Departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp paid a heart-rending tribute to his backroom coaching team after the curtain came down on his glittering Reds career.
Four months on from announcing his intention to step down from the Anfield hotseat, the 56-year-old took charge of the Merseyside giants for the final time on Sunday afternoon.
Wolverhampton Wanderers were the visitors to Merseyside for Klopp's swansong, and Liverpool eased to a 2-0 win, as Alexis Mac Allister's header and Jarell Quansah's close-range effort proved telling in the first half.
With the Reds already assured of a third-placed finish, though, there was little riding on the match as far as Premier League permutations were concerned, as tributes flooded in for Klopp both during and after the game.
The former Borussia Dortmund boss is not the only Liverpool coach to be bidding farewell this summer, though, as a total of seven backroom staff members will also pack their bags at the end of the season.
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"Jurgen Klopp is more than Jurgen Klopp"
Assistants Pep Lijnders, Vitor Matos and Peter Krawietz are heading off elsewhere - the former two will continue working together at Red Bull Salzburg - while goalkeeping coaches John Achterberg and Jack Robinson are leaving too.
In addition Andreas Kornmayer - head of fitness and conditioning - and Andreas Schlumberger, head of recovery and performance, are following Klopp out of the door, and the German made sure to namecheck all of his lieutenants in his post-game press conference.
"I want to thank everybody. I love how we said goodbye to the staff, how the players said goodbye to the staff. For the public, it's Jürgen Klopp, Jürgen Klopp, Jürgen Klopp, Jürgen Klopp," the Liverpool boss said.
"But Jürgen Klopp is Pep Lijnders, Jürgen Klopp is Peter Krawietz, Jürgen Klopp is Vitor Matos, Jürgen Klopp is John Achterberg, Jack Robinson, [Claudio] Taffarel, Jürgen Klopp is Andreas Kornmayer, Andreas Schlumberger. Jürgen Klopp is so much more than Jürgen Klopp. I alone would have done absolutely nothing.
"It's really nice how the people did that today because everybody felt really appreciated. I don't have a lack of appreciation, obviously, everybody shows me in the first moments and tell me they will miss me. I'm happy that all the other guys got their attention as well."
Klopp reveals when he might return to Anfield
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As Klopp prepares to enjoy a hard-earned break from the relentless world of management, the 56-year-old has affirmed that he will be back at Anfield in a supporter's capacity, but he does not envisage an imminent return.
The German is not expecting to take in Liverpool's first game of the 2024-25 campaign, but he is confident that he will be watching a Reds match at some point before the current calendar year comes to an end.
"Now we will have a party and then we will come back next for another event. And I will come back occasionally just, how I said, as a supporter now, and I'm fine with that, honestly. Maybe not for the first game of the season – that's early, wow!," Klopp added.
"Maybe after the second international break or something like this. What can I say? There must be a difference if the things go bad, always worse, worse, worse or if the things go well and go. I'm really happy that we could have done it like that – that we did it that way. Third, that's alright."
Klopp also addressed the Anfield faithful after taking to the touchline for the final time in a Liverpool tracksuit, where the Reds' two-goal success saw them finish on 82 points ahead of Arne Slot's imminent arrival.
Ben Knapton
