Furious Mainz ultras take shot at former manager Jurgen Klopp with new banners at RB Leipzig clash as the ex-Liverpool boss takes up new Red Bull role

Jurgen Klopp’s new role at Red Bull has not gone down too well with his former club Mainz, judging by some new banners.

After leaving his post at Liverpool at the end of the 2023/2024 season, Klopp was out of work for a few months before taking up a role as Red Bull’s new Global Head of Football.

He had been linked with the German national team, but that position is currently filled by Julian Nagelsmann, although reports claim there is a break clause in Klopp’s deal with Red Bull that would allow him to take over the national team.

RB Leipzig are one of the leading teams in the Bundesliga, but also one of the least popular, with German fans notoriously protective and fervent in their support of their clubs.

Leipzig were only founded fifteen years ago and have quickly risen to the top of the ranks, although much of the animosity stems from their ownership.

Mainz fans held up new banners during their recent Bundesliga match against RB Leipzig

“Have you forgotten everything we gave you,” reads one of the banners addressed to Klopp

German clubs are subject to the 50+1 rule, which essentially means that teams are always majority owned by the fans, with exceptions only when an entity has been financing a team for more than twenty years.

However, while Red Bull bought 49 percent of the club’s shares, they then limited investment in the remaining 51 through prohibitive prices and selection.

This move is legal, but because German football is so closely tied to its fans, it is extremely unpopular across the country.

As such, Klopp – seen as a man of the people domestically – has been largely unpopular with the country’s most unpopular team, seen as going against existing fan culture.

Fans at Mainz, Klopp’s former club as player and manager, unveiled some banners in their most recent match, making their views on his latest appointment painfully clear.

“Have you forgotten everything we gave you?” read a banner held by fans during Saturday’s match against RB Leipzig.

Another chose to poke fun at a famous Klopp quote, emphatically saying: “I love people until they disappoint me.”

Mainz fans aren’t the only ones who have reacted negatively to the news, with fans of Borussia Dortmund – another of his former clubs – taking to social media to vent.

The German boss spent 11 years as a player at Mainz before taking over as manager from 2001 to 2008 and taking him to the Bundesliga.

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The German has signed a ‘long-term’ deal to become the ‘Global Head of Soccer’ at Red Bull

“Lost all respect for Klopp,” one user wrote on X. “Bull is not easy to support.” Their post included three vomiting emojis.

Another said: ‘From ‘normal’ to tin person. What a shame…’ A third wrote: ‘You made yourself a dog, Jurgen.’

“You’re no one in my book anymore. Every cop is a son of ab****,” added a fourth Dortmund supporter.