He's the toothy, goofy German that has got the British press fawning over him like a royal - but who is Jurgen Klopp really, and what made him a perfect Premier League powerhouse?
With his gegenpressen tactic earning rave reviews after Liverpool's 4-1 win at Manchester City - his men hungrily chasing down defenders like ravenous packs of hunting dogs - Klopp is being celebrated as a visionary and amongst Europe's greatest managers.
It's a long way from his modest playing days as a striker-turned-defender in the German second division.
He was, he admits, 'very average': “I never succeeded in bringing to the field what was going on in my brain. I had the talent for the fifth division and the mind for the Bundesliga - the result was a career in the second division."
That he'd even made it as a professional player was an achievement for Klopp and his father, Norbert, who drilled him relentlessly as a child - eager for his son to succeed where he'd failed; as a youngster, Norbert was a promising goalkeeper, who had trials at Kaiserslautern.
He dished out a dose of tough love - Norbert wouldn't take it easy on his son, handing out 6-0 beatings when they played tennis, or zooming past him when doing sprinting exercises.
“He was ruthless," Klopp reflected. “When we went skiing, I only ever saw his red anorak from behind. He never waited for me.
“It didn't matter that I was just a beginner, he wanted me to become the perfect skier."
At 33, with his playing days approaching their winter, Klopp was thrown into management suddenly when, as club captain, he was asked to take temporary charge of Mainz 05.
He'd end up staying seven years at the club, leading them through the greatest period in their history - taking Mainz to the Bundesliga, and into European competition.
It was, perhaps, inevitable then that a team like Dortmund would come calling - but not before Bayern Munich.
Klopp received a call from their president Uli Hoeness early in the 2007/08 season: “He called me. Before the winter break... but he didn't say to me I am the coach, he said 'we are considering two and you are one of them'.
“A few weeks later at 9am I got a call and it was Hoeness, and he said 'morning, we decided on the other Jurgen (Klinsmann)'."
It would be a decision that came back to bite Bayern in the backside, as Klopp turned ailing Dortmund into back-to-back title winners, in record-breaking fashion.
They did eventually topple the men in gold and black, but not before Klopp's reign had left its mark, elevating him to one of the continent's most sought after managers, eventually securing him the Liverpool job.
That appointment prompted much excitement on Merseyside, and quite rightly so - if ever a coach's philosophy fitted perfectly with the 'Liverpool way', then this is it.
The following quote from Klopp refers to his time in Germany, but could just as easily apply to his current role - and offers an insight into why such optimism from the Kop is not misplaced.
He said: “When I arrived in Dortmund, I said 'If 80,000 people come every other weekend to the stadium and boring football is played, one of the two parts, either the team or the fans, will have to find a new stadium'.
“Many of our fans travel 500 miles to come and see us and experience something special. You have to go full-throttle.
“We would rather hit the bar five times than not shoot on goal four times. It's better to lose. That was the beginning - you have to link people to the club.
“The matches should have an effect that goes further than the result; the whole world knows that you won 3-1, but what they feel is the shot, the goal, the save. That's what you have inside you all week long.
“If you win 1-0 and the game was very lively, football is legitimated. I wouldn't be interested in having Xavi, Messi and Cristiano in the same team - being the very best is like if I start playing tennis against a three-year-old girl and I'm smashing the ball at her and she's just standing there with the racket. It's not fun.
“However, if there's a man on the other side and we play table tennis, if I win that's great and if I lose I will probably have fun.
“For the fans it's like a drug. I don't just want to win, I also want to feel."
Lee Price has written a revealing biography of Jurgen Klopp, detailing his background, how his methods were moulded, and what Liverpool fans can expect. It is available for just £2.49, here: http://goo.gl/iGkcUZ
