Oh, by the way...

Kevin thinks it sucks

Friends for life: Jürgen Klopp (l.) and Kevin Großkreutz.

(Bild: AFP/PATRIK STOLLARZ / AFP)

In the latest edition of his column "Oh, by the way...", "Krone" author Harald Petermichl naturally doesn't miss out on the personnel matter of the week - the appointment of cult coach Jürgen Klopp as "Global Head of Soccer" at Red Bull. A blow for soccer fanatics - especially for a former BVB professional...

If someone wants to move from a company based at Anfield Road in L4 OTH Liverpool to a group based at Am Brunnen 1 in 5330 Fuschl am See, since Brexit they need a residence permit as a third-country national, known in this country as a "red-white-red card". It is possible that further administrative procedures will be required in order to obtain a posting permit, for example, and there are also severe penalties for non-compliance. However, all of this only applies to Britons and not to Swabians born in Stuttgart and raised in Freudenstadt in the Black Forest. Unless "The Länd", as Baden-Württemberg calls itself in a rarely stupid image campaign, leaves the EU. Rather unlikely.

So there is nothing to stop Jürgen Klopp from taking up his new job as "Global Head of Soccer" on January 1 and then being responsible for the soccer clubs in Bragantino, Leeds, Leipzig, Liefering, New York, Omiya and Salzburg. Whether there will also be a branch in Paris in the near future, where negotiations are currently underway with second division club Paris FC, has not yet been decided, but would ultimately be saucisse. With this commitment, the new recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany has unsurprisingly earned himself a bucket or two of malice; you could also say that a dispute has broken out between the soccer romantics (fundies) and those who shrug their shoulders at the turbo-capitalism in world soccer (realos), which is unlikely to be settled any time soon.

Plain text in the podcast
So it's a feast for people who have something to say on the subject and some have entered an almost frightening creativity contest with creations such as "The Face of the Can", "The Can One" or "In the Name of the Can". If you want something more down-to-earth, it's better to stick with Kevin Großkreutz. The former Klopp protégé, who now plays for SV Wacker Obercastrop, has never made a murder pit out of his heart (even if it would have made sense to do so sometimes), and he summed up his assessment in the podcast "Viertelstunde Fußball" with the words "As a soccer fan, I think it sucks, to put it bluntly! But as a friend, you have to accept decisions. When we meet, I'll still tell him personally that I think it's shit". It's just the way things are done in the Ruhr region, and the new world soccer head will certainly be able to live with that after seven years of BVB experience.