Bring the Noise

Book excerpt: JüKlopp's coaching career began in the German second tier at the unfashionable club of FSV Mainz 05, whom he steered to the Bundesliga for the first time in forty-one years. In 2008, he joined Borussia Dortmund, where he achieved back-to-back league titles and took the club to the UEFA Champions League final. He left Germany for one of the England's most challenging jobs: to manage Liverpool, a once-mighty club that had not managed sustained success since the 1980s. It was not a task for the fainthearted. Anfield, Liverpool's home, is a temple to flamboyant attacking soccer powered by passion. In Klopp, Liverpool finally found a manager who embodied the essence of the club. Klopp is dynamic, expressive, restless, driven-he feels every move and play, every tactical shift, every contact on the field. His eyes betray a wild ecstasy and agony as his team thrives or falls. His game plan demands relentless commitment-the famous gegenpress-and he is one of the great personal motivators in all sport. Raphael Honigstein, author of Das Reboot and Budesliga correspondent for the Guardian, has interviewed Klopp and followed his career since his early years, and better than anyone knows how to "bring the noise" to his subject.