Managers are an odd bunch, generally speaking. You’ve got your Alan Pardew and Nigel Pearson types who struggle to differentiate between a football match and a city centre brawl on a Saturday night. You’ve got your Eddie Howes and Manuel Pellegrinis who could put an insomniac to sleep. You’ve got a chain-smoking ex-banker in Maurizio Sarri, a cult of personality in Jurgen Klopp and whatever the hell Neil Warnock is.

But one thing this vastly different cavalcade of managerial talent would wholeheartedly agree on is that every manager needs time.

And yet, so few get it.

David Moyes was given a six-year contract upon replacing the irreplaceable at Old Trafford and even though personally endorsed by Sir Alex himself, was jettisoned without even completing one whole year. ‘Give it Giggsy ‘til the end of the season.’

While some clubs have found success in chopping and changing their manager more frequently than they chop and change their underwear (here’s looking at you Chelsea), the vast majority of clubs still enjoy their greatest periods of success when deep into a managerial run.

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Man Utd gave Fergie four full years before he lifted his first major trophy with the 1990 FA Cup. 30 years later it’s unfathomable to imagine how much less successful the Red Devils would’ve been had they scratched their itchy trigger finger. Liverpool would still be on their “f***ing perch,” that’s for damn sure.

Ancient history that may be and the game certainly has changed, but there’re plenty more modern examples of patience reaping reward.

Burnley suffered relegation back to the Championship in 2016 but stuck with quintessential Soothers salesman Sean Dyche. A year later they were back in the top flight and a further three years on, they’re a bona fide mid-table Premier League team.

Tottenham’s trophy drought continued under Mauricio Pochettino, but the Argentine transformed the club from top four hopefuls to a team that challenged for titles and even guided them to the club’s first ever European Cup/Champions League final. Poch was Spurs’ longest serving manager since the 1970s by the time he reached UEFA’s showpiece occasion. Coincidence? Not a chance.

Bournemouth were a League One side when Eddie Howe took charge in 2012, as were Sheffield United when Chris Wilder was appointed in 2016.

The duo, along with Dyche and Klopp are the four longest-serving managers currently plying their trade in the Premier League. The examples are there, but perhaps the greatest modern case of all comes on Merseyside.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool renovation is there for all to see, but people forget just how difficult those early days were.

The German took over a struggling side in tenth place and only managed to propel the Reds up to eighth despite being in charge for 30 league games that season. Liverpool finished behind such noted powerhouses as West Ham and Southampton in the table after putting together a decidedly mediocre run of league form (W13, D9, L8).

It sounds preposterous to even hint that Liverpool and Klopp could’ve parted ways so quickly, but Moyes lasted just four league matches more after being anointed the chosen one.. Roberto Di Matteo lasted a mere 42 games at Stamford Bridge despite hoisting aloft the club’s first ever Champions League and Sarri got one season before being axed despite finishing third, making the League Cup final and winning the Europa League.

The poor form mattered not, however, because Liverpool’s owners knew they had the right man and that man would be given time, regardless of how bumpy that early road would be.

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A look at the Liverpool matchday squad on Klopp’s first day in charge compared to the one that thumped a resurgent Saints side 4-0 last time out shows just how much influence the ex-Dortmund man has had, or rather, has been allowed to have.

The 2015 vintage is slightly hindered by the injuries to Joe Gomez and Jordan Henderson at the time, but the 2020 version is also without Sadio Mane and Xherdan Shaqiri to even up the equation.

The former is a nice team. A fancy player here, a few up-and-comers there, a question mark or two at the back… an abysmal bench.

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The latter is a well-oiled killing machine capable of annihilating those unfortunate enough to be their opponents at the behest of Field Marshall Jurgen von Klopp.

The current squad has been built in Klopp’s image. Blood and guts and thunder and lightning but with the tactical precision of a surgeon’s blade.

Klopp will lead Liverpool to their maiden Premier League title in a matter of weeks and he and his players will receive the bulk of the column inches and credit. Undoubtedly, they deserve it, but Fenway Sports Group deserve a mention too.

All too often in modern football a club prematurely pulls the plug on its manager and short-circuits their mid to long-term chances of success.

FSG identified the right man and they backed him to the hilt. It’s a simple notion many football executives seem to have forgotten these days.

Liverpool fans have waited for 30 years for the opportunity to call themselves kings of England once more. It took them five years of Klopp to achieve it.

Patience is a virtue.

By Steve Pearson