Eamon Dunphy: Klopp announcing his decision to quit has ultimately scuppered Liverpool's title bid

When Jurgen Klopp shocked the football world with his plans to quit Anfield at the end of this season, my first thought was to think back to 2001.

Then it was Alex Ferguson who handed in his notice, nearly nine months before he was due to leave.

“I regretted it,” said Ferguson in his second autobiography. And you can see why.

READ MORE: Arne Slot confirms he wants to become Liverpool manager and makes Feyenoord demand

His United team, so dominant in the previous three seasons, became hesitant, less confident, beatable.

By Christmas, Ferguson had changed his mind. But the damage — for the season, at least — had been done.

Footballers, you see, like certainty. They get unsettled when they hear a manager is about to leave.

They panic. They ask questions. “Will the new guy rate me? Will he want me?”

Is this the thing that is happening to Liverpool now?

Anyone watching their defeat to Everton on Wednesday would be tempted to think so.

Jurgen Klopp manager of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC at Goodison Park on April 24, 2024 in Liverpool, England
(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

My own mind drifted back to that period of uncertainty at Old Trafford and then to a different coach, a different time and a different team.

That was Irish rugby in 2019.

The previous November, Joe Schmidt had coached the team to a brilliant victory over New Zealand, the first time Ireland had defeated the All Blacks on home soil.

The following week he announced he was going to leave at the end of the 2019 World Cup. Big deal? No one thought so at the time.

Ireland, officially, were the No 2 side in the world, but in reality, everyone considered them the world’s best.

For not only had they defeated New Zealand, but they had also won a Test series in Australia a few months earlier, and had won the grand slam.

What could go wrong? The answer was everything.

Players like certainty and Schmidt in 2019, like Ferguson in 2001, had sown seeds of doubt.

Come 2019, Ireland lacked cohesion. They lost their first game of the year to England, which in rugby terms, is the equivalent of the Merseyside derby. And they never recovered.

Wales would beat them later that spring, Japan and New Zealand that autumn. It would be another two years before the team recovered.

Is this the same thing that is about to happen to Liverpool now? Potentially so.

For when Klopp goes, the job to replace him will be practically impossible. After all, he has built this team.

He has signed these players, imposed his big personality on the dressing room, got them playing his ‘heavy metal’ football.

So whoever comes next is left with a team built in someone else’s image.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - APRIL 24: Jurgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool, gestures to the away support after the Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC at Goodison Park on April 24, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)

They have a defender, Virgil van Dijk, who will soon be too old. They have a hall of fame striker, Mo Salah, who may soon be sold. They have a full back, Trent Alexander Arnold, who does not like to defend.

Their recent signings, Endo, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, aren’t good enough.

So the new guy, whoever that is, will inherit someone else’s squad without the finances to rebuild the team.

That’s unhealthy. And so is Liverpool’s recent form. They have lost three of their last five matches.

At one stage, when Klopp was announcing his decision to leave, there was talk of a quadruple. One by one, that hope has gone.

Yes, there is still a chance of them winning the League, but that defeat to Everton was one of their weakest appearances in a Merseyside derby in years.

Worse again was their defeat at home to Crystal Palace. Some of us are old enough to remember Liverpool beating Palace 9-0.

Certainly we have been around long enough to appreciate how average a side Atalanta are.

Liverpool should be hammering sides like that. Instead they are crashing out of Europe and out of the FA Cup. And if they don’t get their act together soon, then they will be out of the running for the title.

Salah has scored just twice in his last seven appearances. He looks exhausted, the effect of having to play an international tournament in the middle of a season, just part of the madness that players have to endure these days.

And then there is the emotional turmoil that is caused by the knowledge their manager is about to leave.

Part of Salah, indeed part of every Liverpool player, must be left to wonder what the future will be like.

If Klopp was staying then those negative thoughts would not be in their head. Their focus would be short-term. Instead it is muddled.

Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot is seen as the frontrunner to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool

Yes, as professionals, they will want to win every game, will be determined to win the League. But they are also human.

They will fear that life after Klopp won’t be as good for them, just as there was a dip in the aftermath of Ferguson finally leaving Old Trafford in 2013.

Managers like Klopp and Ferguson have that effect. They make players believe. They become their followers.

Then when the preacher leaves, the congregation questions their faith. That’s what is going on in Anfield now.

They will be looking at who is likely to come in — and it appears to be Arne Slot — and they will be checking out the other managers who have come from Dutch football into the Premier League.

Erik Ten Hag looks out of his depth. Louis van Gaal was not a good fit, either.

Ronald Koeman wasn’t up to much. Frank de Boer lasted only five games with Crystal Palace.

Will Slot be better than that? The players will have their doubts. So should Liverpool fans.

This Klopp fairy-tale is far from certain to have a happy ending. Liverpool fans should be worried. Very worried.

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