26 January 2024 , 14:48
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At Liverpool, the sense of shock at Jurgen Klopp's Friday morning announcement is only outweighed by the sense of dread over what comes next.
Few clubs in world football see their managers lionised quite like Liverpool's are, with the figurehead at the helm held up as the be-all and end-all by fans, often when they haven't even earned that right.
Klopp did all that and more, of course, and the sudden snap into imagining life without him is the biggest thing that those supporters are suddenly having to get used to. It was always going to happen one day, but did it have to happen now though? Really? Could it not just be put off for that bit longer?
In hindsight the clues have been there that Klopp, whose previous contract to this one ran until the end of this season before he extended it by two further years in April 2022, was getting towards the end of his tenure. There has often been a relaxed tone to him this season, and maybe a sense that this was all something to be enjoyed and not endured.
Maybe, had last season gone differently and not spectacularly off the rails as it did, he would have announced his departure then, but he wanted to stay and rebuild his side after so many high-profile and much-needed departures.
Klopp's dream Liverpool line up as last-gasp January transfers rejected
Klopp will leave after nine years in charge (Getty Images)This season has shown just what a new, revitalised team can do when there is that breath of fresh air in the lungs, with the legends of the past still rightly remembered for their achievements but with their legs growing weary and their messages weak.
New leaders have emerged and Klopp - who has always said that he won't manage well into his 60s or 70s like Sir Alex Ferguson or Roy Hodgson - is right to feel that he will be leaving the club in good hands. But who will he be leaving it to?
Liverpool possess a young, hungry squad (ISABEL INFANTES/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)As reported by The Telegraph, there is currently no successor in place, and that shouldn't really come as a surprise. Friday's other, much quieter announcement that Jorg Schmadtke will leave the club come the closure of the transfer window shows that the appointment of a sporting director is currently the biggest item on Fenway Sports Group's to do list. Get them in, then get the manager to work with them.
Speaking at Friday's press conference, Reds CEO Billy Hogan spelled out that patience will be needed. "I don't want to set an expectation," he said. "It's a process we need to go through. It will go on in the background."
Huge decisions lie ahead, and the fear will be that Liverpool will fade from the sharp end of things just as Manchester United have in the past decade. They were there for a lot of the pre-Klopp era after all.
The outgoing manager feels that the squad is in a good place though, with plenty of emerging young talents led by those with trophy-winning experience in the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Mo Salah, even though the future of the latter will be a huge talking point.
That can wait though, FSG's next step will be the sporting director appointment, which could end up being announced before the end of the season, although that is now likely to be four months of full focus on going for Klopp's crowing glory on four different fronts.
Xabi Alonso is understandably the name at the forefront of the conversation, but the sporting director will have a large say in just who comes in and what happens next.
Seeing life beyond Klopp is something that Reds supporters would often refuse to countenance, but it will happen under the stewardship of the current owners, who will have to get two very big decisions right. Appointing Klopp will always go down as their best one, but these two may well dictate how they are remembered.