There have been major changes at Manchester United since 2014, when Jurgen Klopp rejected the biggest club in English football for being too akin to ‘Disneyland’, which should appeal to candidates in the running for the permanent head coach role at Old Trafford.
Perhaps the most surprising headline of the week came after Jurgen Klopp’s agent claimed Manchester United approached his client for the head coach role.
Klopp is among the top managers in world football right now, having proven himself at Liverpool in the Premier League. Still, a move for the German coach has always felt unlikely due to his connection to the Merseyside club.
While Sir Matt Busby played for Liverpool between 1936 and 1945, before taking charge of United’s first team, nobody has ever managed both clubs.
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That means appointing Klopp as United head coach would make him the first, but the Red Devils are denying claims that they have approached Klopp or his agent Marc Kosicke.
However, it’s not the first time Klopp has been linked with a move to Old Trafford.
Ed Woodward infamously pitched Old Trafford as an ‘adult version of Disneyland’, leading to Klopp being turned off by the job in 2013 before going on to manage Liverpool.
Interestingly, many of Klopp’s criticisms are no longer valid because of changes made after Sir Jim Ratcliffe granted Ineos full control of football operations.
Jurgen Klopp’s criticisms of Man Utd no longer valid
When Klopp looks at the number of managers who have come and gone from United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, he’ll probably consider his 2014 decision a wise one.
Unfortunately for the Red Devils, Klopp went on to win two Premier League titles and one Champions League in his nine-year reign at Anfield.
The Scousers didn’t dominate English football under the former Bundesliga manager, but they undoubtedly enjoyed greater success in that period than United.
In 2014, Woodward was making key decisions at United despite having no background in football beyond being a banker who had aided the controversial Glazer takeover in 2005. He was unable to convince Klopp to leave Dortmund for United as the emerging coach disliked the elements of the negotiation.
Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp said: “It’s difficult, we’re not in a private space but there are some reasons but the people in that conversation that I didn’t like,” he said. “So, United was that big ‘we get all the players we want, we get him, we get him, we get him’ and I was sitting there like ‘huh?’.
“It was not my project, it didn’t feel like my project, it was the wrong time but on top of that, it was not my project. I didn’t want to bring back [Paul] Pogba, Pogba is a sensational player my god, but these things don’t work usually.
“Or Cristiano [Ronaldo] my god we all know he’s the best player in the world together with [Lionel] Messi. Bringing him back never helps, in that time in 2013, it was not about Cristiano, maybe Paul I’m not sure but the idea was, ‘we bring the best players together then let’s go’.
“Not at all [about the football] then I sat there like it wasn’t for me. Then the pure football project comes up and a sensational talk to Mike Gordon [Fenway Sports Group president] that’s really important as well.
“He’s the owner but John [Henry] and Tom [Werner], after the talk I wanted to be Mike’s friend, he was such a nice guy. After that, it was pretty special.”
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Among the changes that have occurred at United since then is that the Glazers are not solely responsible for running the club or choosing a preferred puppet for the chief executive role.
Ratcliffe isn’t the most popular figure among United fans, but he has brought in people like Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox to steer the club in a new direction.
Many of their decisions have backfired, but it cannot be denied that there is a greater emphasis on having a proper football structure in place at United.
Berrada, in comparison to Woodward, has previously worked at Barcelona, although this is the first time he has been chief executive at a top club, which may explain the teething problems.
Furthermore, the approach to signing players has changed dramatically. United are now signing players to build for the future, hoping they can improve the first team to a point where they can maintain long-term success.
Despite these changes, Ineos were responsible for hiring Ruben Amorim before sacking him 14 months into his contract.
They will hope that the next head coach has a smoother journey at Old Trafford rather than a rollercoaster from Disneyland.
Jurgen Klopp record against Man Utd as Liverpool manager
The only Premier League clubs Klopp has faced more than United in his managerial career are Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea.
Klopp left Liverpool after beating United seven times in 21 meetings.
Nine of those matches ended as a draw, while United came away from the clash victorious on five occasions.
Klopp has greater success in games against Arsenal, City and Chelsea.
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