I remember how jaded I felt when he first arrived, after everything that happened with Hicks and Gillette I'd really fallen out of love with football as a sport and Liverpool as a club. I didn't recognise the team I'd grown up supporting, and that wasn't because of a lack of success (I grew up in the 90s afterall) but because everything just felt a bit disparate. I'd adored Rafa and when he was sacked a little piece of me went with him. With the H&G regime and then another set of Americans in charge it felt like the club was moving further away from its soul than ever.
When Klopp took over I remember feeling quite cautious, he had an amazing reputation but we'd been burned before. Then in 2016 when we lost the UEFA Cup final I remember feeling as disappointed as I ever have about a game of football. I thought that game was going to be a turning point, our first piece of silverware in years, entry into the Champions League, the fostering of a 'winning mentality'. For some reason I'd got it into my head that it was a bit of a last chance saloon for us, I couldn't see how we picked ourselves up after losing that.
How incredibly wrong I was. Yes, there was more heartbreak to come but by the time we'd lost the CL final in 2018 and the league title by one point in 2019, I had turned from a doubter into a believer. I didn't have that feeling of hopelessness or despair, Jurgen Klopp had completely changed my perception of football. I'm seeing things I never thought I'd see from a Liverpool team. Last season we came so close to winning the double but in my mind that was something that teams in the 70s did, something that my dad witnessed - it never even occurred to me that I might one day see a team do it. I'd seen a Liverpool team win a CL before, I'd seen us challenge for league titles too, but to do both at the same time is something completely new. This year I think we're going to win the league, I've said it from day one, but even if we don't we've got Jurgen Klopp and as long as he's here we'll win it someday. It's an absolute privilege to have this man managing our club, let's just appreciate every second of it.