Klopp may be about to emulate one of the best things Bill Shankly did for Liverpool – Our View

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When all is said and done, Jurgen Klopp will go down as a true Liverpool legend.

He’s won the Champions League, he’s delivered a long-awaited league title and he’s once again established Liverpool as a dominant force in global football.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, and the man who replaces Klopp will undoubtedly have massive shoes to fill.

Liverpool are no strangers to replacing legendary managers though, and it seems as though they be about to take the same route they did when Bill Shankly left Anfield.

Nobody needs reminding what a legend Shankly was for Liverpool, he basically built the club from the ground up, and won almost everything there was to win, except for a European Cup.

As with any manager, there came a time when he had to leave the club, but he’d already laid the foundations for Liverpool’s future, as his assistant Bob Paisley was then appointed, and the Reds went on to have even more success under another great manager.

When Paisley decided it was time to pack it in, the Reds appointed his assistant in Joe Fagan, and he also went on to win a European Cup as Liverpool manager.

So, what has this got to do with Klopp? The German has reportedly decided this week that he wants his assistant manager to take the reins when he leaves the club, with reports claiming that he has earmarked Pep Lijnders as the next Liverpool boss.

Of course, it’s a huge reach to compare Lijnders to Paisley at this point, but if Klopp’s understudy was to take over one day, he would be doing so in very similar circumstances.

While he’s not experienced when it comes to managing at this level, if Klopp thinks he’s good enough, we have to trust his judgement, as he’s very rarely steered the Reds in the wrong direction.

Shankly did many great things at Liverpool, but perhaps the greatest thing he ever did was embedding Paisley into the club and handing the reins over to him, as he took the Anfield outfit to even greater heights.

Would Lijnders be able to do similar? Time will tell, we may be talking about something that is years away and we don’t even know if he’ll get the job, but if Klopp does pass the torch down to his assistant it would certainly echo the spirit of Shankly and Paisley all those years ago.