Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is worried by the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as the new manager of Liverpool FC. The Scot believes that the former Borussia Dortmund manager would thrive at Anfield.
Liverpool FC announced the appointment of Klopp as their new manager on Thursday, four days after sacking Brendan Rodgers. The Scot also reflected on the stellar rise of the German during his time with Dortmund. Klopp helped the Westfalenstadion outfit to back-to-back Bundesliga titles along with two Supercups and a DFB Pokal.
Speaking in an interview with ESPN, the 73-year-old was quoted as saying:
“Well it’s a good appointment. I admire him.
“I know Jurgen pretty well through our meetings at [FIFA] coaches’ classes in Geneva.
“Strong personality, very strong, very stubborn, determined and his performances, and his career at Dortmund was a stellar rise to the top and I think he’ll do very well.
“I don’t like saying that, being Liverpool, because I’m worried about it but, no, he’ll do well.”
Why give him a job if he can’t do it? — Sir Alex on the transfer committee
However, the Manchester United legend questioned the transfer committee in place at Liverpool FC, suggesting that the club’s manager should have complete control over transfers.
“If you don’t trust your manager, why have him there? You’ve got to trust your coach.
“Here’s the man that should be deciding which kind of player he wants, the type of player, position he wants, his character he wants. It’s the manager who knows more than anyone about what he needs as a coach.”
“And I think that, there’s a lot of this happening in the game now, these ‘Moneyball’ ideas about looking at statistics of players and bypassing the manager’s thoughts, and I think it’s wrong.”
“Why give him a job if he can’t do it?”
“When they’re sitting around that table to appoint a manager, do they say, well, ‘He can be part of the committee?’ That’s wrong, and I don’t think Jurgen Klopp will accept that.”
Contrary to Sir Alex’s claims, Klopp insisted that he was happy with the transfer committee in place at Anfield and looked forward to working with the team. Klopp highlighted that he would have the first and last word on the transfers.
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Here’s Klopp’s take on the transfer committee