In presidential politics, it’s called the beer test. It’s based on the theory that what really matters is personality, not policies. Voters ask themselves: Would I want to have a beer with this person? Would they be good company?
We’d all want to have a beer with Jurgen Klopp, and not only because he’s German so likely knows good lager. His likability is one reason why his arrival as Liverpool manager caused a flurry of excitement throughout the Premier League, after years of the media — and fans — wishfully linking him with England’s biggest clubs.
Ahead of his first game, away to Tottenham this Saturday, Klopp dubbed himself “the normal one” at his introductory press conference last week. It probably says a lot about soccer coaches that being normal is abnormal. That’s down to the surreal environment of cloying pressure and attention, as well as the extraordinary character and desire required to get such a rare and sought-after job in the first place. Then, to keep it, you must successfully direct the movements and massage the morale of some of the richest and most famous young people on the planet. You don’t get a job like that unless you’re deranged. Normally.
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Tottenham appointed the Swiss coach Christian Gross as manager in 1997 and he traveled to his unveiling on the subway, brandishing his ticket in front of the press as a sign of his normality. From that moment, really, he was doomed, because why would the players or the media respect a manager who claimed to be ordinary?
Avram Grant, who also trotted out the “normal one” line when replacing Jose Mourinho at Chelsea in 2007, similarly proved to be too nice, too unremarkable, too well-adjusted, to last.
The climate is different now. With Mourinho’s implosion from greatest man alive, there’s an appetite for normal and nice. Or at least, someone who fits that perception. The media are helping: witness the benign treatment of photos of Klopp sitting at a table having a beer and a cigarette with his family. He’s a regular guy! Raheem Sterling’s vices don’t get treated so sympathetically.
