Klopp: Bring the Noise

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Book review: Bring the Noise by Raphael Honigstein.This is a book about Klopp as an individual, a professional footballer player and a manager. Klopp is a rare breed of person, his will, his attitude, his hunger and desire are unparalleled in the game. His journey with Mainz and BVB Dortmund is remarkable because he was not blessed with massive resources, he was not given the best players in the land, but he worked very hard with the what he had and he pulled everyone together in the same direction.His man-management, stubbornness and that relentless desire to drive the team and the people around him forward are what define him as a man and as a manager. He ‘gets it’. Many managers in the game are glorified coaches, not Klopp. The changes he made to every club he joined, the eagerness and hunger to drive change and to squeeze the best out of every player, coach, nutritionist, analyst, cleaner and employee in the clubs he has worked at are rarely seen at football in this era of instant success and insatiable fanbases.Well, I know this sounds odd, but this book saddened me in a way. There were some paragraphs that forced me to put the book down and sulk. You see, I’ve been a Liverpool fan for almost two decades now (more than half my life). Supporting this club at times feels like hugging a cactus tree. Some epic highs, but many crushing and depressing lows. The club’s mantra of “This Means More” is not some marketing gimmick that is tossed around loosely, it is a fact. The football club has been underperforming for the most part in most of the past 30 years.It is true that it has won the occasional big piece of silverware, but in comparison to its heydays of the 70’s and 80’s, the club has been nowhere near where it should be. It has been ‘knocked off the perch’ by the more illustrious Manchester United, its glory days long gone, thanks in no part to the dollars that flooded the English football league with foreign owners. Klopp has changed many facets of the club. I know it was not done single-handedly (Liverpool has been investing smart money and time in the commercial side of things and in the general management of the club and the team, credit is due to the owners and Michael Edwards for that), but the vision he has, the understanding of the club, the fans, its culture, the city as a whole and what football means to it is not something you see in the modern game.Why did this book sadden me at various points? It is because Klopp will leave eventually. He will leave a legacy; he will leave a team in much better shape than when he was hired in October 2015. This will come to an end eventually. While Klopp signed contract extension recently (till 2024), this relationship will end, and then, and we dread the unknown.I trust his system and his methods, I’ve seen how he has transformed the club to the better, he’s taken us to several finals, and we have won three pieces of silverware this year, and assuming we do not have a collapse of epic Liverpool-esque proportions, the long-awaited Premier League title might be paraded in front of Anfield’s Kop in May 2020.This book has fantastic insights about Klopp from former teammates, colleagues, players, coaches and people within the football scene. It is a great read for football fans in general, and it highlights many stories of overcoming adversity and being resilient in life. You wouldn’t expect all of that from a football book, but Klopp is not your average football personality.Rating: 10/10

The Guardian's German football correspondent tells Klopp's story from his boyhood years through his playing days in German football, to his remarkable managerial successes at Mainz and Dortmund before he took over at Liverpool. The story is told in stages, as opposed to a linear chronology, enabling the author to highlight the important features of Klopp's approach to player management as well as football tactics. This gives the reader insights into why Klopp has succeeded, and in the process, it invites Liverpool fans to be optimistic about the upcoming years. Very well told!

Facile à lire, même pour une perésonne ne parlant pas anglais couramment. Énormément d'informations et d'anecdotes sur ce super coach. Un must have.