Jurgen Klopp beats Pep Guardiola to win Premier League and LMA manager of the season awards
Jurgen Klopp has been named the Premier League’s and the League Manager Association’s manager of the season after Liverpool narrowly missed out on winning the title.
Liverpool finished on 92 points, one behind eventual champions Manchester City after a thrilling final day on Sunday.
Having once trailed City by 14 points, Liverpool went on a 19-game unbeaten run to end the season, with 10 wins on the spin from January to April helping them close the gap.
A draw at City in April and at home to Spurs in May ultimately saw them fall short, however, with a final-day victory over Wolves not enough to win a second Premier League title.
There was hope for Liverpool on Sunday, but City came back from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and claim a fourth Premier League in five years under Pep Guardiola.
Klopp, 54, won the Premier League award after votes from the public were combined with votes from a panel of football experts, the Premier League said.
The German topped the five-man shortlist, with Guardiola, Brentford’s Thomas Frank, Newcastle’s Eddie Howe and Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira also nominated.
Brentford finished 13th in their first-ever Premier League campaign under Frank, Palace came 12th in Vieira’s first season in charge, while Howe helped Newcastle make relegation a distant thought when overseeing their climb up the table to an eventual 11th.
Kevin De Bruyne won the Premier League’s player of the season award, with City team-mate Phil Foden winning the prize for the best young player.
The German manager thanked his fellow coaches for bestowing the award on him and acknowledged he had tough competition for the prize.
Klopp praised Steve Cooper in particular for guiding Nottingham Forest to the Championship play-off final, which will be played on Sunday, and the FA Cup quarter-finals where they lost out to Liverpool.
“Thank you to all my colleagues,” Klopp said.
“For example, what Steve Cooper did at Nottingham is crazy.
“We had no idea we would consistently be that good. Now Real Madrid, we’ll give it a try.”
