Jurgen Klopp joins Liverpool: Charisma, jeans and jokes – welcome to the ‘Normal One’

Jürgen Klopp gave an animated inaugural press conference after being unveiled as Liverpool’s new manager

The fanatics began to gather before the sun had risen over Merseyside. There was already a sense of a pilgrimage to Anfield while Jürgen Klopp was having an early breakfast way across the city in the prestigious Hope Street Hotel, ahead of his inauguration as the 20th manager in Liverpool’s history.

Had a decision been made to sell tickets for this press unveiling at a match rate, it is not unreasonable to think the queues would have snaked twice around the famous ground.

One season-ticket-holding senior of several generations, someone who would like his name inscribed on his seat in the Centenary Stand when he dies, started his wait outside the stadium’s steel gates at 6.30am.

Klopp was efficiently German, breezing in at 10 on the dot as promised; tieless, wearing a blazer jacket, an unbuttoned shirt tucked into his denim jeans and a pair of trendy loafers.

And then he began to talk. The sense of theatre was unprecedented. Klopp led with an apology for his command of English before spending the next 25 minutes speaking it almost perfectly. But it quickly became apparent that the football language he uses is unlike anything heard from previous Liverpool managers.

There were so many great lines; it was hard to decide which ones were not worth reporting. Klopp admitted that while there might be clubs with more money than Liverpool, his determination is so extreme that he will “drag them down to our level and kill them”.

Yet the “normal guy from the Black Forest with a mother watching at home” is not a Special One like Jose Mourinho; he is the “Normal One”.

Yet Fenway Sports Group, the American owners, chose him over Carlo Ancelotti because they were blown away by his charisma in their first meeting.

Ancelotti was keen but not keen enough to take on the challenge. Klopp proved to FSG – particularly chairman Tom Werner, who was the driving force behind the appointment – that he really wanted the job, impressing with his cultural knowledge of the club and the city.

Werner later explained to locally based journalists that Klopp’s recruitment ended a five-year pursuit.

He wasn’t so keen to delve into the details of why Brendan Rodgers was sacked last Sunday, although The Independent understands that FSG felt the Northern Irishman had strayed too far from the 180-page dossier he presented to them when he was interviewed for the job in 2012 and, ultimately, did not have the strength of character to ensure that the biggest recruitment decisions were defined by him.

The personnel in Liverpool’s much-criticised transfer committee will remain in place but Klopp was emphatic on the issue of who has the controlling influence now. “I will have the first and last word,” he declared before recognising his own limitations, “I am not a genius. I need help in the middle.”

Klopp was eventually taken to another hospitality suite next door where he was able to drive home his missive a little harder than before, using his hands to express the depth of his feelings.

“I am not the guy who is going to go out and shout ‘we are going to conquer the world!’ or something like this,” he began, jabbing his finger into the table in front of him. “We will conquer the ball, yeah? Each fucking time. We will chase the ball. We will run more, fight more. We will work more together, better together. We will have better organisation in defence than the other teams. We have to find our own way to play.”

I will have the first and last word on transfers. But I am not a genius. I need help in the middle

&#13; <p>Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager</p>&#13;

That he believes money does not dictate the outcome of everything is important, because at Liverpool he will be trailing in the spending stakes compared to some other clubs. But it did not seem to bother him.

“If a player doesn’t want to come to Liverpool then stay away,” he warned. “Really. If you think about the weather, stay away. If you think about other things, stay away. If you want to come here you are welcome. That is the first and most important issue.

“The whole world plays football, there are players here and players there. It is only here [in England] that money is such a big thing. It is money, money, money. OK, there is much money. You don’t have to spend all the money! You can hold it and make something else.”

Perhaps Klopp undermined the narrative of his appointment by admitting to watching Liverpool’s last three games stretching back to Aston Villa two weeks ago. He also insisted that by tomorrow he will have viewed every game from this season.

Through his research, he understands that his immediate mission is to improve the mindset of a squad that does not feel good about itself.

“If you feel ‘yes I can miss, [but the] next chance we will get’ then you are free and you can stay confident,” he explained. “That is very important. In the game against Sion, you saw many of the problems because there was so much pressure on the players. We have to work so that they feel good. I couldn’t see any fun in this game. And that is not so good.”

Klopp is unfortunate that his first game in charge of Liverpool is away, at Tottenham Hotspur next Saturday. Had it been at Anfield, there would have been a carnival. Instead, he will have to wait for the visit of Rubin Kazan in the Europa League the following Thursday to consumate his relationship with the Anfield crowd.

But that is a minor detail. “I am a lucky guy,” he said. “I had a special club with Mainz, a special club with Borussia Dortmund and now I am here. This is the best thing I can imagine.”