Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has recalled the telling message that legendary former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said to him ahead of a testimonial match.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s legendary managerial career came to an end in 2013 after he secured Manchester United’s last Premier League title in the 2012-13 campaign.
The 82-year-old enjoyed incredible success during his 26-year reign in the Premier League, which included leading United to 13 league titles under his rule.
Following Ferguson’s retirement, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp have been locked in a heated rivalry in the Premier League.
Klopp, who lifted one Premier League title with Liverpool, stunned the world last month after he announced his intention to leave Anfield at the end of the season.
Carragher has since reacted to Klopp’s shock decision, with United legend Gary Neville trolling his fellow Sky Sports pundit with a brilliant post on social media.
Ferguson’s message to Carragher
Speaking on the Stick to Football show, Jamie Carragher opened up on the time he took part in a testimonial and how Ferguson was the manager for one of the teams.
Jurgen Klopp was set to arrive at Anfield in 2015 after he left Borussia Dortmund and Sir Alex Ferguson made his feelings clear on the German coach to Carragher.
According to Carragher, former Manchester United boss Ferguson spoke highly of Klopp and backed him to do well as Brendan Rodgers’ replacement at Liverpool.
“I’m not sure you can replace him,” he said on The Overlap.
“The big thing about Klopp is, I’ve seen him in private at times, or little meetings, and he is exactly what you see on TV – it’s not an act, it is him.
“Whoever comes in must be themselves – they can’t be Jurgen Klopp.
“I always go back to a testimonial at Manchester United, I think it was for Michael Carrick.
“I was playing in it, and Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager of one of the teams and he was coming round the dressing room.
“Klopp had been announced as Liverpool manager two weeks before, and he said to me, ‘You’ve got a manager.’
“It was to do with those UEFA meetings when all the top managers in Europe come together. He is just being himself – he was only at Borussia Dortmund then.
“I always remember when Klopp came on Monday Night Football, and I asked him about these meetings.
“He said he only went twice, he said, ‘I just wanted to check if I was as good as them, and I was, so I didn’t need to go again!’
“I thought he was very confident, very comfortable in his own skin.
“He’s a god in Liverpool – who knows what’s going to happen this season. When I got the news, I couldn’t process it!”
Klopp could have replaced Ferguson
Liverpool boss Klopp was tipped as one of the potential heirs to Ferguson’s throne at United after the Scotsman called it time on his legendary career at Old Trafford.
However, the 56-year-old German remained at Dortmund after Ferguson stepped down at United and David Moyes arrived as his replacement at the Red Devils.
Klopp later admitted that the “timing was not right” for him to succeed Ferguson at United and the former Dortmund boss was committed to the German club.
Speaking at Team Talk with Legends – Live in 2021, he said: “It was never a conscious thing that I thought they were struggling so let me go there.
“For me, it felt like it was meant to be with Dortmund when they showed interest. I knew before that they weren’t doing too well in that moment, but for me, it was the club, the stadium, the ‘Yellow Wall’ – things I liked a lot. Liverpool were pretty similar.
“The Man United story – people have spoken about it – but the timing was not right. I had a three-year contract still at Dortmund, I’m not the guy to leave them.
“But Liverpool was a completely different situation, it felt right in that moment at the first second, that’s what I think.”
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