Jurgen Klopp's playing career at Mainz

Film director and Liverpool supporter Luke Massey (Armistice/The Captive) interviewed Helmut Malinowski, a Mainz supporter since the early 80s, about Liverpool’s new manager Jurgen Klopp.

Plenty is known about the 48-year-old’s managerial success with Borussia Dortmund, but little about his playing career at Mainz 05 from 1989-2001…

Before we get started, could you give me some background on yourself as a fan of Mainz 05?

I have followed Mainz 05 since the early 1980s when I moved to Mainz to go to university there. In the mid-1990s I became a true supporter and I have been a season ticket holder since 1998.

How would you describe Klopp as a player?

High energy, fast, with technical limitations. He always was a leader on the pitch even as a younger player. What he lacked in technical skill, he made up with effort.

I understand he played as both a striker and then centre-back through his career. Could you explain this transition for me?

He started as a striker, then switched to full- back, not centre-back. Mainz bought him from a lower league club where he scored quite a few goals and benefited from his speed. At Mainz he scored goals occasionally but not as regularly as the club had hoped and his limited technical skills became obvious. This is why he switched to full-back, where he could still use his speed to support the attacking players.

Klopp was a rare one-team man. Was he ever close to leaving Mainz?

I don’t think he was ever close to leaving Mainz, not least because he really didn’t have the quality as a player to tempt Bundesliga clubs to make a good offer.

Klopp seems like he has a tough side to him. Was this present when he was a player?

I think so. He wasn’t always able to control his temper on the pitch and sometimes got in an argument not only with the referee or players from the other team but also with his teammates.

Can you talk us through some of his highs as player?

His greatest game was a 5-0 away win at Erfurt in 1991 – his second season with Mainz – in which he scored four goals. Other than that I don’t really remember any individual highs. There were some team highs because Mainz were in a relegation battle almost every season and managed to stay in the Second Division every time.

Can you talk us through some of his lows as a player?

There were plenty of lows in that Mainz were losing more often than winning, changing managers left and right during his time as a player. The absolute low must have been the 5-4 loss at Wolfsburg on the last day of the 1996-97 season when a win would have promoted Mainz to the Bundesliga. They came up just short, mainly because they had an inept manager at the time. In that season, Wolfgang Frank had resigned in March and the new manager didn’t really have a clue about the tactics introduced by him.

What notable players did he play with?

Mainz didn’t really have too many notable players. I can’t recall anybody of his teammates later having much of a career in the Bundesliga or internationally. During his playing days, Mainz 05 were a bit of an ugly duckling who didn’t attract many fans or good players.

Was he influenced by any managers in particular he worked under as a player?

Definitely. This is all about the late Wolfgang Frank, who passed away in 2013. He took over Mainz 05 in September 1995 when they were last in the table. In the winter break he changed their system from man marking and a sweeper to zonal marking with four in the back, a system only one other team (Mönchengladbach) employed at that time. Playing that system, they were the best team in the second half of the season, avoiding relegation on the last day.

Frank was a great tactician and a great motivator. He is the manager that most influenced Kloppo (and several other players of his who later became managers). Wolfgang Frank completely put Mainz 05 on the football map. He almost led them to promotion two years later but everything fell apart, when he resigned very suddenly in early 1997 after Mainz lost two games following the winter break. His successor couldn’t continue the run. At that time, Kloppo was already an influential figure on the team and tried to persuade Frank to rethink his decision.

When and why did he retire and what was the reaction from the fans? And was Klopp an obvious choice to become a manager straight after being a player?

These questions are linked so I’ll answer them in one go. In February 2000, Mainz were again languishing near the bottom of the table and things looked gloomy.

Again they had a manager who had no clue about the system Frank had introduced and who reverted to old-school man-marking and sweeper play. Kloppo was an ageing player who was injured at the time.

Everything came to a head after another lousy performance and loss at Fürth (Mainz used to lose there all the time then…). General manager Christian Heidel, who still holds that position today, thought about another managerial change. After having tried numerous managers, he came to the conclusion that someone who could revive the Wolfgang Frank spirit should take over. He asked Kloppo if he thought he could do the job – on an interim basis initially. Klopp accepted, won his first two games as manager and Mainz never looked back.

Is there anything else you could add or think is relevant about Klopp as a player?

Not really, mainly because as a player he never was anything more than a mildly talented footballer with limited skills who relied on speed and height throughout his career. And he’ll be the first one to agree with that assessment.