Klopp, my friend, we want what's good for you. You should retire while you are at the top. Oh God help me! I was a striker! A sniper! I was as sharp as a needle, picture perfect, by the book! What book, friend? All your goals with our team were just luck. You made me a defender because I was tall, and I didn't say anything! I was a rock! Jürgen, dear, your colleagues call you "the ozone hole"! Odds say that you are not a very good player. And where is this top that I am retiring at? Klopp! We were going to throw you a huge party! And a great award ceremony! But none of the players showed up! One second! Hello! I almost had it. I bought a house next to the club, and had a parking spot saved for me every day! I wonder what does time have in store for you, Jürgen? What's in store? What do you mean coach wants to leave? Who would coach instead? We are in the middle of a season! Hey Boss, I want to be the new coach. Would you be OK with me being unemployed? I know the team by heart, one by one! And I have a whiteboard, and I know how to whistle with my mouth and yell. Check this out... Stop, Jürgen. Don't be stupid! I don't have any financial requests, and I don't need new deals. You will get a housewife who is perfect in mercato. Also, things can't get worse than they are. Look, Jürgen... all odds say that this experiment will fail. But I'll agree to it. So, you said none of the guys came to the party, and they call me "the ozone hole", right?! Now excuse me! I have a job to do! Go ahead, Mr. Jürgen! Hello, dear viewers! Welcome to a new episode of ElDaheeh! On February 26th 2001, something completely unimportant happens. German Mainz player Jürgen Klopp announced his retirement from football. That news wasn't important at all, my friend. Honestly, we are being generous when we say that news, my friend. So what if an unknown player in a second-tier club in Germany retired? But the real news, based on what we know now, happened the next day on February 27th, when the Mainz Club management announced the appointment of Jürgen Klopp, who just retired yesterday, as the temporary technical director until the end of the season. Mainz at the time was relegated to the third division. They changed 3 coaches since the beginning of the season. The last of which was coach Eckhard Krautzun. He sounds like an enzyme, not a director! He is definitely released somewhere in the body. Anyway, this coach lost 5 out of 9 matches. He trained the team and only won one match. Then, with the logic of 'beating a dead horse', the club management said: "We're getting relegated either way, so, let's make Klopp the technical director, until we figure out what to do next season. He knows the team and has been in this club for years. Everyone loves him, and his reputation is good. So, let's go, Uncle Klopp! Come on! I mean, we can't do any worse than this! Show us, Mr. Falcon!" Let me tell you, my friend, that Klopp was only 33 years old at the time. He didn't have any training experience, and didn't think about what he wanted to do in life yet. He took a gap hour between jobs, not a gap year! What does he do now? He was taken straight to hell! He even talked about his shock in the first press conference he attended, when he discovered that he can't say: "I don't know." And that a coach is supposed to have all the answers. He discovered that he can't express himself childishly. He compared his life as a player to his life as a coach. When he was a player, he would exercise, eat, exercise, and go home. Not worried about anything. It's a routine. But this coaching job is very difficult. He does it for 24 hours, even while he is sleeping. But despite the confusion, anxiety, and lack of experience, surprisingly, my friend, this man, who just showed up and doesn't have any training experience, won 6 of the last 7 matches! The ones that remained in the season! Klopp, my friend, saved Mainz from relegation, and raised them to 14th place in the second division league table. The truth is that this was a very big surprise at the time, especially, in the state that the team was in. "We were getting relegated either way! The strange thing is that the element that was changed, which is Klopp, had no training experience. But the common thing in all the stories told by Mainz players and fans about this particular period and the reason for this small miracle is that: Klopp had discovered in himself a special ability that no one taught him. Klopp, my friend, had the ability to build a close relationship with everyone. A gift he discovered in Mainz, and continued along with him. And it became one of his most important tools as a coach. Klopp would talk to the players a lot about the game plan, He listened and explained their tasks to them, and explained the roles he wanted from them. And in a small city, where the population does not exceed 200,000 such as Mainz, he would also talk to the fans and discuss the details of the matches. He also let them attend training. When he did this, he was able to double the players' effort on the field like magic. It made them run more and give more to the team. He also doubled the enthusiasm of the fans in the streets. When Klopp took over, my friend, something happened in the club. Everyone started having a sense of responsibility towards the club. Sandro Schwarz, a Mainz player at the time, said that the players felt at the time that "This boss was one of us and that we were one large community that included the entire city with our boss standing in the front with the flag." And then, one of the most beautiful football stories began, my friend. Of course, after Mainz survived relegation and remained in the league, Klopp renewed his contract for another year. Remember, my friend, that nobody expected anything from him yet. No achievement is expected. "What happened at the end of last season was probably sweet beginnings. Just beginner's luck, a little adrenaline, and it's gone." But, my friend, for Klopp the situation was different. It was as if he found himself, he knew what he wanted to do. He knew that he might be a bad football player, or just a weak one, But it seems like he had potential as a coach. A Walter White moment, my friend. When he realized that Heisenberg is a more successful person. Klopp felt, for the first time in his life, that he is fulfilling his father's hopes in him. His father, Norbert, wanted to be big football player. And when he failed, he did what most fathers do. He put all his dreams onto Jürgen Klopp. "Son, you will do what I couldn't do." "Well, what will I do, sir?" "Son, you will do what I couldn't do." “Yes, I want to know what it is?" "Son, you will do what I couldn't do." -"Which is?" -"What I couldn’t do. Being a successful person and a role mode." Klopp was a player who didn't fulfill his father's hopes. His career as a striker in Mainz was only 56 goals in about 350 matches. That means he scores one goal every 6 or 7 matches, my friend. And he is a striker for a team in the 14th place in the second division. Clearly, my friend, when he did not do well as a striker, he turned into, not even a midfielder, No, he went down two positions and became a defender. The second half of his career was spent as a defender with Mainz. They noticed that he was a tall player, and said: "Let us take advantage of that in defense. You go back there as a defender, and change light bulbs in the club!" Despite all that, his father always encouraged and supported him until he died. The sad thing, my friend, is that Klopp's father died only 4 months before Jürgen Klopp retired as a football player. He died before he seeing his son managing a team in the second division successfully. It seems that the death of Klopp's father affected him one way or another. He felt like it was the end, and he retired. Jürgen's retirement opened the path for him to find his place overnight. Maybe then, he will fulfill his father's hopes. In preparations for the 2001-02 season, Klopp's first real training season, he began coaching the team on the tactic he later became famous for: Gegenpressing or "counter pressing." He trained them to keep running and to make up for any difference in abilities between them and the opponents By just trying to make more effort. Jürgen began to enjoy the idea of becoming a coach. And training a team like Mainz, a team in the second division, was considered the best school for him. A simple environment with no high expectations from him where he can learn, not only as a coach, but as a human being. He learned all over again how to look at the idea of wining, or losing. Mainz was a small town, as we said, they never reached the Bundesliga, or the German primary league. So, the people there did not take football seriously. "Well, we come to the stadium every weekend to have fun. We win? We will celebrate and sing. We lose? Well, it was a nice outing, and we will go to the park next. And we sing '99 Bottles oh bear'." This atmosphere helped Jürgen Klopp try again and again with the ball, the training and the adding young players. He also tried, my friend, to reflect at his life as a player. For example, he looks at young players, and he knows the kind of attention they need that he didn't get. Realizing this helped him make them feel more cared for. And with Mainz, where there are few pressures, Klopp discovered another super-ability in himself, which is his ability to do something we will see later in the future, which is the creation of hope. Klopp was able to make everyone believe in a dream. No matter how far away, no matter how many times they lost he can convince them that they are capable of achieving it. "Abo Hmeed, this is all sentimental and emotional, and it does not make a living!" This time, my friend, you are half-impatient! Why? Because it is sentimental and emotional, but it does make a living. We'll see. But in the second episode. I don't want to say any spoilers! Professor Chan Hellman, Director of a research center at the University of Oklahoma called Hope Research Center, defines hope as: The belief that the future will be better than the present. And that y'all have the will and power to make it. "The professor said "y'all", Abo Hmeed?" Actually, he said "yeehaw" at the end, but I fixed it! Also, in Oklahoma, they are a bit closer to the South so, the accent is different. Anyway, Professor Hellman divides hope into 3 steps. As if it is a mathematical equation consisting of: A goal, path, and willpower. Without the path, or the willpower, you have a wish, not hope. What I want to say and what my colleague Hellman also says is that for hope to be hope, someone must believe it and work to achieve it, to find a possibility that did not exist. He must create it from imagination, and make it a tangible reality, even if it hasn't been achieved yet, which is what Klopp did. And from his first full training season, he increased the spirit and ambition of the team along with its fans, players and management. Everyone wanted to work hard. And hope in the case of Mainz is promotion from the second division for the Bundesliga for the first time in the club's history. And when a coach who's doing this for the first time comes up to me with a team that has never been to the Bundesliga, and he tells me all that, of course I will laugh! "Son, we have never been to the Bundesliga, or know nothing about it. People are happy and chill here in Mainz." The truth is that Klopp does not give up. And he continued, like we said, to trying and sow hope. And with time and winnings, people around him, whether in the team or the crowd, start to be more convinced of his dream. Reaching the Bundesliga is no longer just a wish, it become a hope. And indeed, my friend, Mainz kept going like this, until the last 3 weeks before the end of the league. It was in the top 3 qualifying positions for the first division league. After being in a relegation position to the third division last year. In the 2001-02 season, Mainz needed to win only one match out of the remaining matches in order to qualify. They had, my friend, were 3 matches. They played the first, a tie. They played the second, a tie. In the third match against the Union Berlin team, the German capital, a tie was enough for them. They needed a point. Indeed, my friend, the tie continued until the final 8 minutes of the match, before Union Berlin scores a goal and defeats Mainz 2 to 1. And Mainz loses the opportunity for a historic promotion to the first division. The cause of this strong disorientation the last 3 matches might be something related to experience or stress. It is also possible that the team felt fatigued after a very long season. They played stressful matches, which requires physical and mental effort especially, with Klopp's method of play. It's hard to keep doing your best for a whole season. Anyway, Klopp experienced a feeling on that day that will be repeated many times. The first big shock in his life as a coach was that his team, Mainz, had collected 64 points, the highest number of points scored by a team in the second division's history without qualifying for the Bundesliga. On the same day, Klopp experienced feelings that a coach rarely finds, which is almost unconditional support from the public! Can you imagine, my friend? You lost and you didn't qualify. You were very close and didn't qualify. Then, you find the audience welcoming you, saying: "We all have your back, Jürgen!" Klopp was met with 20,000 fans waiting for the team. A tenth of the city's population was in the street celebrating him and his team, as if they had qualified. They told him: "If you weren't the coach, we wouldn't be here at all." Klopp felt, according to him, that "as long as we are here with the fans then nothing else matters." His skin thickened that night. It created the philosophy that for the rest of his career he continued to believe in, whether he won or lost. Every now and then he warns of it and says that the final result is not the end. It does not determine whether the trip was worth it or not. And if you think like that, you will miss the trip itself. Klopp expressed the same words exactly 20 years after that moment, when he was at the peak of his career as a coach, and competing for a historic quadruple with Liverpool in 2022. Then, he went on a press conference and said that people who measure the success or failure of Liverpool's season according to numbers, and championships, are missing the real meaning of the whole game. Notice, he said that while he was winning, not losing. He said: "It is not about championships, or numbers. There are many greater meanings in the coach's relationship with players, the player's relationship with the audience, and all three together. Championships are nice and everything, but there is something more important in this game and this life." "Abo Hmeed, he just doesn't want to be blamed if he loses." That's why we witness a scene a few hours after the loss of Mainz, Jürgen Klopp standing with the people and telling them: "We will try next year, God willing!" "What? Klopp said God willing?" He had the intent, my friend. He said "God willing" in English. And come, my friend, next year, and Mainz, on the last day of the season after the end of their last match, they were already qualified for the Bundesliga on only one condition: that Frankfurt, who competed with them for promotion, does not win their match by more than two goals. Frankfurt, when the Mainz match ended, was wining by 4 to 3, and there were 3 minutes left until the end of the match! And you know well, my friend, from the coach's episodes what happens when ElDaheeh talks about the final 3 minutes of any football match! "I'm worried!" What you imagined and feared, my friend, happened. "Klopp succeeded?" Is he Guardiola? Are you afraid of him? Klopp is a good character in the episode. Encourage him till the end. What happened is that Frankfurt actually scored two goals in the last 30 seconds. The match ended 6 to 3. So, Frankfurt scored the 3 goals they needed to qualify for the Bundesliga. Therefore, "We will try again next year, God willing." And the same sad tape is repeated again, my friend. Heartbreak, frustration, trying to hold it together, and the ride back on the Mainz bus at night. And to their surprise, they were met with the audience welcoming them. Everything is repeating the same, even Klopp's encouragement for them. Of course, my friend, the shock this time was stronger. And doubt struck the team. Holding on to hope after the first defeat is possible, but after another defeat, it is difficult to hold on to hope. We are human. It is normal to doubt. That's why, in the next season, the 2003-04 season, after two seasons where Mainz lost the opportunity to qualify in the final minutes in the final round, once for a point, and once for a goal, the team's performance level had decreased. The team lost amazing matches at home and away. They tied for 15 full matches out of 34. The team, unlike years before, achieved only 54 points at the end of the season, which was 8 points less than the previous season. "Not again, Abo Hmeed! They returned on bus, and the crowd was waiting for them, and "no you did your best, boys", and Klopp encouraged them and said: "Next year, God willing. we will do it, and repeat it, and win!"" -No, my friend. -"No? People got mad at them, Abo Hmeed?" No, no, my friend. They qualified. "What? Jürgen Klopp, with this stupid team, qualified for the Bundesliga?" -Yes. -"What? But they had a bad season!" That's the lesson. The truth, my friend, is that this was the season where the jinx ended. Mainz finally reached the league of spotlight and fame. And the curse of the last day that hit the team the past two seasons was transformed by an almighty power, when the Energie Cottbas team competing with Mainz for promotion, who was ahead of mainz before the final match by 3 points, this team lost the match, and Mainz won. This is life. Sometimes with you, and against you, and against you, and against you, and against you. Mainz, my friend, was qualified for the Bundesliga like how Klopp had hoped for 3 years. The truth is that this was a very important lesson for Jürgen. It's that he could have a historic season, where he gets 64 points and not achieve his goal. And he could also to score 54 points in an average season and achieve his goal. He could be the highest team in the second division to win points and not qualify. And also be the least team in history to score points in the second division and be qualified. Now, where is the wining? And where is losing? Which moment was better, and deserved celebration more? Once again, Klopp knew that all he had to do was strive, believe, and work hard. But when, where, and how will his goal take place is governed by many circumstances. The important thing is that one must keep trying. Klopp's journey with Mainz that lasted for another 4 years, my friend, including 3 seasons in the Bundesliga, and even though they were the team with the lowest budget among the German League teams during these years, Jürgen Klopp's ability to discover and develop the talents of the young players made up for this budget difference. Who, my friend, was one of these talented players? "Mohamed Salah was in Nagrig at the time, right?" The Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan. Rigobert Song Mohamed Zidan was player who Jürgen Klopp added from the Werder Bremen club. And he played two excellent seasons with him at Mainz. He scored 21 goals out of 41 matches. That's means one goal, no goal, one goal, no goal. Of course, the type of tactics that Klopp used which depended on counter pressure, the legendary effort by the players, and the advanced tactical understanding of German football at that time, all of this helped Mainz under Klopp's coaching finish his first two seasons in 11th place. The warm area of the Bundesliga. Again, they had the lowest budget in the teams. Klopp's tactics turned heads. Klopp's tactics, my friend, was different. It caught the eyes of everyone who watched the German League at the time And although the team was relegated in the 2006-07 season, their third season in the Bundesliga, Klopp, who was then the most famous German coach, to the point that his name was mentioned to Bayern Munich which is the most important football club in Germany. "Wow, Abo Hmeed! What a great information. I thought that Gomhoriat Shebin was the greatest in Germany!" Despite, the team's decline and the rise of Klopp's star, Klopp decided to stay with them until they get promoted. But, my friend, for the third time, they fail to be promoted to the Bundesliga. And also on the final day! The sad thing, my friend, is that this time the scene of the bus that returns and is welcomed by the fans, but does not happen this time, because Jürgen Klopp had decided to leave. The story that started 18 years ago for a 23-year-old young player, where he went from being a striker, to a defender, to the team coach standing by the bench, to the man behind the dreams and hopes of this team, which got them to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history. Here, the story ends. But Jürgen Klopp is a great coach who is 41 years old. His name is famous, and all German clubs wish he would coach them. The fans went out to say goodbye to their coach, who had chosen a new journey and a much bigger challenge. At the same time, my friend, when Mainz was struggling, to stay in the Bundesliga, there was another team struggling to regain glories of the past, and failing. A team known as Borussia Dortmund. "This is Zaidan's club, Abo Hmeed?" Borussia Dortmund, which in 2008, finished the league in 13th place. A huge scandal for an ancient club. They had won the Champions League in 1997. Only 9 years before that, they were European champions. But actually, the moment they won the championship was what almost destroyed this club. It caused them to barely reach the Bundesliga. -You asked how. I will tell you. -"Abo Hmeed, don't." I'm telling you that Dortmund in the mid-nineties had aspired to be one of the biggest clubs in Europe, not just Germany. Football, my friend, was changing after the historic Bozeman law, which was issued in 1995. This law gave any player the freedom to transfer from any club, after his contract with them expires. "Oh no, Abo Hmeed! Was that not the case before?" Yes, my friend. The player sometimes was forced to stay at the same club throughout his career if the club wanted to. If you don't like it, stay at home till the end of your contract! Slavery! Despite, my friend, the importance of this law in terms of players' rights, and human rights, in order for players to no longer belong to clubs like slaves, however, as most football analysts see, such as Simon Kuper, Stefan Szymanski, and Louay Fawzy. this law restricted the title of "European elite clubs" to a very small group of clubs that have money. Now, they can attract players and tempt their clubs to sell instead of their contract ending and leaving. Dortmund, which won the German League twice, in 1995 and 1996, then, in 1997, they won the Champions League against Juventus, had an ambition to become one of these elite clubs. To stand in a row next to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Italian clubs. And Pharco, Al-Ittihad and CS Sfaxien “Yes, Abo Hmeed. And things turn out good, and we become an elite club, and get funded, and travel to Europe and play matches, and book hotels for free, and meet girls! Since we are among the elite clubs!" I need to tell you, my friend, that you are impatient and irresponsible! But I won't yell at you, since you thought the same way as the Dortmund management. Dortmund thought in the same reckless manner. And they spent insane amounts money from 1998 to 2003 hoping that the club's championships, wins, and their popularity among the fans would make up for these expenses. The expenses that made them break the records of deal-making in Germany more than once. But you reap what you sow. The team was affected by the retirement of legendary coach Ottmar Hitzfeld after winning the Champions. And their bad scores in Europe and most of the league seasons led to bankruptcy. Borussia Dortmund is bankrupt, guys! In 2004, the club's management at the time announced their resignation after some debts accumulated. It was something as simple as $170 million! Things went really bad and the tables have turned that Dortmund had to borrow money from who? $2 million from Bayern Munich, their historic rival, just to pay the players' salaries! Curse you, poverty! You made me need the Germans' help! During this period, my friend, the club was taken over by Dortmund legend Hans-Joachim Watzke. Watzke, my friend, was honest with the audience. He told them: "Forget this Europe thing and the elite Europe clubs for good! We will live like our grandfathers did. All we are going to do is get to zero, so we can start from there. Our budget is at the North Pole, below zero! There are no investments, no players, and there are no championships soon." "So, do you intend to keep the goal posts? Or do we stack two bricks and play? What do we have, Watzle? What do you have to offer? "Honestly, we only have the audience and sweet company, and the soul of the club, if the you found one. The only goal now is for the club avoid bankruptcy and recover from debts." And after the first part of the plan succeeded, and the club was no longer threatened by bankruptcy, Watzke began to set his eyes on Jürgen Klopp, when he saw him analyzing the German national team's matches in the 2006 World Cup. He said: "Isn't this the coach who made a fuss with the stupid Mainz club?" People of Mainz People of Mainz I just got relegated, man! "There is something about this coach and I think he will succeed." Watzke saw in Klopp energy, enthusiasm, and a different point of view on football, especially, when he learned more about his method and his dependence on young players. "I like him. He won't cost us much! He is the man we need, a stingy man, a mastermind who deals with what he has." When he learned that Klopp refused to leave Mainz after their relegation, Watzke saw that as an advantage. The club needed a coach with this character and loyalty, especially, during times like these. And what increased his enthusiasm more is that Klopp preferred Dortmund over more than one German club. Even though all the clubs were in a better state than Dortmund. So in 2008, Watzke succeeds in signing with Klopp. And Klopp became the new coach of Borussia Dortmund. What will Klopp do in this new challenge? When will he meet with Mohamed Salah? And his conflicts with his rival, the bald philosopher? This is what we will see in the next episode. Last, but not least, I remind you to watch the old episodes, and the new ones. Checking, following, and studying the sources! And subscribe to the channel. There's a quiz on sources in the next episode. You better come prepared.