October 21 – Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has been criticised by fans of one of his other clubs, Mainz, for his decision to join energy drinks company Red Bull and oversee its international football network.
Mainz supporters held banners during their team’s 2-0 defeat to Leipzig – a Red Bull-backed club – in which they targeted their one-time hero.
‘Have you forgotten everything we gave you?’ asked one huge banner behind one of the goals, referring to his tearful farewell speech when he left the club after 18 years as a player and coach in 2008.
‘Are you crazy?’ asked another banner with a pun on Klopp’s name using the German word ‘bekloppt’.
Red Bull announced earlier this month that Klopp will become its head of global football from January, overseeing its operations that includes Leipzig, Austria’s Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, Bragantino in Brazil and Omiya Ardija in Japan. Red Bull also has a minority stake in England’s Leeds United.
A former player at Mainz, Klopp coached them for seven years, taking them into the top flight for the first time before moving to Borussia Dortmund and later Liverpool.
He stepped down as Liverpool boss in the summer but his decision to take up the job at Red Bull has caused a backlash in Germany – particularly from fans of his ex-clubs Dortmund and Mainz who have a long-standing hatred of RB Leipzig.
The view among many is that Leipzig, founded only in 2009, are not consistent with Germany’s 50+1 rule, which requires member control of clubs, while others have hit out at the multi-club ownership model used by Red Bull.
Leipzig coach Marco Rose, who played under Klopp for several years at Mainz, dismissed the fans’ criticism as a minority opinion.
“There are 35,000 people in the stadium, many of whom have an opinion. I believe that around 34,936 people love Kloppo for the fact that he shaped an era,” said Rose.
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