that's it,
[2:21:32] because I train.
[2:21:33] That's how it is.
[2:21:34] But I never did
[2:21:35] while I was a manager.
[2:21:36] That's the next thing.
[2:21:37] I just grew more and more and more,
[2:21:39] and now we have time for that as well.
[2:21:42] No, it's good how it is.
[2:21:45] Well, you,
[2:21:47] even as a united friend,
[2:21:48] you brought so much to the Premier League
[2:21:50] that it was,
[2:21:51] it was weirdly sad,
[2:21:52] also very happy,
[2:21:53] when you decided that you were going to leave.
[2:21:55] I felt two feelings at the same time.
[2:21:57] I felt very, very happy
[2:21:58] that this was this Liverpool era
[2:22:00] in my view was over,
[2:22:01] because I thought there's no way
[2:22:02] you leaving
[2:22:04] that you're more than just a manager,
[2:22:05] you're the spirit of the city,
[2:22:07] you're the spirit of the fan base.
[2:22:08] You're actually sort of personify
[2:22:10] the Liverpool fan base
[2:22:11] in my mind,
[2:22:12] extremely passionate,
[2:22:13] all in togetherness,
[2:22:14] and as, you know,
[2:22:16] your former,
[2:22:17] I think he was your chairman
[2:22:18] or owner of mine said,
[2:22:19] you did,
[2:22:20] you brought the team together,
[2:22:21] you then brought the city together,
[2:22:23] and that had a profound impact,
[2:22:24] both on Liverpool,
[2:22:25] but also on the Premier League,
[2:22:26] and on my enjoyment
[2:22:28] and my misery
[2:22:29] as a rival fan,
[2:22:30] and that's a really, really remarkable thing.
[2:22:32] You've also inspired me
[2:22:34] as a lot on a personal level as a leader.
[2:22:35] Just about, you know,
[2:22:37] everything you said there about
[2:22:38] how important it is to focus
[2:22:40] equally on the people
[2:22:42] and the team
[2:22:43] and the togetherness,
[2:22:44] and not just on the tactics
[2:22:45] and the strategy
[2:22:46] and how passion can be
[2:22:47] and wonderful accelerant
[2:22:48] for performance
[2:22:49] and for feeling like this is special,
[2:22:52] and that's something
[2:22:53] that I think you've personified
[2:22:54] as a leader.
[2:22:55] We, um,
[2:22:56] we have a closing tradition
[2:22:58] on this podcast,
[2:22:59] where the last guest leaves a question
[2:23:00] for the next guest,
[2:23:01] not knowing who they're leaving it for.
[2:23:03] Oh.
[2:23:04] And the question...
[2:23:05] Oh, there's for me, not a message.
[2:23:06] Yes.
[2:23:07] Oh, question that's been left
[2:23:09] for you.
[2:23:12] As you look back on your career,
[2:23:16] is there a particular moment,
[2:23:17] a particular conversation,
[2:23:19] a particular day,
[2:23:22] that if you could,
[2:23:23] you would go back and change,
[2:23:24] or say something
[2:23:26] you wish you had said.
[2:23:29] I honestly,
[2:23:30] the problem is,
[2:23:34] I would probably say no.
[2:23:36] I don't...
[2:23:37] I wouldn't go back
[2:23:38] and try to change it
[2:23:40] because it wouldn't have a big impact.
[2:23:42] The situations we had,
[2:23:44] the big situations,
[2:23:46] I could influence
[2:23:48] with the things I said,
[2:23:49] the specific moments
[2:23:51] which were then decisive,
[2:23:53] you just stand there
[2:23:55] and watch.
[2:23:56] Aguero,
[2:23:57] and...
[2:23:58] or not,
[2:23:59] and it's the same problem
[2:24:00] with the United Jew
[2:24:01] or whatever things
[2:24:02] that he's called,
[2:24:03] the ball goes in,
[2:24:04] or the ball is over the line
[2:24:05] for 11 minutes or not.
[2:24:07] That has nothing to do with what I say.
[2:24:09] Would I wish
[2:24:10] if I could go there
[2:24:11] and give it a little push?
[2:24:13] Yes.
[2:24:14] Would I wish
[2:24:16] James Madison
[2:24:17] would block the shot
[2:24:18] of Vincent Company
[2:24:19] that he cannot score the goal
[2:24:21] against Leicester?
[2:24:22] Yes.
[2:24:23] But it had nothing to do
[2:24:24] with what I said.
[2:24:25] And so,
[2:24:27] the things I said,
[2:24:28] I said in the moment
[2:24:30] for the right reasons.
[2:24:33] And sometimes they had the impact
[2:24:35] I wished
[2:24:37] and wanted
[2:24:38] and sometimes not.
[2:24:42] Yeah.
[2:24:43] I had to accept that.
[2:24:44] That was the other thing
[2:24:45] that I'm
[2:24:46] Jamie Carrick-Rost.
[2:24:47] He said,
[2:24:48] Oh, when you see,
[2:24:49] when you see Clark,
[2:24:50] ask him how he feels about
[2:24:51] his former system manager,
[2:24:52] Pep Lingus,
[2:24:53] going to work at Manchester City.
[2:24:56] Absolutely.
[2:24:57] No problem.
[2:24:58] I like it.
[2:24:59] I like both peps.
[2:25:00] That's how it is.
[2:25:01] No problem
[2:25:02] with that.
[2:25:04] I work together
[2:25:05] with Pep Lingus.
[2:25:06] He was an inspiration
[2:25:07] for me every day
[2:25:08] when we work together.
[2:25:09] Absolutely.
[2:25:10] Every day,
[2:25:11] I learned a lot
[2:25:12] from him.
[2:25:13] And Pep Guardiola,
[2:25:14] I couldn't respect
[2:25:15] the manager more.
[2:25:17] And when they asked me,
[2:25:19] like,
[2:25:20] a bit,
[2:25:21] what do you think,
[2:25:22] can we?
[2:25:23] Of course, you can.
[2:25:24] Pep Lingus said,
[2:25:25] come on,
[2:25:26] find a guy who worked
[2:25:27] together with Pep Lingus
[2:25:28] and Pep Guardiola
[2:25:29] and June Club.
[2:25:30] Oh,
[2:25:31] I would read the book.
[2:25:33] And yeah,
[2:25:36] and Pep knew exactly,
[2:25:37] and Guardiola knew exactly
[2:25:38] what he was looking for.
[2:25:39] Yeah, he wanted to, you know,
[2:25:40] everyone,
[2:25:41] exactly this kind of
[2:25:42] spark fire
[2:25:45] from,
[2:25:46] and Pep has that,
[2:25:47] Pep blinders
[2:25:49] has that he's
[2:25:51] an extreme
[2:25:53] well of,
[2:25:54] of energy.
[2:25:55] And so I'm happy
[2:25:56] for them both.
[2:25:57] We're playing you guys
[2:25:58] this week, this weekend,
[2:26:00] on Sunday.
[2:26:01] What?
[2:26:02] Manchester?
[2:26:03] No.
[2:26:04] Manchester United Liverpool
[2:26:05] this Sunday.
[2:26:06] You didn't know.
[2:26:07] It's an amfield.
[2:26:08] It's a Premier League.
[2:26:09] Donnie.
[2:26:10] That's crazy that you don't know.
[2:26:11] Yeah, yeah.
[2:26:12] But hopefully after,
[2:26:13] so they all come out just
[2:26:14] after that.
[2:26:15] So I'm hoping that's
[2:26:16] four losses.
[2:26:17] Oh, we come after that.
[2:26:18] Yeah.
[2:26:19] Where do we go?
[2:26:20] Hopefully the day after,
[2:26:21] but we'll see.
[2:26:22] So hopefully this is your
[2:26:24] fourth,
[2:26:25] Liverpool's fourth loss in a row.
[2:26:27] And the fan base
[2:26:29] are growing increasingly
[2:26:30] inpatient and they're
[2:26:31] annoyed and
[2:26:32] Amaroom is now one,
[2:26:33] another game in a row.
[2:26:35] So this conversation
[2:26:36] will come out straight after.
[2:26:37] Well.
[2:26:38] Now,
[2:26:40] we've played an amfield.
[2:26:42] Yeah.
[2:26:43] No, good luck.
[2:26:44] They have to strike back,
[2:26:45] yeah?
[2:26:46] You know?
[2:26:47] I mean,
[2:26:48] it's never a good situation.
[2:26:49] Yeah.
[2:26:50] You know,
[2:26:51] the two days ago,
[2:26:52] so it's just in the morning
[2:26:53] I got pretty good in the morning.
[2:26:54] So I throw on YouTube
[2:26:55] and have a look.
[2:26:56] And it shows me
[2:26:57] behind the scenes footage
[2:26:59] from the 7-0.
[2:27:00] The 7-0?
[2:27:01] Oh, gosh.
[2:27:02] Yeah, yeah.
[2:27:03] I never saw that.
[2:27:04] I never saw it.
[2:27:06] I never saw it.
[2:27:07] But it's like the 7-0.
[2:27:08] Obviously, I know the goals
[2:27:09] and stuff.
[2:27:10] But it's the camera difference
[2:27:11] in the stance.
[2:27:12] It's really good.
[2:27:13] So, okay.
[2:27:14] Fine.
[2:27:15] I bought you at 19 minutes.
[2:27:16] Really good.
[2:27:17] So all the goals again.
[2:27:18] And you see players
[2:27:19] in the dressing room,
[2:27:20] although we're 18 to the dressing room.
[2:27:21] Really good.
[2:27:22] Go next day.
[2:27:23] I open.
[2:27:24] And because I've been
[2:27:25] you know how it is with the algorithm.
[2:27:26] Now, I see the 5-0
[2:27:28] at
[2:27:30] Manchester.
[2:27:31] So,
[2:27:32] and what's that?
[2:27:33] I'm here and had no clue
[2:27:34] that you are Manchester United fans.
[2:27:35] So, I was really well prepared
[2:27:37] for that talk.
[2:27:38] I have to say.
[2:27:39] Yeah.
[2:27:42] Without knowing.
[2:27:43] Yeah.
[2:27:44] Damn.
[2:27:45] Yeah.
[2:27:46] Thank you so much, Ergen.
[2:27:47] Thank you for taking the time.
[2:27:48] Thank you for being an inspiration to me.
[2:27:49] But also thank you for all that you brought
[2:27:50] to the North West and to Liverpool.
[2:27:51] Sure.
[2:27:52] Thanks.
[2:27:53] A welcome.
[2:27:54] It was my pleasure.
[2:27:55] Honestly, thank you so much.
[2:27:56] And I've learnt so much from you as a leader
[2:27:58] and also as a man.
[2:27:59] And in the lead up to this,
[2:28:00] I spoke to so many people around you
[2:28:01] that have worked with you.
[2:28:02] I come back to Jordan Henderson.
[2:28:03] I spoke to
[2:28:04] Karaga who knows you through various people.
[2:28:06] I think he managed him for one game.
[2:28:07] He said,
[2:28:08] Yeah.
[2:28:09] Yeah.
[2:28:10] And Australia game.
[2:28:11] And they all said the same thing.
[2:28:12] They all said that you're the same man
[2:28:13] on and off the camera.
[2:28:14] You're a person that brings people together.
[2:28:15] You're extremely likable.
[2:28:16] But
[2:28:17] you have high standards
[2:28:18] and are an incredibly passionate person.
[2:28:19] And that,
[2:28:20] the narrative was consistently
[2:28:22] here's the same man on and off camera.
[2:28:25] This is a credit to yourself.
[2:28:26] And no wonder why people were willing to walk
[2:28:28] through fire with you.
[2:28:29] Yeah.
[2:28:30] Yeah.
[2:28:31] It's incredible what you've accomplished.
[2:28:32] And I hope
[2:28:33] selfishly as a football fan,
[2:28:34] I hope we see you back in the game at some point.
[2:28:36] Yeah.
[2:28:37] Maybe real Madrid or Manchester.
[2:28:38] You know, whatever.
[2:28:39] We never know.
[2:28:40] We never know.
[2:28:41] Thank you so much.
[2:29:00] You

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