analysis
Jürgen Klopp’s charisma is intended to help the Leipzig location in particular in the Red Bull cosmos. The special connection from the Mainz days to Marco Rose could be important.
When recently on New Year’s Eve there was an exuberant atmosphere on Frankfurt’s Opera Square before dark and the trendy restaurant Papa Enj played the first hits, a colorful group of athletes celebrated almost unrecognized. Pascal Hens, the former handball star, was also present, as was Axel Hellmann, the current CEO of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Also Marco Rose, coach of RB Leipzig and Sandro Schwarz, coach at New York Red Bulls. If only Jürgen Klopp, who would soon be living in his new home in Wiesbaden, had joined them, then the troika with shared beginnings at FSV Mainz 05 would have been united at the turn of the year.
The Leipzig coach is looking forward to the exchange
But it’s only these days that what obviously belongs together is coming together. Klopp, the new football superfigure from the Red Bull cosmos, exchanged ideas with Rose on Monday morning at the club’s premises on Cottaweg and toured the academy after the 57-year-old made a somewhat surprising appearance the day before in RB Leipzig’s Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen (4: 2) sat in the stands.
“Everyone is looking forward to him. Me too”Rose said afterwards about Klopp: “With his experience as a top coach and as a manager in England, he can give us a lot of input when it comes to squad planning. He has a great network, everyone knows Kloppo as a guy. I think we can generate a lot of added value there.” After all, we’ve known each other for a few years: “We also wished each other all the best for the new year, briefly exchanged information and of course want to go deeper into this.”
First presence on everyone’s lips
Every news agency reported Klopp’s first presence in the Red Bull Arena in the VIP stand next to sports director Marcel Schäfer in the opening credits, although the Red Bulls’ successful restart would have provided enough to talk about. But Klopp’s broad grin is in every commercial.
On Friday the new Head of Global Soccer watched the ice hockey cracks from Red Bull Munich, the next day he was spotted at the French second division club FC Paris together with technical director Mario Gomez, who will be sharing an office with Klopp in Munich directly on the English coast garden.
The presentation becomes a media event
The cult figure will also be asked about how this will all work out in detail in the name of the can at an introduction session in Salzburg in Hangar 7 on Tuesday from 2 p.m. Of course, managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, who arranged the successor job for the successful Liverpool FC coach, which was viewed critically, especially in Germany, should not be missing from this media event.
Of course, it helps the former athlete in particular that the RB Leipzig players are at least halfway back on track nationally, although the brewing club’s failure on the international stage can no longer be corrected. Klopp arrived too late to avert the Champions League exit.
Incidentally, the new thought leader and door opener is said to have worked hard for Rose to stay during the Saxons’ veritable creative crisis. He and Schwarz will be Klopp’s important contacts in the future, although Rose would like to see some separation: “It would be important if we could do our work at the locations every day without constantly looking at what Jürgen Klopp is doing. I don’t think he understands his role that way either.”
The careers of Rose, Schwarz and Klopp are similar
The 48-year-old Rose and Schwarz, who is two years younger, spent a formative time as players (partly under Klopp) in the old Mainz stadium on Bruchweg, then became coaches, with one (Rose) taking the springboard via Red Bull Salzburg , while the other (Black) rose to coach a first division team with the zero fives. Probably none of this troika would have ever thought that their paths would ever come together like this through stations in Mainz, Dortmund and Berlin, Salzburg, New York or Liverpool.
Time together at Mainz 05: Jürgen Klopp and Marco Rose (far right) in April 2007.
The fact that the sports-loving beverage giant is now expanding to Japan, Brazil, England and Spain, because clubs like Omiya Ardija and RB Bragantino are owned by RB and clubs like Leeds United and Atletico Madrid have nothing against a share sale or sponsorship, is part of Klopp’s remit to the global challenge. But if anyone can inspire enthusiasm for an overarching topic, it is probably this universal human catcher.
Klopp has not previously made disparaging comments about the football involvement of Red Bull, the company founded over 40 years ago by Dietrich Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya, which is now owned by their two sons, who each hold 49 percent of the shares. Both are hardly involved in day-to-day business, but the group, which now has an annual turnover of more than ten billion euros, is managed in the spirit of the founding fathers.
Five years ago, around a third of total sales flowed directly into marketing. Then as now, sport is a way to get young people from all over the world excited about the sweet product. The Swabian-born Klopp is now taking part.
The German fan curves are skeptical
It’s exciting how his messages get caught up in German stadiums. Abusive posters hung not only in Kiel, but also in Dortmund and Mainz; i.e. where Klopp almost left a legacy for eternity. Nevertheless, entire fans there felt deceived.
Maybe Klopp doesn’t even want their sympathies, but simply wants to show that his knowledge, his conviction, his aura and his experience are so great that he doesn’t even have to be a coach anymore to achieve lasting success in international football. And then we’re guaranteed to have a big celebration together.