Jurgen Klopp doesn’t want to be James Bond, declining Daniel Craig’s invitation to be his successor.

After all, in football, he already has a licence to thrill.

Just as every boy once wanted to be 007, every fan wants Klopp to manage their club.

There are no guarantees, but you’d bet your house on them being shaken and stirred.

Perhaps even more than Pep Guardiola, who is prone to ‘mad scientist’ moments, Klopp comes across as a regular guy.

He even introduced himself as “the normal one.”

And is just as brilliant a manager.

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the German’s arrival at Liverpool when 35,000 fans tracked his flight from Dortmund into John Lennon airport.

The fevered anticipation owed less to his successes – two Bundesliga titles, one German Cup – than his suitability: he seemed to tick every box to be a Liverpool manager.

He believed in attacking football, in giving youth a chance; had a rapport with the fans and already spoke decent English.

The sense of him being a perfect fit was enhanced by his previous club’s similarities with his new one: both are in industrial cities and have blue collar, red-blooded support.

The Yellow Wall is the Borussia equivalent of the Kop, and they even sing “You’ll never Walk Alone” – in English.

Even Klopp’s wife Ulla told him: “Liverpool is for you.”

In six rip-roaring years, he has not just exceeded expectations, he’s ascended to the pantheon where he’s now compared with immortals, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

And it took him less than five years: winning the English Premier League title last year after a 30-year drought.

He’d won the Champions League, Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in the previous year, turning Anfield into a fortress where they went 68 games unbeaten.

The team he built was being compared to the greatest Liverpool sides of all time.

But the wheels came off in January when an uncanny run of injuries to central defenders finally took its toll.

Klopp’s mother also died, and because of Covid travel restrictions, he was unable to attend her funeral.

With fans still absent, the Reds lost six in a row at Anfield, and he admits it was a low point in his stay, in his life.

But somehow, he rallied the troops for a storming finish in third place. He called it “one of the biggest achievements ever”.

So, six years on, it’s a measure of the man that fans are beginning to fret about what might happen when he leaves – even though the dreaded departure date is still three years away.

Legendary defender Jamie Carragher has admitted to “a nagging fear” about the post-Klopp era, especially if, as has been hinted, football director Michael Edwards and star man Mo Salah leave in the meantime.

“How long can they keep beating the system to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League?” Carragher recently asked.

The Sky TV pundit claimed: “There is no other manager that could have achieved the success the German has since his arrival at Anfield.”

Carragher is referring to the budget Klopp has had compared to those of his rivals, all of whom hugely outspent Liverpool in the recent transfer window.

Klopp once again had to explain: “We are not a benefactor club,” adding: “But I’m OK with that. It’s what I signed up for.”

He might have added: ‘It’s what I prefer.’ Klopp has made his name improving players rather than signing ready-made ones off the shelf. He did it at Mainz and Dortmund, and he’s done it at Liverpool.

Exhibit A is Andy Robertson, an £8m signing from Hull, who is now one of the world’s best attacking full-backs.

On the other flank, he has nurtured Scouser Trent Alexander-Arnold from callow youth to most creative full-back in Europe.

Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah were all turned from mid-range signings (between £15 million and £35m) into top internationals, Salah into a world-beater.

Liverpool did spend big on a couple of occasions to get Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, but they were using the £140m they got for Philippe Coutinho.

That said, Klopp doesn’t have a magic wand and made a relatively slow start.

“I think we have to go from doubters to believers,” was all he promised at his presentation.

And finishing sixth, eighth, fourth and fourth with three finals lost were the sum total of his “achievements” in the first three and a half years.

That’s well-beyond the average lifespan for an EPL manager but FSG had seen enough to award him a six-year contract.

Although Klopp disagrees, his greatest success has probably been in man-management.

Tactically, he came up with gegen-pressing as a more intense version of pressing.

Getting players to do this for 90 minutes can only be done if they’re super fit and super motivated. But all bought into the Klopp project.

Constant involvement with the fans ensured they were on board too. Patience was what he asked for and what he got.

Gradually, the old frailties were removed, and the Reds morphed into a thrilling, front-foot team that was the envy of the world.

He’s close enough to his players to call them “my sons” and when they dig deep, “mentality monsters”.

The crowning moments were the Champions League win over Spurs and clinching the EPL title.

But probably the night of nights was the 4-0 win over Barcelona when he lined up the whole squad to salute an adoring Kop.

This is when the Shankly comparisons started. Another famous centre-back, Mark Lawrenson said: “I’m loathed to compare people but… he’s a modern version of Shankly.

And none other than the great man’s grandson, Chris Carline, proprietor of the Shankly Hotel in the city, agrees: “Jurgen Klopp and my granddad have a lot of very similar traits. Especially when it comes to the fans.”

It even stretches to those of other clubs – a rare achievement indeed.

To navigate the minefields and defences of billionaire opponents in modern football, you probably need to be a bit of a 007.

But the Shankly comparison is the one of which he’ll be most proud.

Happy anniversary, Jurgen.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.