Jurgen Klopp - The unsung hero
Jurgen Klopp
Signal Iduna Park, Borussia Dortmund’s stadium is one of the most lively stadiums in the world. Any team would fear to play against Dortmund here, the atmosphere is absolutely electrifying. Matchdays at Dortmund are simply unique as their one stand, ‘The Südtribüne,’ is by far the biggest standing terrace in Europe with a capacity of 24,454.
It’s nicknamed the ‘Yellow Wall’ due to the consistency of the volume of noise generated from the diehard Dortmund supporters who wear and hoist yellow paraphernalia in support of their club.
Borussia Dortmund is a formidable force in football right now, but rewind a good few years and go back to 2008 when they finished 13th in the league. They were nothing but a mid-table team then. So, you may ask what happened, how did they achieve such a splendid transformation and reach great heights. The answer is real simple – Jurgen Klopp.
There was no turning back after the former Mainz-05 player-turned coach resigned his position with Mainz-05 after failing to take back the relegated team into Bundesliga again. Klopp has risen to prominence ever since and have become one of the most talked about and in-demand managers in world football in a relatively short period of time.
In his first season as the manager of Dortmund he guided the team well and finished 6th(2009). During the season Klopp signed the Bayern munich youngster Mats Hummels for 4 million Euros, who was playing for BVB on a season long loan from Bayern Munich. Hummels’s talent was so evident for him that he wasted no time in bringing him to the club for good. Not just that, he brought the imposing Serbian defender Neven Subotic along with him when he took over. They were the early building blocks of what would become a great team.The second season was no different, they settled for 5th , but showed a lot more discipline and maturity in their style of play. They could have qualified for the champions league, but they failed to win the last two crucial matches which denied them the chance to enter the prestigious tournament.
Klopp has this exceptional ability to spot talent, the way he did with Hummels and Subotic. He gave the much needed break for two of the most promising young talents in Germany, from their own academy, Mario Gotze and Marcel Schmelzer. He didn’t stop there. He stole Kagawa from Cerezo Osaka for a mere 350,000 euros taking advantage of the release clause in Kagawa’s contract and also signed a certain Robert Lewandowski, an uknown Polish striker when he was signed. Such is the instinct of Jurgen Klopp.
In short, he secured the services of Lewandowski, Kagawa and Hummels for a mere 9 million euros. The trio would at least be valued above 70 million euros overall in the current market. What Dortmund payed was way more than a bargain.
This is how Klopp built the team. He had no money to splash on lucrative players like other big clubs. Dortmund was coming out of a rough patch financially. They were recovering from a huge debt which was incurred before Klopp took over. All he had was his ability to spot and nurture talents.
Finally, in the third season Klopp reaped his reward. Dortmund were crowned the champions of Bundesliga. They won 23 , lost 6 and drew 5 to secure the championship with 71 points after nearly a decade. In their next season they won both the German cup as well as the league. Thus, a great team was born.
In 2012/13 Dortmund couldn’t win the league yet again. The Bavarians proved more consistent throughout the season and emerged victorious. But, BVB did what other big clubs with huge reserves of money couldn’t do. They demolished every single team which came in their way to reach the finals of the UEFA Champions league for the first time since 1997 (They won the Champions league in 97 when they beat Juventus in the finals, which had the likes of Zidane, Del Piero and Christian Vieri).
They lost to Bayern Munich in the dying moments of the match. Borussia Dortmund were no way inferior to the Bavarians. We can only blame luck. This is truly a great team built from scratch and Klopp is their hero.