Klopp's Liverpool legacy so much more than silverware

After all the sound, there’s no fury. There’s only a peace. As Jurgen Klopp departs Liverpool, he has no real regrets. He’s won everything, even if there could have been more. There’s a bigger debate about the latter but, even within that, a point has been proven.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

When Liverpool’s owners were seeking to rebuild the club over the 2012-15 period, they gradually modernised every department until they had one of the best recruitment systems in the game. That took them so far, as we saw in 2013-14 when Brendan Rodgers guided them to second in the Premier League – two points behind champions Manchester City. It just couldn’t take them all the way, not to what Liverpool were. There was still an element missing.

That something remains immutable in football, no matter how much the game evolves. Liverpool still needed a charismatic and transformational genius manager to bring it all together. This was the alchemy amid all the scientific analysis. This isn’t to say nobody can succeed without one but it makes an immense difference. And Klopp genuinely made an immense difference, not least to people’s lives.

It’s also important to recognise what English football is losing, too. One of the game’s great figures is departing the stage. That alone is poignant, the passing of an era. It also points to what Klopp is mostly about and what he will be most remembered for. That is, emotion; making people feel something again.