Before his final game, the manager reflects on an Anfield career that delivered seven major trophies and made him a club legend
Firstly, how do you reflect on the past eight and a half years? It is so rare in this industry that you can create this kind of relationship to a club and to a city because, in the beginning, what did we know? It is not that we can lie. In the 15 years before I arrived I watched loads of football, but did I watch a lot of Liverpool? No. So coming here and living the life I did, dedicating everything to it, which is what I had to do for the people, is really special. The way people in England see it, you either love Liverpool or hate Liverpool. Obviously it was very easy for me to fall in love with the club and the people. It is a super special story. Could it have been more successful? Yes. With me? I don’t know. We did absolutely everything. I am very self-critical but I do not reflect on this in a critical way. We had really good times with super football moments, real development, tough moments, overcoming all of them. OK, maybe not always in time, but I look back with a smile.
You made several predictions at your first press conference – telling fans to turn from doubters to believers and saying you’d have to work in Switzerland if you didn’t win a trophy in four years … That went down well in Switzerland! My skiing holiday will not be there. I’m sure people think I planned to say those things. I just wanted to survive the press conference. My English was not that great. I’d been talking to people about why they changed from Brendan [Rodgers] to me , what happened in not becoming champions in 2014 and what it meant being so close. I realised everyone was doubting what Liverpool does and no one liked the team. Not even the team liked the team. The players were not comfortable in their skin. The four years comment was, not to buy time, but I know how football works. If you do not arrive early enough where people want to go then it will not happen.
