Jurgen Klopp ‘destroys image’ as Liverpool legend ‘stands for everything that’s wrong with football’

Jurgen Klopp has ‘destroyed his image in one step’ by taking the reins as Red Bull’s new head of soccer and ‘stands for everything that’s wrong with football’.

The German made his decision to leave Anfield in the summer after winning one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups, one Champions League, one FIFA Club World Cup and a European Super Cup.

And having been linked with a number of posts since his departure the 57-year-old says he “could not be more excited” to take up his new post , which involves overseeing seven different clubs on four separate continents.

It’s a decision that’s been met with anger by many, particularly in Germany, just two years on from Klopp condemning the Red Bull method.

“I know how much the Red Bull idea is criticised by traditionalists, and I’m one of them too,” he said.

RB Leipzig are the brand’s showcase club and remain the most controversial football team in Germany 15 years on from their foundation – when they took over local side SSV Martkranstadt – having skirted German Football Association rules.

Explaining the reasons behind the anger at Klopp’s decision, German football expert Constantin Eckner told talkSPORT : “Members of the media and fans are thinking that Jurgen Klopp has destroyed his legacy.

“It might not be a hot topic in Britain but Red Bull when they came in they took over a sixth division club and financed Leipzig to go through the ranks and get to the Bundesliga.

“Red Bull are accused of circumventing the 50+1 rule which is held in high regard in German football which is highly controversial.

“He was the head coach of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund who have positioned themselves as the antithesis of clubs like Leipzig and Hoffenheim.

“Especially Dortmund fans but a lot of football fans in general are not only annoyed, but somewhat angry.”

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Lower league opponents have refused to use Leipzig’s branded logo in their content, the fans of Heidenheim held up ‘football murderers!’ posters in the away end last season and SV Babelsberg fans successfully got pre-season fixtures against Leipzig cancelled, insisting that ‘the principles and structures underlying RB Leipzig’s actions threaten football as we know and love it.’

Kicker chief reporter Oliver Hartman called Klopp’s deal a ‘dagger in the heart for football romantics’ while pundits from TV channel Sport1 said Klopp ‘destroyed his image with one step’ and that he ‘sold out on everything he stood for all these years’.

Waz, a local Ruhr outlet, ran an opinion piece titled ‘Klopp stands for everything that’s going wrong in football’.

And Klopp’s legacy will also have taken a battering outside Germany according to German football pundit Kevin Hatchard.

“I think this will be quite a devisive step,” he told talkSPORT . “While there are no doubt positives about Red Bull’s involvement in football in terms of youth development and investment, they are still seen as a negative force in German football and with other clubs as well.

“You look at some fans of Salzburg, the old Salzburg, they had to go and form their own club because they were so furious with what happened, so we shouldn’t forget that, Red Bull buy clubs, they rebrand them, and you end up forgetting about what the club was before.”