Jurgen Klopp shows the human side of Merseyside Derby

Twice a year when the Blues face Liverpool, the hope is that Jurgen Klopp will be humiliated. Every other week of the season? Well, okay, we want him to be humiliated then, too. The point is, though, that Klopp is a likable guy.

He’s charismatic, doesn’t take himself too seriously, and relates to fans really, really well. In fact, you’d almost prefer he coach a team we don’t have to face and see Liverpool with a truly despicable person as their coach because then hating would be easier, kinda like the setup Manchester City currently has.

The story here, though, is that Jurgen Klopp did something truly kind that he did not have to do for an Everton fan and it’s worth significant praise.

Noah is an Everton fan. He’s twelve years old, and has a condition known as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It slowly wastes the muscles of the victim and eventually shortens their life. This also incurs numerous medical bills and Noah and his team have a GoFundMe page trying to raise £50k to help his family. They are over halfway to their goal and if you’d like to help Noah, you can do so here.

Thankfully, life expectancy with this syndrome is improving, and hopefully as Noah gets older, treatments will improve even further to help him live as normal a life as possible.

September the 7th is Duchenne Awareness Day, so please share Noah’s story over the next couple of days to help both him and general awareness for others with his condition.

Noah’s aunt ran into Jurgen Klopp at a petrol station (which isn’t surprising - and that itself is surprising), and told him about Noah’s situation. The German manager was kind enough to take a few moments of his time to record this message for the young man:

On top of Klopp’s good treatment of Noah I appreciate that Noah’s aunt took the time to rib him about the next derby while she was at it. Seems to me to capture really well the spirit of this rivalry, where the community is the most important thing but the lines still exist.

Thank you so much to Jurgen Klopp, and to Noah, our thoughts and prayers are with you, buddy, here’s hoping you get better soon!