James Milner had furious row with Jurgen Klopp that made him smash hands on table and issue expletive demand
James Milner says that despite his vice-captaincy status at Liverpool, he found himself on the end of Jurgen Klopp's wrath.
The former Reds midfielder, who currently plays for Brighton, has enjoyed a stellar career spanning 21 years having also turned out for Manchester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Leeds and England.
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Milner spent the longest spell of his career at Anfield, joining in 2015 just months before Klopp rocked up and transformed the club.
The midfielder was a key part of that revolution, displaying his versatility in his early days by playing at left-back and went on to pick up all seven major trophies on offer.
Joining on a free transfer from Man City, he left during the summer at the end of his contract to Brighton with Klopp’s well wishes.
Opening up on his relationship with the iconic manager, former Reds vice-captain Milner recalled one time things went awry, which may come of use to future signings.
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“He was pretty good most of the time, he was open,” Milner recalled on the High Performance podcast.
“Maybe not at half time, we had one occasion where he was sharing his thoughts and I was sharing mine and I remember him smashing his hands down on the table like ‘will you shut the f*** up?!’
“But Jurgen was brilliant. I had a great relationship with him, off the field as well, he supported our charity (the James Milner Foundation) as well so much.”
Adding his thoughts on what makes Klopp special, Milner said: “An amazing manager but I always felt like most of the time he was open and even if he didn’t feel like the conversation, he gave you stuff back so you felt like he’d thought about it afterwards.
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“Even if he didn’t tell you that, you’d see it with things he did after and I felt like he was good at taking things on board.
“He’s a leader, he makes the decisions, but if you’ve put something in his head and it’s helped, he was pretty good at listening to things like that, I saw him change a lot in the time I was there.”