NewsSteven Gerrard leads Jürgen Klopp tributes: 'He has done an incredible job'

That sentiment is shared and believed among a whole host of legendary former Anfield figures.

After leading Liverpool to a trophy in his final season at the helm and guiding the club back to the Champions League, Klopp departs L4 with an incredible legacy over his nine years in the dugout.

He brought the league title back to Anfield after a 30-year absence and clinched a sixth European Cup, while delivering the FIFA Club World Cup to the packed Anfield trophy cabinet for the first time.

In a special tribute to the departing Klopp, 11 legends who have pulled on the shirt pay their own fond farewells to an adopted Scouser who will always have a place in Kopites' hearts…

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Steven Gerrard

"I will miss Jürgen mostly because he is up there with the best coaches in the world, he improves players and builds winning teams that are brilliant to watch.

"He has done an incredible job here. It hurts more when someone feels part of the LFC family, he is one of us.

"I wish him well and want to thank him for everything he has achieved but also for being normal, humble, funny and an all-round great person. What a man!"

Robbie Fowler

"When you look at the transition from what Liverpool is now to when Jürgen took over, what he has brought to the table when you talk about managers and what they achieve, he has been nothing short of exceptional.

"There is a lot of love from myself, the fact that he has brought Liverpool as a football club to the very top. When you talk about him as a manager you are certainly putting him on the top table with all the great managers that our club has had.

"When you think of us as a football team, for us to be sitting amongst the elite again is incredible. I'm proud of the fact that I know him and I'm proud of the fact of the job he has done at Liverpool because it has been exceptional, it really has.

"To go out with a trophy in his final season was another special day out for the club and a special moment for Jürgen. I remember when he came in and he said we win together and we lose together. With him there is a genuineness about him.

"I will always remember when we lost the Europa League final to Sevilla. The club had organised a party in the hotel after the game and I remember it being really subdued and not a great atmosphere.

"Then Jürgen got up and spoke and by the time he had finished that speech I genuinely thought we had won the Europa League that night!

"It was clear in what he was saying and what he envisaged about the club moving forward and what the plans were, because I genuinely came away from that thinking: 'Wow, this manager and this person is an absolute superstar!'

"OK, he won stuff and he lost stuff with Liverpool, but the legacy and the enjoyment he leaves behind for everyone, it's just a joy to have been part of a journey. Let's hope the journey from a Liverpool point of view continues for a long, long time.

"What Jürgen brought to this club and to the fans, it's just been an absolute honour to be part of something that he's brought to the table."

Ray Houghton

"It's been absolutely fantastic. I remember when he first came in and people were looking at him thinking, 'Right what can you do?' I remember Jürgen saying he would win the Premier League in four or five years, and a few people wondered if that was possible but he was true to his word, and as the fans' song says he did exactly what he said he would do.

"It's just the way he came in and he understood what the public wanted, what the Liverpool supporters were looking for. He had a perfect understanding of that. They bought into him and he bought into them, and it all married together as one.

"Virtually from day one we saw his style of football. It was pressing and what very much came across to me watching him on the sidelines was he was the manager.

"You don't always get that these days with the manager being the main man because you get players with higher profile, but for me Klopp was always in charge.

"We saw a couple of players leave and we saw that it was he who was in charge and I like that because that's exactly the way it should be.

"When you look back there are some truly unforgettable memories and nights at Anfield. Of course you would want more league titles but he has been up against a team like Manchester City who have been irresistible, but Liverpool under Klopp pushed them so close.

"He brought trophies back and he also brought a hunger and a passion for the game again that the fans really bought into, and the players.

"He has given a pathway for the youngsters as we saw in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea, and he has never been afraid to bring the youngsters in to give them a chance to see how they shine."

Ronnie Whelan

"When I heard the news Klopp was leaving it was like when the news broke around the city that Bill Shankly was leaving Liverpool. Nobody could believe it but we all know what this man brought to this football club.

"He said when he arrived we would be playing heavy metal football and we are going to be in people's faces all the time. The players started getting used to it, we got great results and it's just been an absolute revelation because the place needed lifting.

"Liverpool fans needed lifting. Yes, we won a cup here and there but it was the Premier League title we wanted because we hadn't won it for so long, and Klopp delivered that and the Champions League.

"Having come so close to beating Manchester City to the title by just one point you were thinking, 'How can we do this and beat them to it?' But he did it and he found a way.

"Klopp for me goes down as one of the all-time great managers alongside Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, he is up there with them all. He's been absolutely magnificent for Liverpool Football Club and it's so, so sad that he has gone. It has been a great ride."

Ian Rush

"I just think he is right up there with the top managers this club has ever had. You look at Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Sir Kenny Dalglish, what he's done is created not one team but two great Liverpool teams.

"Last year when we didn't do so well people were not expecting a good season for this one but if you said at the start of the season we'd have a great day out at Wembley and win a trophy and qualify for the Champions League, you would have taken that all day long.

"People are saying it's a disappointing season and it is in a way because Jürgen's standards are so high and that's what Klopp does, sets the standards so high, so he has to be right up there.

"Klopp is like a modern-day Shankly. Shanks put the foundations in and Bob Paisley took them to a different level. Bob wasn't a great talker but Shankly was and when you look at Jürgen he is a modern-day Shankly.

"He is very passionate, he shows that passion in the dugout and with the fans as well and that's why the fans love him."

John Aldridge

"Well, what can you say about Jürgen that's not been said? He brought a lot of smiles to our faces and made us proud to be Liverpool fans.

"Only for Manchester City doing what they've done, we would have won a lot more league titles under Jürgen, no doubt about that.

"Don't forget, Klopp took us to three Champions League finals and that night when we won against Tottenham in Madrid was just a magical night when we won it six times. That takes some doing getting us to four European cup finals, three of them in the Champions League.

"I was at Anfield for LFCTV commentating on those unforgettable European nights against Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, amazing! His team-talks, wow, his decisions and how he got us there was just frighteningly good.

"After Shankly, for me Jürgen has been the most endearing. He has been absolutely incredible and we took him to our hearts."

Phil Thompson

"First of all Jürgen leaves us with trophies. We've always been on the map but for various reasons and various managers, maybe our esteem slipped slightly, but Klopp brought it back in force.

"To quote the great man, 'He made people happy'. We were proud to wear the shirt every summer for what he's done and it's just his values were our values, our values were his values.

"We've got to be thankful for what we have had with him and for what he has given us, his energy, his commitment, his passion is just incredible. As a fan I am eternally grateful for what he has done for us.

"When Jürgen demanded your effort you joined in and it was a combined effort with the players and the fans, and that is where you get the magic happening.

"We saw all those great European nights but why did they happen? It's not just because of the players, but when you get both together it's very difficult to stop.

"The miracle of Istanbul is a perfect example of that and Jürgen's values echo that, and I just think what has become his love for the club was very welcome and he has given us the best years of his life and he has loved it."

Natasha Dowie

"I think Jürgen means everything to this football club.

"I was lucky enough recently to meet him properly for the first time and get my Jürgen hug. It meant the world to me. He invited me into his office for 45 minutes to sit down and talk with him and it was everything and more I expected him to be.

"First and foremost, a good human being but he gets us, he gets the Liverpool people and he is an adopted Scouser!

"As soon as he came to the club I just feel he really embedded just what this great city is all about, he will forever be a legend.

"He is an ambassador as well for the LFC Foundation and he told me that is a great excuse for him to come back. Liverpool is his home now so I'm sure we will see more of him in the future.

"I am sad to see him go but feel very honoured and privileged to have been on the sidelines watching him manage this great club for so many years.

"It has been so exciting and it's been everything that we wanted. It has been great to see the team win trophy after trophy, I was lucky enough to be in Madrid when we won the Champions League against Tottenham, and I know it was during COVID but it was just so special to lift the title again.

"He has brought so much happiness to the club. It's not just about winning trophies but it's also about the way he has held himself here throughout his time at the club, I just think he really is a special person. There will be nobody else like Jürgen Klopp."

Gary Gillespie

"Apart from being a top manager, which he obviously is, he is a top bloke as well. From day one when he walked through the door he said he is going to turn us from doubters to believers. He already did that in the space of a season-and-a-half, if not even before.

"He has been incredible, to be honest with you, and he has been a breath of fresh air. The football that we have witnessed during his tenure was something to behold and it has been a joy to commentate on it in my role at LFCTV.

"Klopp won us the Premier League title, which he told us he would do, and we did exceptionally well in the European competitions as well and domestic cup competitions.

"All in all, it has been a great time to be a Liverpool supporter and the other thing I would like to add is even though he has departed I think he leaves us in a far better place than what it was when he actually took over himself.

"I think Jürgen Klopp was absolutely incredible for Liverpool Football Club."

Sammy Lee

"When I think of Jürgen Klopp I say Bill Shankly!

"One of the reasons why we are such a wonderful club and have such great esteem worldwide is because of the foundations that Shanks laid down. We've had some great players and managers since then but this guy Klopp is the closest to Shankly without a shadow of a doubt.

"For me, whenever people ask what two words epitomise Jürgen Klopp it's Bill Shankly, and for a number of reasons.

"He gets the aspirations of the football club and what it's all about, he gets the city and he gets the people. He is a man of the people, exactly like the great man Shanks was all those decades ago.

"The way he has handled our club is incredible, not just the young players who he gave opportunities to, but everybody. He has brought the respect back to this club and it's the way this club is revered throughout the world, which it has been for decades.

"For me, Klopp brought the fear back into the name of Liverpool Football Club. Wherever we go in Europe and wherever we go in the world we are feared and we are respected, and I love that about him.

"He will be a massive miss for this football club."

Alan Kennedy

"For me he has taken the football club to another level. He has always been positive in what he has done. He had a style of play he wanted Liverpool to play. When I was a player we were a traditional Liverpool 4-4-2 team and he brought in the 4-3-3. I loved the way he did it and he brought in the right players and he has been one of Liverpool's best ever managers.

"Witnessing Liverpool at Anfield under Klopp has just been absolutely fantastic.

"In certain respects and obviously I played under the great Bob Paisley, it's a bit like him in he knew how to get the best out of his players and he knew how to do it. Jürgen is exactly the same.

"He knew how to look after his players, he knew how to treat them and we saw the results on the pitch. The team has been fantastic and I've really enjoyed watching them under Jürgen."