Jurgen Klopp’s comments on taking Man Utd job and brutal Ed Woodward putdown
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is believed to have harboured concerns over the sales pitch Manchester United launched to bring him to Old Trafford when he was approached to replace David Moyes in 2014. Moyes had endured a tough start to life with the Red Devils after replacing legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson and was sacked before the end of his first season.
United are believed to have courted Klopp after Ferguson’s departure the year prior but the Scot suggested Moyes.
Klopp, then at Borussia Dortmund, was then considered the top target to replace Ferguson’s successor upon his sacking in April 2014.
Ed Woodward flew to Germany to speak to Klopp. The controversial and soon-to-depart CEO told the 54-year-old that the Old Trafford pitch was like ‘an adult version of Disneyland’.
But the now Liverpool boss did not agree. He instead told friends that he found the stadium – dubbed the “Theatre of Dreams’ – ‘unsexy’.
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A 2017 biography of Klopp called Bring The Noise, written by Raphael Honigstein, details the meeting.
An extract reads: “Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had flown out to see Klopp in Germany.
“David Moyes’s short tenure at Old Trafford was coming to an end, and Klopp was United’s favourite to replace him, to bring back a sense of adventure to the Red Devils’ game.
“Woodward told Klopp that the Theatre of Dreams was ‘like an adult version of Disneyland’, a mythical place where, as the nickname suggested, the entertainment was world class and dreams came true.
“Klopp wasn’t entirely convinced by that sales pitch — he found it a bit ‘unsexy’, he told a friend — but he didn’t dismiss the proposition out of hand either.”
Klopp’s Liverpool face United on Sunday hoping to continue their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
He has demanded that his players defend well against the Red Devils’ incredible attacking talent, insisting that there would be no point in travelling if his defenders do not perform.
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“If we didn’t defend well at United I don’t know a reason why we would even get on the coach and go there,” Klopp said. “Because the quality they have offensively is absolutely ridiculous.
“I really don’t think it’s very likely we will score three goals at United, but we never before a game think more about scoring than we do about defending.
“So for us it’s 100 per cent clear that to get in the game, to stay in the game and to win the game at United, you have to defend at your absolute highest level.
“We have to focus on that but not only that as we have to create and play football. It’s important to be incredibly brave because each ball you lose against United is a massive red [flag].
“It’s a counter attack which is a red [flag] because of the speed they have and all these kinds of things.
“So it’s a proper task to play United but we still wanna do it and are looking forward to it. We all know it’s one of the biggest games in the world. It will be a good one.”
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