Jurgen Klopp copied Man Utd legend Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘biggest mistake’ and it has derailed his final Liverpool season

JURGEN KLOPP was genuinely surprised to hear it, on the January day when he announced his intention to quit Liverpool at the end of the season.

It was put to him that Sir Alex Ferguson had told his Manchester United players in the summer of 2001 that the coming season would be his last.

Ferguson later performed a U-turn and stayed at Old Trafford for another 11 years.

But the great Scot admitted that revealing his intentions had been the ‘biggest mistake I made’.

“I think a lot of them put their tools away,” said Ferguson, “They thought, ‘Oh, the manager’s leaving’.”

It was a part of English footballing history which Klopp knew nothing about and he raised his eyebrows when he was told about it.

But as the taunts of gloating Everton fans rang in his ears on Wednesday night - ‘you lost the league at Goodison Park!’ - Klopp may well have reflected on the wisdom of his announcement.

When Klopp revealed that he was quitting Anfield, Liverpool were top of the Premier League, having lost only a single domestic match all season - and that a controversial VAR-infested affair at Tottenham.

Since then, the Reds have been beaten five times in all - with their hopes of a farewell quadruple scuppered by shock defeats against Manchester United in the FA Cup, Atalanta in the Europa League, along with struggling Crystal Palace and Everton in the Premier League.

After the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park - Klopp’s first-ever loss at the home of Liverpool’s local rivals - Wayne Rooney pinpointed the German’s departure announcement as a key factor in derailing their season.

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Rooney, working as a Sky pundit on the Merseyside derby, said: “These players are looking - Klopp's so popular, even as an Everton fan I