Pep Lijnders sees public Liverpool comments backfire as Anfield duo left in the cold
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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.
