As so often, and in this case so fittingly, there’s a perfect German word.
Menschenfänger: roughly translated into English as ‘people-catcher’, a figure who by the strength of their personality attracts others to a shared journey and fills them with the belief anything can be achieved.
Sounds familiar, right?
Sounds like the absolutely ideal way to describe Jürgen Klopp and his impact at Liverpool FC.
“It’s quite frequent I got told that people see me like that,” he said recently. “I love people. I’m curious, I’m interested, I want to learn, I want to listen and I want to meet people and all these kind of things.
“But that’s all my view – and if on that way, people want to follow or want to be part of the group, they are more than welcome, definitely.
“That’s the only way I understood life my whole life. That gave me a lot of fantastic moments.”
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Klopp famously identified the need for such an injection of hope into the club immediately upon his arrival as Liverpool manager back in October 2015, acknowledging on his first day that he wanted to turn ‘doubters into believers’.
That mission has certainly been accomplished.
The Reds would only manage an eighth-placed finish in the league at the end of Klopp’s partial first season, but there was already the sense that a journey had begun.
Emphatic away victories over Chelsea and Manchester City early in his tenure had hinted at what was possible when the new boss’ brand of ‘heavy-metal football’ – founded on high energy, hard pressing and clinical attacking – clicked.
Two cup final appearances – Liverpool narrowly missed out in both the League Cup and Europa League that year – only underpinned the idea that the club was back on an upward trajectory.
As important as the development being seen on the pitch, however, was Klopp’s influence off it.
A frank, honest and wise communicator, his warmth of character and very human touch struck a chord with his newly adopted city. And he quickly harmonised players, staff and supporters into one very powerful whole.
“We try to create situations where everybody in the stadium and around the world who is interested in LFC feels really good,” he said. “And that it’s difficult not to have a smile on their face when they think of LFC. That’s what our first job is.”
The team’s steps forward continued in 2016-17, with qualification for a return to Champions League football achieved on the final day of the season at Anfield.
In had come the likes of Sadio Mane, Joel Matip and Georginio Wijnaldum, and the project’s evolution advanced with the addition of recruits including Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah in the summer of 2017.
Perhaps even the ever-optimistic Klopp could not have forecast the thrilling run to the European Cup final that followed, though.
Spearheaded by the attacking trident of Roberto Firmino, Mane and Salah that would become so emblematic of this Reds side, they swashbuckled their way to Kyiv to the sound of Allez, Allez, Allez in the stands.
Another near-miss ensued, Real Madrid running out 3-1 winners on that May 2018 night, but within hours of the final whistle the boss himself was back on Merseyside insisting – singing, no less – that they would be back.
And he was right.
Bolstered further by the arrivals of Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Virgil van Dijk, and others – as well as the emergence from the Academy of homegrown star Trent Alexander-Arnold – Liverpool were outstanding in 2018-19, justifiably christened ‘mentality monsters’ by their manager.
The Premier League title cruelly eluded them, despite recording the rarefied figures of 30 wins, seven draws, just one defeat and 97 points, with Manchester City one point better.
But Champions League redemption awaited.There was the miracle of Anfield, when a 3-0 semi-final deficit against Barcelona was overturned on one of the stadium’s greatest nights. Corner taken quickly, Origi, a 4-0 win and a ticket to Madrid.