There can’t be many clubs where the former manager’s name would be sung on the day his successor secured the Premier League title. But Liverpool has always done things a bit differently — Jurgen Klopp understood that as well as anyone, and he showed it with a medal gesture.
The fact that it was none other than Arne Slot leading the chant shows that the new head coach gets it too. He has gone about things in a different way to Klopp, and is not the same chest-thumping figure, but he is equally attuned to the weight of history at Anfield and the importance of recognizing what has gone before.
Slot is also clearly very comfortable in his own abilities, able to recognize that he is a major beneficiary of the culture and quality that Klopp left behind without feeling as though his own achievements are being belittled by that fact. One thing the pair definitely have in common is that they truly believe any success belongs to everyone associated with the club.
More than once, Slot has alluded to the fact that he inherited a very good team. Any coach would have been fortunate to get to work with the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, all indisputably among the very best in the world in their positions.
Nor is it just about the stars of the team. Klopp tended to utilize his full squad a little more than Slot has done to date, but both would be quick to credit the importance of the collective effort when it comes to winning the top honors.
Rarely did Klopp show that more than with a medal gesture after he had finally led Liverpool to Premier League success. He wanted everybody in the squad to know they had played their part — and that extended to Andy Lonergan, the goalkeeper who never played a minute for the club.
“Klopp gave me a winner’s medal in the dressing room,” Lonergan told the ECHO at the time. “I’m happy to get one and I’m happy how he did it because getting one on the stage would have been embarrassing, it really would!
“I wasn’t expecting to get one but he just came up to me and said, “There you go, you deserve it”. It was a great moment really but I wasn’t expecting it at all, even after his comments.”
(Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Premier League rules stipulate that clubs must give a medal to anyone who has made at least five appearances over the course of the season. But winners are given 40 medals in total, and can distribute any extras as they see fit among players and staff.
It was classy of Klopp to ensure Lonergan did not get overlooked. He did the same for Harvey Elliott, another who had failed to meet the five-game threshold — and the youngster even wondered whether the manager might have given up his own medal to make sure it happened..
“I am not sure if it was [Klopp’s] medal, it could have been his but I got one at the end of the day,” Elliott told the ECHO in 2023, recounting the title win. “I walked into the changing room after the parade and the presentations and they gave it to me then.”
How Slot will handle those who have not racked up five appearances remains to be seen. Federico Chiesa is notably still one game below the threshold, while Vitezslav Jaros will be hopeful of some kind of recognition for his lone appearance.
If there’s one thing we have learned from this season, it’s that Slot doesn’t need to do everything in exactly the same way as Klopp. But the German’s medal gesture summed up his class, and there’s every reason to think his successor will also make sure the whole squad gets the recognition they deserve.
