JURGEN KLOPP’S former assistant has been sacked from his first manager job.
Pepijn Lijnders worked at Liverpool under the German up until the end of last season.
Lijnders, 41, landed the manager role at Red Bull Salzburg after leaving Anfield earlier this year.
However, after just six months in the role, he has not been sacked by the club.
Salzburg had struggled under Lijnders in the run-up to the winter break in the Austrian season and are ten points behind league leaders SK Sturm Graz.
CEO Stephan Reiter and managing director sport Rouven Schröder released a joint statement confirmed Lijnders’ exit.
It read: “We began our announced analysis of an unfortunately unsatisfactory autumn season some time ago.
“It was clear that we were far from our own expectations and goals in far too many games.
“Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that our team needed a new impetus under new leadership, even though we were still hoping for a turnaround right up until the end.
“We would like to thank Pep for his work. He invested a lot of commitment and passion and also gave us important impulses for further development.
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“We are now working very intensively on the search for a coach and will announce it as soon as a decision has been made.
“It is clear that we want to start training with our new coach on January 3, 2025.”
Here is a look at Pepijn Lijnders record during his tenure in charge of Red Bull Salzburg...
As per the club statement, a new coach is expected to be appointed ahead of the return from the winter break.
Lijnders’ successor will have to work under Klopp as the former Reds boss will start his new role in 2025.
Klopp has signed a £10m-a-year deal with Red Bull to become the global head of soccer.
He will begin his new job on January 1 and will oversee the management of Salzburg, RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls, two clubs in Brazil and a third-tier Japanese side.
By Dave Kidd
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.
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.
But their form has nosedived since, with dreams of a farewell quadruple long gone.
And Klopp may well now be reflecting on the wisdom of his announcement.
Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full.
Or check out all of Dave Kidd’s articles.
