No manager has combined heart and soul with details and hard maths like the German, no wonder he has run out of energy

“I am, how can I say it, running out of energy.” It is, in its own way, the saddest of managerial farewells. Not to mention the most decisive. This is Jürgen Klopp’s thing. He’s an energy source. He’s joules, watts, volts, catalytic reactions. His energy is his energy, both in the tactical pattern of his teams and as a sustained feat of personality.

Throughout the Klopp elegies of the past few weeks, the deep-dives and unpeelings, the endless daily Klopp-trap, it is striking how little that decision has been questioned. The idea of an energy-free-Klopp is just so final, like José Mourinho telling you he’s run out of toxic bile, or Pep Guardiola confessing that, actually, he’s starting to find detailed positional strategy a little samey and humdrum these days. Jürgen is tired. And when that happens, it really is time to go.

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© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

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© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

The German’s nine-year Anfield tenure has contained some unforgettable highs – and a handful of agonising near-misses

Recruiting Jürgen Klopp was a coup for Fenway Sports Group – Liverpool were not what they are now in 2015 – and his willingness to end a planned year-long sabbatical after four months to take the job generated a level of excitement and anticipation among supporters rarely witnessed before. It would not be misplaced. After signing a three-year contract at the city’s Hope Street hotel, and before going for a drink with his family at a bar around the corner, Klopp gave his first interview as Liverpool’s manager. “The message to those Liverpool supporters?” he asks, rhetorically. “We have to change, from doubter to believer. Now.” He had the entire club onside from the word go.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The departure this weekend of Chelsea’s Emma Hayes from the WSL and Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp will be felt outside sport

The departure this weekend of two of England’s most influential and successful football managers will be felt beyond sport. There’s no doubt that the loss of Chelsea’s Emma Hayes from the Women’s Super League and Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp from the Premier League offers important lessons for the game on why leadership matters. Their personalities and tactical nous demonstrated why managers can help clubs do better than their players’ skills alone suggest.

Both managers also gave football a human face. Hayes was appointed by Chelsea in August 2012. Her team won 15 trophies, averaging more than one a year. She could sign off with a 16th on Saturday, with this season’s title race between Chelsea and Manchester City going down to the final match. She became synonymous with the English game at home and abroad and displayed her acute analytical sense of the game as a TV pundit.

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© Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

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