Liverpool receives a press montage during his final press conference at the AXA Training Center on May 17, 2024. -Credit: Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api /res/1.2/PT.7BSKxsPCW6m7Sv0lpHg-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzOQ-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/liverpool_echo_403/3e2a2e04f81061f7386d4fad053f64f9″ data-src ="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/ res/1.2/PT.7BSKxsPCW6m7Sv0lpHg-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzOQ-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/liverpool_echo_403/3e2a2e04f81061f7386d4fad053f64f9″/>
It was shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday morning when an expectant silence descended on the press room of the AXA Training Center.
Like countless other times over the past nine years, where Liverpool's training ground was split between bases at the iconic Melwood in West Derby and their more modern £50 million site in Kirkby, journalists had gathered to listen to Jurgen Klopp.
Theoretically, Klopp was on hand to preview Wolves' visit on Sunday, perhaps offer an injury update or two and muse on the early Friday announcements that both Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara would be leaving at the end of their spells this month contract would leave.
However, none of these angles were the real story of that day. This, as it has been all week, was all about Klopp, even if the man himself may have grown weary from the attention in his final hours as Liverpool manager. 'The most intense week of my life', he thought later. It's also far from over.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp discusses FSG strategy and private arguments in candid interview before Liverpool departure READ MORE: Thiago Alcantara speaks out after confirmation of Liverpool departureBefore the cameras started rolling, however, there was a moment of brief levity as a false start held up proceedings. Klopp broke the aforementioned silence with a booming "good morning" as he entered the room before quickly turning around, realizing he had forgotten something that was apparently necessary to come to the media one last time.
"Shortest press conference yet," someone laughed as the assembled media waited for the main act to return. Klopp was told by a club employee that whatever he was looking for was in fact at the back of the room, allowing him to quickly mock his colleague's Scouse dialect. "On the backside!" he joked.
"How bad can I make this one last time?" Sky Sports' Vinny O'Connor said it with self-mockery. Klopp replied: "You have a talent for that, so I wouldn't worry." It was the kind of playful but razor-sharp barb that people in the region have been proud of since 2015. An honorary Scouser indeed.
That's how it has been for Klopp in recent weeks: the tension has dropped, the pressure has been removed and thoughts of a beach in Mallorca, where he is moving with his wife Ulla, have infiltrated his thinking without too much resistance. of the part of him that remains a Premier League manager.
At the press conference itself he paid tribute to the departing Matip and Thiago, saying: "Thiago, a world-class player. In another world I would like to see an injury-free career. He can do things with a football that I haven't done. " 'I didn't think this was possible. Joel, has there ever been a better transfer? No one is more likeable, great man."
He was also uninhibited in giving his opinion on Premier League clubs deciding to vote on the continued use of VAR in the future, revealing: "How it's being used is absolutely not good, how they're using it, I would vote against it. These people can't do that." "If all goes well, VAR is not the problem, you cannot change people, so I would vote for abolishing VAR."
But ultimately it was a press conference held to gauge the parting thoughts of the man who dragged Liverpool back to the top of the game in both England and Europe for much of the last decade with eight trophies, including a first league title for 30 years, a sixth European Cup and a first ever Club World Cup.
"It's almost a decade in my life and super influential in so many ways," Klopp said. "We talked earlier about how hard it will be to say goodbye, because I love everything about this place. I take with me memories, fantastic memories. I take friendships with me, relationships with me - forever.
"You realize that the older you get when time slips through your finger, it's only later that you realize you look back and think, 'My God, that was fast'. I don't think it was fast, those nine years. I really think that it was the absolute opposite of a waste of time. We really used everything and tried to make the most of it and somehow enjoy it as much as possible.
"A decade in your life is huge and I won't forget a day in that time because I met the best people I've ever met and I did it for the best club I could have imagined. That's how it is. a beautiful, very special city.
"Nothing is perfect these days, but the maturity of the people in this city is as close as it gets because of the way they are, the way they deal with life, the way they welcome you and the way they treat you. And I don't do that. I mean, I mean all the people I know who arrive in this city. What they tell me describes people in Liverpool and that's great to know.
"I'm completely at peace with it. It's great to know that I've spent a big part of my life here. I was given the key to the city and I know that's probably quite funny for a lot of people, but for me I feel like it's a responsibility. I can't imagine the club needing my help in the future, but if the city needs me, I want to be helpful in any way and we'll see what that looks like."
The scenes after the cameras were turned off had the feel of a year-end wrap-up, with bottles of champagne being handed out on Klopp's behalf as a thoughtful parting gift to members of the media who, like the ECHO, were covering Liverpool FC. at home, away and abroad in detail over the past nine years.
Klopp was also presented with a specially commissioned canvas print of his greatest triumphs on behalf of the ECHO and our national media colleagues, with a collection of those who have regularly worked with the man himself also collected to deliver to a charity of his. choice, Fans Supporting Food Banks. A final grade from his class.
A quick chat with just a handful of members of the Sunday media later and that was that. Klopp shuffled up the stairs to the sanctuary of his office for the last time. There will never be another like him.
