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Transformer: Klopp, the Revolution of a Club and Culture
'Does anyone in this room think that I can do wonders? I’m a normal guy from the Black Forest . . . I am the "normal one"' Jurgen Klopp, 9 October 2015
Jürgen Klopp’s announcement in January 2024 that he was to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season would see an unprecedented outpouring of grief from his adopted city. The Anfield Wrap has followed Liverpool through nine remarkable years, ten cup finals, and eight trophies, and now the ‘normal one’ is finally set to return to a normal life.
But the story of Klopp and Liverpool is a special one. A city haunted by tragedy and economic hardship rapidly found itself reinvigorated and redrawn by one man's philosophy, and an approach to life and football that was driven by joy, passion and inclusivity. Klopp’s arrival led not only to spectacular footballing success, but also saw Liverpool itself becoming more culturally relevant than at any point since the height of Beatlemania.
Neil Atkinson, host of The Anfield Wrap, tells the story of this unique relationship with a passion, zeal and humour befitting of the man himself. Structured around eleven notable games in Klopp’s Liverpool career, Atkinson expertly weaves the personal and the political into this retelling of one of football's most improbable journeys, one that would change both the landscape of the sport and the city of Liverpool forever.
Jürgen Klopp’s announcement in January 2024 that he was to step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season would see an unprecedented outpouring of grief from his adopted city. The Anfield Wrap has followed Liverpool through nine remarkable years, ten cup finals, and eight trophies, and now the ‘normal one’ is finally set to return to a normal life.
But the story of Klopp and Liverpool is a special one. A city haunted by tragedy and economic hardship rapidly found itself reinvigorated and redrawn by one man's philosophy, and an approach to life and football that was driven by joy, passion and inclusivity. Klopp’s arrival led not only to spectacular footballing success, but also saw Liverpool itself becoming more culturally relevant than at any point since the height of Beatlemania.
Neil Atkinson, host of The Anfield Wrap, tells the story of this unique relationship with a passion, zeal and humour befitting of the man himself. Structured around eleven notable games in Klopp’s Liverpool career, Atkinson expertly weaves the personal and the political into this retelling of one of football's most improbable journeys, one that would change both the landscape of the sport and the city of Liverpool forever.
- GenresFootballSportsNonfiction
314 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2024
36 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 21, 2025
Love The Anfield Wrap. Love Liverpool FC. Love Jürgen Klopp. Love Neil Atkinson. Love football. Love books. Love football books. This, in theory, should’ve been a natural winner. A sub-300 page tribute to the greatest manager of my lifetime, told primarily through his defining matches, penned by a passionate red through and through? No-brainer. And if you’d asked me 60 pages in, I’d have told you it was the best football book I’d ever read. The truth though is that over 276 pages, I became painfully aware that a brilliant, top of the pops blogger and pundit and podcaster does not necessarily a great author make. In 2000 word bursts, Neil Atkinson is Usain Bolt — explosive, impactful, exciting. Across 80,000 or so words however? Well that just becomes 40 Usain Bolt sprints in a row when a Mo Farah with a sense of the bigger picture and the pacing required for a marathon would’ve better suited. After 100 pages, I found the parallel syntax and writing loops a little wearing, and then after 200 it took me days to be in a headspace to go back. I still think this is fine, impassioned, well researched and authoritative writing on Klopp’s era, with some brilliant POV writing in there and a great tone of voice, but I’d have rather read it as a series of weekly blog posts than as a book in all honesty.
Nevertheless, YNWA Reds all over. Doubters to believers, one and all ❤️
Nevertheless, YNWA Reds all over. Doubters to believers, one and all ❤️
September 29, 2024
Do yourself a favor and get the audiobook to listen to Neil read it himself. This is the book I will be pushing my kids to read when they’re older to understand what the Klopp era was all about. Not just a great Liverpool book, but one of the best books I’ve read.
October 29, 2024
Warm and expansive as Neil Atkinson's writing so often is. I found the structure a little odd (caught between one long narrative and choppy vignettes), and it's not really so much about Klopp and building culture as about celebrating Liverpool (both city and football club). Good though.
January 26, 2025
I now use the question of “Have you had the best night out of your life yet?” To every situation in my life. Love Jurgen, great book, up the reds.
January 2, 2025
I'm not a Liverpool supporter, more a Liverpool goodwiller from afar so perhaps not the most obvious person to pick up this book. Even as a supporter of another club though, I couldn't not be completely charmed by Klopp. He's the ultimate "good egg" in a footballing world that so often devolves into a mud-slinging and a win-at-all-costs mentality. The latter is perhaps natural in such a tribal sport and Klopp liked winning, Klopp was bloody good at winning and yet he never lost sight of the larger picture in sport, Liverpool and even the world.
Perhaps it was always inevitable that I was going to like a book that was perhaps not a love letter to the man, but a personal exploration of the love that this man inspired. What I didn't expect was to love it because it was a football fan reading the writing of a football fan, somebody who completely understood and felt the highs and lows, the very specific emotion that comes from a lifelong support of a club that simply is a part of you. It captured everything, from the frustrations and doubts to the sheer ecstasy of wins and unexpected turns, and how Jürgen Klopp has such a particular and astute way of embracing those feelings himself and recognising it right throughout the club and the city itself.
In this book, Neil Atkinson reflects that Liverpool may indeed go onto greater achievements in their post-Klopp present and future, but that perhaps the absence of that man as the beating heart of the club means that those feelings will never be matched and, as I write this with Liverpool six points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand, I see that bittersweetness slowly unfold from my position from afar.
Perhaps it was always inevitable that I was going to like a book that was perhaps not a love letter to the man, but a personal exploration of the love that this man inspired. What I didn't expect was to love it because it was a football fan reading the writing of a football fan, somebody who completely understood and felt the highs and lows, the very specific emotion that comes from a lifelong support of a club that simply is a part of you. It captured everything, from the frustrations and doubts to the sheer ecstasy of wins and unexpected turns, and how Jürgen Klopp has such a particular and astute way of embracing those feelings himself and recognising it right throughout the club and the city itself.
In this book, Neil Atkinson reflects that Liverpool may indeed go onto greater achievements in their post-Klopp present and future, but that perhaps the absence of that man as the beating heart of the club means that those feelings will never be matched and, as I write this with Liverpool six points clear at the top of the league with a game in hand, I see that bittersweetness slowly unfold from my position from afar.
February 17, 2025
While this book is about Jurgen, this book is about you and me and Neil made that abundantly clear. Neil said that you would find yourself in this book and I have. This book encapsulates what it means to be a Liverpool supporter, a fan of football and a fan of life. Inclusive of all victories and defeats.
This book is about love. Love for a city and its people, love for you and for me for being a part of it. Not just the games on the pitch but the larger world. Hugging your partner at full time or a stranger half way around the world. It doesn’t matter because this is what binds us. A people who go through adversity and seek to bring about real change. That is what Jurgen saw in us and that is what we saw in Jurgen, which why he meant so much to so many people.
Simply put, no one gets it like Neil does and I wouldn’t want it put any other way.
Up the Reds
This book is about love. Love for a city and its people, love for you and for me for being a part of it. Not just the games on the pitch but the larger world. Hugging your partner at full time or a stranger half way around the world. It doesn’t matter because this is what binds us. A people who go through adversity and seek to bring about real change. That is what Jurgen saw in us and that is what we saw in Jurgen, which why he meant so much to so many people.
Simply put, no one gets it like Neil does and I wouldn’t want it put any other way.
Up the Reds
October 18, 2024
Intelligent and insightful analysis of how a population, a city and a football club changed over the course of almost a decade coinciding with Jurgen Klopp’s arrival on Merseyside. Whilst it is a book about football the cultural aspect about Liverpool and its people is as important, if not more so, than the football.
Neil Atkinson’s writing style also suits the content - at times staccato, sometimes smooth and flowing, often pithy and visceral, particularly when relating the Paris Champions League final.
Neil Atkinson’s writing style also suits the content - at times staccato, sometimes smooth and flowing, often pithy and visceral, particularly when relating the Paris Champions League final.
October 19, 2024
Poetry in motion
November 16, 2024
Neil Atkinson is the best writer about football currently active, in my view. He can address the technical and tactical, but fundamentally understands and can express the human, emotional side of the game that is really why most of the fans of the sport love it. He writes weekly reviews of Liverpool games and I consistently love them.
There’s some of that in the book. I’m glad I read it and I’m happy to recommend it for that reason but the book as a whole is a little bit neither fish nor fowl. It stops short of being a memoir of Klopp’s time, but also fails properly to land a clear overarching message or theme. There are one or two odd interludes that seem out of place for the topic - the chapter on the women’s game is very obviously shoved in without any reference to Klopp - and in general the structure of the book fails to showcase Atkinson’s fantastic appreciation of the club and the sport and his wonderfully evocative prose.
Anyway - the book is good. I had higher expectations but perhaps that’s my fault.
There’s some of that in the book. I’m glad I read it and I’m happy to recommend it for that reason but the book as a whole is a little bit neither fish nor fowl. It stops short of being a memoir of Klopp’s time, but also fails properly to land a clear overarching message or theme. There are one or two odd interludes that seem out of place for the topic - the chapter on the women’s game is very obviously shoved in without any reference to Klopp - and in general the structure of the book fails to showcase Atkinson’s fantastic appreciation of the club and the sport and his wonderfully evocative prose.
Anyway - the book is good. I had higher expectations but perhaps that’s my fault.
January 2, 2025
A genuinely joyous read. I don’t think anyone could’ve written the story better.
January 8, 2025
If you think this is a book about Klopp written by a fan, it isn't. It's instead a self indulgent series repetitive not very interesting anecdotes. Here's an example of a chapter - we watched a game. Liverpool were great, we went the pub before or after, we were drunk, we danced to some music. Boring.
October 1, 2024
Joyous. Reminded me to find more joy day to day
October 7, 2024
Neil insists at the start and throughout Transformer that we are in this together and that people and place are you, your people and your place. He’s right.
I have been lucky enough to spend intermittently much the Klopp era in the company of the author. As a semi regular contributor to TAW I’m often reacting to events with him immediately after final whistles for videoed content. Sharing the gospel of Liverpudlianism with him to rooms full of the supporters from cities across the western world. From Phoenix, AZ to Edinburgh, Scotland he’s endlessly enthusiastic for both the civic and the sporting incarnations of Liverpool.
Lucky to have experienced the Klopp era from the Spion Kop, away grounds, the cities finest and shittest boozers and for a period confined to barracks. Throughout this last decade I’ve been regularly in Neil’s orbit and regular room mates on TAW Live tours and many of the assessments and suggestions he posits in the book aren’t completely new to me.
BUT, put together, part memoir, part almanac, part manifesto and part love letter it’s for me a definitive record of some of the best days in the storied history of Englands most successful football team under our greatest modern manager (so far.)
Its structure lends itself to be a reference book in the future or a story you devour in a few sittings.
The audiobook has a lot to recommend it too, in the author’s authentic voice with nice informal asides break up the verbatim read of the source text. Even in the act of reading his own book Neil’s enthusiasm for the subject matter has to leak out.
I would not only recommend this book to anyone who supports Liverpool. The author suggests that Klopp is not just a Liverpool figure or a sporting figure he’s a man who has transcended both spheres.
In decades hence forth if my grandchildren want to know what the Klopp era was like I’ll hand them this book (and probably a TAW subscription)
I have been lucky enough to spend intermittently much the Klopp era in the company of the author. As a semi regular contributor to TAW I’m often reacting to events with him immediately after final whistles for videoed content. Sharing the gospel of Liverpudlianism with him to rooms full of the supporters from cities across the western world. From Phoenix, AZ to Edinburgh, Scotland he’s endlessly enthusiastic for both the civic and the sporting incarnations of Liverpool.
Lucky to have experienced the Klopp era from the Spion Kop, away grounds, the cities finest and shittest boozers and for a period confined to barracks. Throughout this last decade I’ve been regularly in Neil’s orbit and regular room mates on TAW Live tours and many of the assessments and suggestions he posits in the book aren’t completely new to me.
BUT, put together, part memoir, part almanac, part manifesto and part love letter it’s for me a definitive record of some of the best days in the storied history of Englands most successful football team under our greatest modern manager (so far.)
Its structure lends itself to be a reference book in the future or a story you devour in a few sittings.
The audiobook has a lot to recommend it too, in the author’s authentic voice with nice informal asides break up the verbatim read of the source text. Even in the act of reading his own book Neil’s enthusiasm for the subject matter has to leak out.
I would not only recommend this book to anyone who supports Liverpool. The author suggests that Klopp is not just a Liverpool figure or a sporting figure he’s a man who has transcended both spheres.
In decades hence forth if my grandchildren want to know what the Klopp era was like I’ll hand them this book (and probably a TAW subscription)
May 5, 2025
As a Liverpool fan, I certainly enjoyed walking through key games of Klopp’s tenure and connecting the title win to the broader history and culture of Liverpool FC. However, the book is not really about Jurgen Klopp even though it claims to be about him. The first half of the book, which is quite jumbled and hard to read, reads more like a personal diary of a Liverpool fan. There are chapters when the author discusses anything but Liverpool and Klopp. For example, I was disappointed to find that he completely glossed over the comeback at Anfield against Barcelona. He never mentioned the key moments of the game, but only that it’s ok to not be there because he wasn’t there. That’s fine, but certainly not how the book was marketed. The second half, written much clearer, seems more about the broader culture of the club. So, I gave this book 3 stars mostly because it was not what it said it would be. If you want to read about one man’s personal experience on the front lines of cheering for Liverpool and understanding the culture, this is a great book. If you want to learn more about Klopp, this is not your book.
February 8, 2025
I am a big fan of Liverpool FC, Jurgen Klopp, The Anfield Wrap and Neil Atkinson. I began reading this book with high hopes but like an Everton supporter who approaches the start of the football season with high hopes, I was soon disappointed. Neil has adopted a unique writing style for this book - short, staccato sentences mixed with long, punctuation-free passages; quite odd. He has also chosen to insert lengthy discourses on subjects which, while important in themselves, seem oddly placed in a book ostensibly about Liverpool and Klopp - the optimum structure for English football, the horrendous policing of the 2022 UEFA Champions League final in Paris, women’s football, etc. Overall, the book has a disjointed feel without a clear, overarching theme which is surprising given the blurb on the cover. It does not do what it says on the tin.
No book about the mighty Reds can be a total disappointment, of course, and I did enjoy reading it but it is not the definitive record of Jurgen Klopp’s impact on a football club and a city which I was expecting.
No book about the mighty Reds can be a total disappointment, of course, and I did enjoy reading it but it is not the definitive record of Jurgen Klopp’s impact on a football club and a city which I was expecting.
January 30, 2025
Neil is the greatest living writer on football, in my opinion. I've treasured his words on my club for over a decade now, and hope for many to come.
He manages to capture the emotion, the romance, the heartbreak of this club, this sport, this man who was such a talisman to us all.
It took a weird, emotional man to match this weird, emotional club, and what a journey we had together.
Part memoir, part manifesto on loving something purely and beyond reason, letting it change you and changing it right back.
He manages to capture the emotion, the romance, the heartbreak of this club, this sport, this man who was such a talisman to us all.
It took a weird, emotional man to match this weird, emotional club, and what a journey we had together.
Part memoir, part manifesto on loving something purely and beyond reason, letting it change you and changing it right back.
February 20, 2025
In the 9 years of Jurgens tenure there were incredible highs, crushing lows, the greatest of nights out followed by some stinking hangovers. Neil is a terrific writer, journalist and broadcaster but at the end of the day he’s a fan like so many of us who’ve picked up this book. He gets that so many Liverpool fans went through the exact same emotional rollercoaster these past 9 years and he’s put those experiences down on paper in a magnificent way. It’s a love letter to Jurgen, to Liverpool and to living your best life. Tremendous.
January 4, 2025
There are plenty of interesting moments scattered throughout - about ways to reform football in England, an evaluation of Pep Guardiola that might remind you of past critiques of Phil Jackson, and a short, sweet tribute to Grant Wahl - but this is a book about Liverpool, and if you don't live and die with them, this will strike you as way, way too much. I'll be passing along my copy to a fan.
January 4, 2025
An excellent read - like an Anfield Wrap podcast on paper. Neil Atkinson is so passionate about everything Liverpool and this pours out of the page. Not just about football but also plays through some of the key games during Klopp's stay. Blasted through it in a week. If only every book was so easy to digest. Jurgen is a legend too, which helps
January 9, 2025
A lovely book, written with a lot of passion.
It’s actual style - choppy, short chapters- takes a bit of getting used to but for me develops a rhythm. The narrative is wound around significant events but is not a match commentary.
The chapter on Paris 2022 really resonates. I was there and it captures the joy, confusion, fear and anger perfectly. Excellent read.
It’s actual style - choppy, short chapters- takes a bit of getting used to but for me develops a rhythm. The narrative is wound around significant events but is not a match commentary.
The chapter on Paris 2022 really resonates. I was there and it captures the joy, confusion, fear and anger perfectly. Excellent read.
March 5, 2025
Whilst nostalgia is not the theme of the book the games mentioned are a reminder of the giant steps made under Klopp. A great read, particularly the part dealing with the Champions League final in Paris. Gets a bit lost half way through but the ending makes up for it. A must for a red.
Imagine being us…
Imagine being us…
March 28, 2025
I read almost all of Neil Atkinson's post match emails. Even the 200 word emailers, makes you feel all kinds of emotions.
Now he has written a 300 page book about one of my favourite persons. And, I am all over the place.
'Life without Emotions. Imagine That. How boring it would be.' He said so.
Now he has written a 300 page book about one of my favourite persons. And, I am all over the place.
'Life without Emotions. Imagine That. How boring it would be.' He said so.
May 28, 2025
Transformer is a love letter to my favorite coach, to the city of Liverpool and to the great game of football. It was great reliving Klopp's Liverpool stint and also viewing it from Neil's perspective. I can imagine returning to this book when I want to remember the man that got me into this great sport.
October 2, 2024
This is a must read for all Liverpool fans. It’s a love letter to the Jurgen klopp years but it’s amount so much more than that. It’s about us fans and the team. I didn’t know what to expect when I ordered it. It’s a fantastic read.
October 22, 2024
A thoroughly enjoying read about how Klopp managed to change everything from the club, Liverpool and attitudes to everything. Neil had a way with words which makes you laugh, smile and reflect as well. A great read for any Liverpool fan!
December 31, 2024
A very nice trip down memory lane in reliving the Klopp era. Has a perfect balance of focusing on the individual games and the wider context of what was happening and the impact he had on the club. Great read.
January 14, 2025
Neil Atkinson is an unbelievable writer and storyteller. Few are capable of perfectly capturing the atmospheres and emotions of 9+ years and he seems to do it with ease. The anti-nostalgia book had me filled to the brim with nostalgia. Well done, sir, very well done.
July 15, 2025
Been a longtime listener of the Anfield Wrap so was always keen to read Neil’s book and on holiday I finally did. What a fantastic summary or highlights reel of Klopp’s Liverpool and everything that it entailed.
October 2, 2025
Neil is one of my favorite podcasters and this scratches an itch for any Liverpool fan. Reading this made me reminisce, laugh, and realize how much Liverpool and the game of football mean to me. Excellent read.
October 7, 2024
How Klopp made us
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews