’As fake as his teeth’: Klopp blasted over Red Bull role

It was just a month ago when Jurgen Klopp visited Dortmund and set in the dugout of a sell-out stadijum once again, as he was one of the coaches in the testimonial game for Borussia Dortmund legends Łukasz Piszczek and Jakub Błaszczykowski. He was cheered and greeted as he deserves, but after news broke out that he is joining Red Bull in 2025, things turned in opposite direction. Not to say that he is ’dead’ for all 81000 fans in the stadum, but many of them blasted their favorite coach on social networks and many Germany columnists all over the country did the same.

Even you Brutus? Reds' icon goes to Red Bull

Jurgen Klopp is without a doubt the most favorite German coach in recent decade and often seen as the future national team coach (that’s why he inserted a release clause in his Red Bull contract). So, the dissapointment was much bigger when he took the role of head of football for the RB clubs Leipzig Salzburg, New York, Bragantino (Brazil) and Omiya Ardija (Japan) then if it was some other coach. But what is the problem with Red Bull? Well, in a German league, which still operates under the 50+1 rule (meaning members - essentially fans - own the majority of shares and can influence decisions such as ticket prices), Red Bull showed up, took RB Leipzig and made him a big club, which was esencially a minor team without a tradition. What is worse, accoring to their rivals, Red Bull company exploited the system by having just 17 members with voting rights - most are directly linked to Red Bull - and got around a law stating teams must not be named after sponsors.

Main criticism for fans around Germany, who literally hate RB Leipzig is that the energy drink company is buying its success with its millions and is only using football to sell even more cans of drinks. So the fact that their beloved coach is in their system now is really painful. Everybody knew that Klopp was not going to be sitting in his villa doing nothing. After all, he said himself that he ’will do something again at some point. I'm too young to just do padel tennis and grandchildren. Maybe I'll find something else", but everybody thought he will just wait the opportunity to become German coach. And now this.

“Now I have time and I have the opportunity, and I want to see and feel and figure out what is useful for football. So developing football a little bit as well. Really looking forward to it, but now I go back on holiday. See you in January“ he said on his social media account, prompting rage from fans all over Germany, especially Borussia Dortmund. RB are often referred to as the "most hated club in Germany" and have faced regular protests by opposition fans, ranging from boycotting games to the arrest of 28 Borussia Dortmund fans for throwing cans and stones at rival supporters in 2017.

And while his former boss in Dortmund Hans Joachim-Watzke and Germany’s legend Lotthar Matthaus aprove the move, the fans and columnists are not in a forgiving mood.

"How much can one squander their reputation within a second?" one user posted on X. Another wrote: "I have something positive from the Klopp message for you: In Dortmund, it is now finally possible to emotionally close the Jurgen Klopp era. No more nostalgic moaning that is hindering the current sporting process". „Hypocrite" and "selling out" have been the most used words on social media to describe Klopp’s decision to join Red Bull.

Columnists in German paper were equally harsh.

"Klopp presented himself to Liverpool as 'The Normal One', as opposed to 'The Special One', Mourinho, which earned him praise. Today, many believe he has adopted what is common in this industry: following the money. This news has caused great unease among fans"wrote Marcus Krämer of Der Spiegel. “Klopp "destroyed his own monument in a matter of seconds. Signing with Red Bull is tearing his façade apart and torpedoing everything his fans believe he stands for. In their eyes, Klopp is making a deal with the devil. Jürgen Klopp has now sold out and completely thrown his previously undisputed authenticity overboard, probably for a lot of mone“ t-online.de wrote, while Münchner Merkur jurnalist Günter Klein called him “as fake as his teeth. He said he would always vote left, joined a company whose media activities have contributed significantly to the rise of the right. At some point, Klopp will realize that Global Head of Soccer is a fantastic title, that there is no urgent work to be done and that he is just a Red Bull advertising stunt". Ouch.