Thursday 15 September 2016 14:21, UK
Ahead of their Friday night fixture away to Chelsea, I sat down to interview Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp.
Guess what? He didn't leap around, celebrate two minutes into the chat, lose his glasses or profess an undying obsession with heavy metal. Shock to the system? Not for those who know him and work with him.
Yes, he does AT TIMES conform to that stereotype image, but it would be a fool who judged him on that and indeed it does him a disservice to pigeon-hole him in that fashion. He is a deep-thinking, articulate, far-sighted coach who just happens to have not only a bright engaging personality, but also a lovely turn of phrase that those of us in the media devour with relish.
In our chat, he almost accepted his media persona with a smile, while politely pointing out that image is just a small part of him and certainly doesn't define or represent him. No complaints, just a comfort with the reality.
He is so engaging to be in conversation with because he sees and absolutely loves football for what it is. Which other coach would say that they loved the fact they could be beaten by Burnley? To clarify, he was hugely upset by the result, disappointed by parts of Liverpool's performance, but he thinks it is absolutely brilliant that in this league it doesn't matter who you are, how much you've spent, or where you are in the table, anybody can beat anybody. He just doesn't do agenda of rhetoric.
Again, on the subject of Liverpool covering more ground than any other team so far this season? "We don't do it because we want to, we do it because at that moment, it's the right thing to do."
So the next time you see Klopp interviewed, listen carefully because what you get is far more than what you see.
Watch Geoff Shreeves' interview with Jurgen Klopp in full across all Sky Sports platforms on Friday morning, and tune into Friday Night Football at 6.30pm on SS1 HD to watch Chelsea v Liverpool.
