Rob Edwards has shared a brilliance anecdote which sums up the character of Jurgen Klopp.
The two came face-to-face twice last season in the Premier League, with Luton holding Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road and going down 4-1 at Anfield, although the Hatters held a surprise lead in the latter fixtutre before the Reds took charge.
The 41-year-old was speaking about the former LFC boss on the High Performance Podcast when he recounted a tale from the fixture on Merseyside in February of this year.
Edwards said of Klopp: “He was amazing. He put his arm around me when we walked in. They beat us 4-1. We were 1-0 up at half-time, playing really well but ultimately they were too good. Anfield was Anfield.
“Anfield was amazing that night. It was brilliant. He came in after the game and put his arm around me. We were looking at the picture of him with the Champions League trophy and he was like ‘How old are you?’. ’41.’
“He said, ‘When I was your age I was as far away from that trophy as you are now’. Then he started talking about how this can be your time now and I love what you’re doing and how you’re working with the team and stuff, and I was like, ‘wow’! This is Jurgen Klopp. This is one of the guys who’s an inspiration for me.”
Follow Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Edwards added: “It was really, really nice to be able to sit down and have this time with him because I know they’re incredibly busy and there’s a lot of demands on them as well, so for him to give that time means a lot to me.”
Although Luton would eventually suffer relegation, their manager earned widespread plaudits not just for his team’s honesty and endeavour, but also his dignified and classy personality, not least in how he handled the distressing on-pitch collapse of Tom Lockyer against Bournemouth.
At 41, Klopp already had seven years in charge at Mainz and was about to take over Borussia Dortmund. Little did we know then that he’d go on to manage in four Champions League finals, winning one, and his message to Edwards must’ve been a source of enormous pride for the Hatters boss.
Both men routinely carry themselves with tremendous warmth, and we’d definitely love to see Edwards back in the Premier League at some stage in the future. He showed last season that he can definitely hold his own in the top flight of English football.
You can view Edwards’ comments about Klopp below (from 43:21), via High Performance Podcast on YouTube:
