Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp reveals managerial 'dream'

Jurgen Klopp says he was never good enough to make a lucrative living out of the game as a player, which made him all the more determined to become a manager.

The 48-year-old told Liverpool's official website he became an avid student of football because he felt it was his only chance of being involved in the game at a high level.

He tells of his time at his beloved Mainz where he spent 11 years as a player, much of it in the second tier of German football.

However, he was never destined to play at the top level of the Bundesliga and when he retired in his early 30's, he admitted: "I had no money. Not the best future but I loved the game too much."

Klopp, who became the 20th manager in Liverpool's history when he succeeded Brendan Rodgers at Anfield, said: "I was not so good in the technical parts of the game (as a player) and I hated myself for this.

I always had this dream to become a football manager

"I loved the game and I always tried to understand it a little bit better than the rest of the team because it was the only way to stay in the game.

"I always had this dream to become a football manager. If someone had come along and told me, at 25, to stop playing football and become a manager, it would not have been a problem for me."

Klopp went on to manage Mainz for seven years before moving to Borussia Dortmund, who he led to back-to-back Bundesliga titles as well as a Champions League final.