Pep Lijnders spent six years as Jurgen Klopp’s trusted lieutenant at Liverpool, but was sacked by Red Bull Salzburg earlier this week after a disastrous spell in charge of the Austrian side
Pep Lijnders spent six years as Jurgen Klopp’s trusted lieutenant at Liverpool, but was sacked by Red Bull Salzburg earlier this week after a disastrous spell in charge of the Austrian side Pep Lijnders spent six years as Jurgen Klopp’s trusted lieutenant at Liverpool, but was sacked by Red Bull Salzburg earlier this week after a disastrous spell in charge of the Austrian side
Pep Lijnders has endured a disastrous time since leaving Liverpool alongside Jurgen Klopp in the summer.
Lijnders had originally joined the Reds as a development coach under Brendan Rogers, before being promoted to the role of assistant manager when Klopp joined the club. The pair worked alongside each other for six seasons before the German decided to leave.
Klopp’s No.2 had been seen as a leading candidate to take on the top job at Anfield. But in February, he made it clear he would not be taking on the job and was committed to leaving Merseyside.
“Nobody will replace Jurgen,” he said at the time. “I was clear, to be honest, when we had the talk a long time ago – for me it was clear and it made it easier for me. We knew in the summer, ‘OK we are going towards the end of this project’.
“I always got offers and my heart says yes, but my loyalty to Mike [Gordon] and Jurgen said no. So we agreed to finish this project together and it is the right way to do it. They will find a new coach with ideas and I am excited to manage to find the right club.”
He thought that ‘right club’ would be Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg. But the move has turned out to be a disastrous decision, with Lijnders now out of work after being sacked.
Having brought in Liverpool duo Bobby Clark and Stefan Bajcetic in the summer, Lijnders made a bright start at Salzburg, guiding them through the Champions League qualifying rounds. But since then things have turned sour.
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Getty Images)
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He won just seven out of his 16 league matches in charge and been embarrassed in Europe with five losses in six. He left with the club fifth in the Bundesliga and 32nd in the Champions League.
And with the team languishing 10 points behind league leaders Sturm Graz, Salzburg opted to cut ties with the former Liverpool assistant. Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and Rouven Schroder, their managing director of sport, pointed to disappointing results as the reason for Lijnders’ downfall.
“We began recently to analyse, as planned, what has unfortunately not been a satisfactory season so far. It was clear to see that in many of our matches we have been far short of our own requirements and aims,” they said.
“We have therefore become convinced that our team needs a new impulse under new management. We would like to thank Pep for his work. He put a lot of effort and passion into it and has provided important momentum for our further development.”
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Lijnders’ exit comes just two weeks before he would have been reunited with Klopp, who will become the chief of global football at Red Bull come January. The Dutchman had made another of Klopp’s coaches Vitor Matos his No.2, but he has also been sacked.
Salzburg confirmed on Wednesday that former Bochum boss Thomas Letsch would replace Lijnders as manager. The change also leaves Clark and Bajcetic in limbo, with the duo having been struggling for game-time even under Lijnders.
It is currently unknown if Salzburg will look to cut their stay short now there’s a new man in charge. Besides that, it is a humiliating climbdown for Lijnders, who had previously been backed to succeed in a top job by Klopp.
Klopp told Liverpool’s in-house media in 2017: “Yes, 100 per cent. No doubt. It’s a long way to go and he can still get a lot of information from us and I like how he takes it. I think, in different parts, he has good teachers with us and we like doing it actually.
“He’s much younger than we are so, at one moment, we will stop and he will be ready to stand with his own feet, and I’m really looking forward to that already, watching the games when he’s on the side-lines and can give all his power – and there’s a lot of power – to his team.”
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