Welcome to Issue 303 of Red All Over The Land.
This is the final Fanzine of the season with an editorial and content I wasn’t expecting back at the start of the season. When the announcement came back in January it knocked most of us sidewards, but it gave us time to prepare for life after Jürgen, not that it is any consolation.
We were hoping Jürgen’s last stand and fist pumps would have been at either Wembley or in Dublin but maybe it’s appropriate that it will be at a tear-stained Anfield.
Jürgen Klopp is a manager who has always had to fight the odds. In Germany, with Dortmund, there was the powerhouse of Bayern Munich and in England the oil drenched riches of Manchester City. Yet, despite those odds, he managed to compete and sometimes overcome them. Last season was the only season we didn’t genuinely compete at the top of the pile, I disregard the Covid season when I believe football shouldn’t have been played.
I’m not going to repeat what everyone should know about how Jürgen has, this season, rebuilt a Liverpool team that has been called Liverpool:2. The disappointment is that we won’t see Jürgen take this team any further but whoever becomes the next manager of Liverpool, then what a team he will be bequeathed.
This issue of Red All Over The Land is our attempt at a tribute, adding I’m sure to the hundreds of other printed tributes to the most charismatic manager our club has had since the days of Bill Shankly, in fact one of the most charismatic managers the game has seen since television took it over.
As this is a Fanzine, we’ve had to mention the football so some does get covered, notably the games against Atalanta which didn’t go as we would have hoped. The game against Crystal Palace was a massive let down but it had been coming if we’re honest. We went to print before the derby.
One big feature in this Fanzine had we not been paying homage to Jürgen would have been the rise in ticket prices for next season. Compared to other clubs the Liverpool price increase looked moderate but in truth there was no need to put up the prices at all. The club can hardly say they need extra income to compete because the additional income generated wouldn’t pay a player’s monthly wage. The SoS and other fan groups have made their point but to no avail as the increases remain. However, they expressed the feelings of most fans to the club. Sadly, football is now just a business, and the club sells overpriced packages to those who can afford them and would seemingly prefer a ground full of tourists rather than the fans who made this club what it is today.
Jürgen is a socialist, Liverpool is a socialist city, so we are saying goodbye to one of our own. A much-missed member of my family used to describe Jürgen as The Scruffy German. Would we have wanted him any other way?
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this tribute edition, to all those who buy it and to the people who sell it. See you next season.
JJP: Jürgen is leaving Liverpool. Liverpool will never leave Jürgen.