Jurgen Klopp isn’t your typical elite-level manager. That much we already knew.
From his love of heavy metal music to the sheer audacity of his move for a goalkeeper that everyone in the world thought had been retired for years, the German has no qualms with being a little different to the rest.
Now, after the Liverpool boss sat down with Goal, we’ve also learned of his Youth Hostelling past.
Long before his arrival on Merseyside, the former Borussia Dortmund boss first experienced the UK when he spent a month inter-railing his way across the country, sometimes kipping in hostels and spending the little money he had on £5 bed and breakfasts. It was during this time he decided that he would one day like to live there.
“I couldn’t afford football tickets, but I bought an inter-rail card and travelled around for four weeks,” Klopp explained.
“What I loved most was the opportunity to have £5 bed and breakfast. Sometimes I slept in youth hostels, which was very funny. When I went in, they said ‘you have to clean the room’ and I thought they were crazy. But they said if you did it, you could sleep for free, so that was okay.
“It was a lovely time, of course the weather was not too good, but I love this country. I even loved the language, it didn’t seem too difficult, and I was interested in meeting new people and learning their ways. I always knew I wanted to live here if it was possible.
“When I became a manager, it was clear that if there was a good opportunity in this country, to go for it. Now I’m here, it’s a very big honour and really I enjoy it.”
Given the recent reports about Pep Guardiola clamping down on his new Manchester City stars’ diets, we can’t imagine him getting too excited about tucking into a full English, even if it did only set him back a fiver. And something also tells us that Jose Mourinho wouldn’t take too kindly to being told to clean his room.
