'Klopp and Liverpool were destiny' - Reds fans still flying after Premier League title win

Time flies when you’re having fun.

It has been two weeks since Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions, their first title in 30 years.

Jurgen Klopp’s team have swept everyone aside in what has been a record-breaking campaign for the men from Anfield. 

Back on their perch again, after three long decades.

For supporters, it has been a fortnight of smiles and celebration, joy and relief. The wait is over, and the future is bright.

Now the dust has settled, Goal caught up with a selection of Liverpool fans to hear their stories, and find out how they are feeling about being top dogs once again…

Jen Edwards, lifelong supporter

My grandad Arthur was one of those people who went everywhere with Liverpool. Home and away, rain and shine. 

He followed them across the world for pretty much his entire life. He'd even plan his holidays around Liverpool games. I remember him taking my nan to Monaco for their wedding anniversary in 2001, and it just so happened that Liverpool were playing in the Super Cup that weekend! 

He worked for the club for more than 30 years, scouting for the academy, picking the young kids up, dropping them off, looking after families, all that. He got to know the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler really well as a result.

It’s funny, because my birthday is the same as Fowler’s, April 9. And every year, I would get a card from him. I thought it was normal, but it was because of my grandad! 

He passed away in May, sadly. He'd been unwell for a while, and while he was in hospital, Stevie, Carra and Robbie all sent him messages. Klopp sent one too, and even though he had good days and bad days, I know he understood and appreciated it.

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He loved this team, especially Trent Alexander-Arnold. Nobody wanted to see home-grown players succeed more than my grandad. When he passed, Trent sent me a lovely message. 

It’s sad that he never got to see them win the league, but it has given the family great comfort to know that he’s remembered and thought of so fondly by so many people around the club.

He was one of those people who could always get a ticket for every game, because he knew everyone. So when Liverpool played Crystal Palace in the first behind-closed-doors game at Anfield last month, it was fitting that there, on the Kop, was a flag bearing his name. There were no fans there, but my grandad was! That was lovely, and so fitting.

It means a lot to our family that we’ve won the league this year. Liverpool has been such a big part of our lives, and taken up so much time and energy. It hasn’t always been great, but it certainly is at the moment.

Every time I watch the match and hear ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, I’m going to think of my grandad and all the memories we made together watching Liverpool.

RIP Arthur Edwards.

Pete Wylie, musician

It’s become a feature that after every home game, George Sephton, the Voice of Anfield, will play my song.

‘Heart as big as Liverpool’ was written for the city, not the football club. I was proud when it was used for fight for justice for the Hilllsborough families, and now to have it associated with this team and their incredible success, it’s a different kind of pride.

I’ve been supporting Liverpool since the 1960s. My brother Phil picked Everton and I chose Liverpool. I don’t want to say I’m happier than he is but…well…I’m happier than he is! 

I rang my daughter when the league title was confirmed. She’s called Mersey, and she was born in 1989 so she hadn’t experienced a league championship win. The first thing she did was moan, in fairness; ‘I won’t be able to sleep with all these fireworks!’ she said.

I didn’t know what to do myself. I was on my own in the house. I opened the door and screamed down the street ‘nineteen!’  It was just uncontrollable joy.

It’s not just about the winning, for me. With Klopp, it’s the whole journey, the adventure. I love the team, I love the way I feel watching them, I love the manager, I love him as a man, I love his politics, I love how he fits with the city.

We’ve had disappointments, but with him I always feel like they won’t last long. 

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I’m recording a special version and video of 'Heart as big as Liverpool' to celebrate it, and I’ve already changed the logo for our band. Instead of WAH! it’s now YNWAH! 

The novelty of it all adds something, for me. It’s totally memorable. People will talk about this season way into the future. They’ll remember the year Liverpool won it, for sure.

And do you know what else I love? I love that all the 'FSG Out' mob, and those who used to laugh and say Klopp was a bottler and couldn’t win things, well they can do one now, can’t they? 

I have to say, they’ve been very quiet of late…

Jay McKenna, former chair of Spirit of Shankly 

It’s funny how football can give you so many highs and lows.

On June 25, Liverpool won the league. The thing I’ve been dreaming of and hoping for pretty much all my life. 

My Facebook memories, meanwhile, were reminding me what I was doing in 2010. I was preparing for Spirit of Shankly’s ‘Independence Day’ rally at St George’s Hall, a protest against former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who were taking the club to the brink of collapse.

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That was only 10 years ago, but it feels like another world.

It’s a hell of a footballing story, Liverpool. From the High Court and the brink of administration in 2010, to a club which is the envy of everyone in 2020. What a turnaround. 

So much of that is down to Jurgen Klopp. What a job he’s done at this club.

Our union, of course, is named after Bill Shankly, but you can easily imagine people revering Klopp in the same way in years to come.

He embodies and he expresses what this city and this club feels and thinks. 

Klopp gets it, genuinely. He’s not just coached and developed the players, but the supporters as well. He would be comfortable in any setting. 

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You know he’s something special when Evertonians can’t even dislike him! 

I have to admit I laugh when I read about ’30 years of hurt’ for Liverpool. There are clubs that would kill for that! 

Obviously, we’ve had some dark moments, but I’m 33 and I’ve now seen my team win two European Cups, a Premier League and every other trophy there is to win.

Put it this way, if the last 30 years have been 'hurt', then I wouldn’t mind doing them again!

Lizzie Hoare, season-ticket holder

I’ve been going to watch Liverpool since 1962, so when I say that this team is up there with the greatest sides ever to pull on a red shirt, it’s a big thing!

We lost in my first ever game, away at Blackburn. But the next week my father took me to Anfield for the first time and that was that. We beat Manchester City, would you believe, but it was seeing the pitch for the first time that always sticks in my mind. 

I was hooked.

Every time I go now, someone will comment on my scarf. I knitted it in the 1960s, so it’s more than 50 years old. I’ve never washed it. It was red and white once, but not now, and it’s full of moth holes. 

It’s my most prized possession, and it’s quickly becoming a memorial now so many of our legends are sadly passing away. 

I started knitting another last season, bearing the names of the current side. Like I say, they are up there with the greats now. I’ve never known such a close-knit – pardon the pun! – group. 

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I was on my own at home when the title was confirmed. I confess I made my way to the wine rack when I knew it was happening!

I phoned my mate Steven. He cried his eyes out after the last game of last season against Wolves, so I told him he could cry happy tears now! I didn’t realise how emotional I would be.

Now, I can’t wait to celebrate the title win properly with my red family. We’ve waited long enough!

Les Lawson, secretary of Official LFC Supporters Group Merseyside 

I was 26 when Liverpool last won the title, which is the same age my son Jamie is now.

He was named after Jamie Redknapp, would you believe? He was originally going to be called Jamie Edward – Edward was my dad’s name – but the day he came out of hospital, we beat Everton at Anfield with Robbie Fowler scoring the winner. So he became Jamie Edward Robert! 

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I haven’t been able to see him since March, as he works in Birmingham and I’ve been self-isolating. I dropped him off at Lime Street after the Atletico Madrid game and said ‘see you for the Palace game next week’, and then the world changed.

The Palace game eventually took place in June, and it was the first game I’d missed at Anfield since 1976. 

I came close to missing a couple – one against Brighton in the cup in 1983 when I had an abscess on my tooth and felt terrible, and one in 2017 after I had a heart attack. I’ve had to calm down a bit since then! 

It can’t be overstated just how big a job Jurgen Klopp has done. To me, this is the best Liverpool team I’ve ever seen, and I started going in 1970.

Bill Shankly built the club, and to me will always be the No.1, but Klopp deserves legendary status.

They are so alike in their personalities and beliefs. In years to come, people will use Klopp’s quotes like we use Shankly’s now. 

I’m a great believer in the saying ‘everything happens for a reason’. We’ve had some setbacks over the last 30 years, years when we thought we were going to do it and just fell short. Some of the memories – Steven Gerrard’s slip in 2014 – still hurt.

But sometimes you have to take a kick in the b*llocks in order to get to where you want to be.

To me, Klopp and Liverpool were destiny. It was meant to be.

Jordi Holden, season-ticket holder

You know when people say they’ve been a Liverpool fan since they were born? Well, I’ve been one even longer.

As soon as my dad knew I was going to be a boy, he put me on the season-ticket waiting list. I was never going to be anything other than a Red.

My dad and my grandad have been everywhere watching the club, and so it was inevitable that I’d follow in their footsteps. My first away game was at Derby in 2007. We won late with a Steven Gerrard goal. Everyone said I was a lucky charm; my first eight away games were all late wins! 

My dad and grandad refused to believe that we’d win it this year until it was done. When I was getting excited when we were so far ahead, they’d be telling me to calm down, it wasn’t won yet.

When Anfield sang ‘we’re gonna win the league’ after we beat Manchester United in January, my grandad must have been the only one who didn’t join in!

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I was with them both when we did actually win the league. I hugged my grandad when Chelsea won, while my dad put 'You’ll Never Walk Alone' on. We all had tears in our eyes. 

In a way, it was a nice way to win it. You’re surrounded by your family and the most important people in the world, sharing that moment. My Grandad didn’t make it to Madrid last year and my mum never goes to games – mind you she’s paid enough out for me over the years! – so it was nice that I could be with them for such a special moment. 

We have to thank Jurgen Klopp, don’t we? He’s the man who made it all happen. 

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Look at his interview after we won it. Have you ever seen a manager cry because they’re so happy to win something? 

It shows the weight he’s been carrying. It’s off his shoulders now. He’s done it, he’s a Liverpool legend.

Dan Fieldsend, author of Local: A club and its city

I have to say that having dreamed of the moment my whole life, when it finally came it was strange, almost emotionless. I wouldn’t say I was numb, but it wasn’t far off.

I was a bit complacent, to be honest. I didn’t think Chelsea had a chance in hell of beating Manchester City, so I wasn’t prepared at all for us to become champions that night. 

I was in my mate’s back garden in Kirkby playing with his dogs. We ended up listening to the last 20 minutes on the radio.

The final whistle, it was like the end of some great war or something. I was just listening to the fireworks, people just shouting up and down the road. It was strange.

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But when I look back now, it feels more authentic, if you get me? It’s homely. People were with their families and closest friends, rather than packed into a bar with strangers or crammed into an away end. There’s something nice about that.

I rang my dad straight away. He’s had a tough time in the last few months, so for him to have this, something to put a smile on his face, it was great. He was on a night shift after we'd won the league, but I know he was happy, and that was so important. He’s the reason I’m a Liverpool supporter.

We are on the edge of domination now, believe me. This is just the start. I’ve seen Liverpool win everything now, but I don’t expect them to stop.

Not with Klopp. He's everything for this club. A great manager and a great man, who doesn’t just get the club, but the city as well. He’s Scouse. If Shankly hadn’t come before him, you’d say there was no-one ever like him. 

I can’t wait to celebrate properly, but I'm just as excited about the future.

With Jurgen in charge, we'll be having plenty more success, I'm certain.