SNORKELS, SUGAR AND NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Jurgen Klinsmann’s time with Monaco had come to an end, but there were two things he needed to buy.
The streets of Monte Carlo are lined with swish boutiques, offering some of the finest jewellery and haute couture on planet Earth. A World Cup winner and former Serie A superstar, Klinsmann could have bought pretty much anything he liked.
But he was about to move to England for the first time in his life, and he’d been warned that it could be difficult to survive there without two very important items: goggles and a snorkel.
True, they’re not the most obvious things that come to mind when you’re about to set up home in north London, but when Klinsmann arrived for his opening press conference as a Tottenham Hotspur player, he made sure to take them along with him.
“I had them in a backpack, right next to me,” the German tells FFT with a smile, as he thinks back to that 1994 unveiling.
In the end, the greatest prank in Premier League history never happened. Klinsmann never did don the snorkel and goggles in front of Fleet Street’s finest that afternoon, as originally planned. Instead, he uttered a famous line that paved the way for one of the happiest periods of his life. “Maybe I can ask the first question,” he began that day. “Are there any diving schools in London?”
Within weeks, he’d sealed his place in the hearts of Spurs fans forever.
THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER
Klinsmann’s road to the Premier League really began on November 14, 1987. The former bakery apprentice had progressed to German champions VfB Stuttgart after an impressive spell in the 2. Bundesliga with Stuttgart Kickers – and although VfB slipped to 10th in his maiden season in 1984-85, Klinsmann netted 17 goals. The following campaign, he netted five in a single match at Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Still, however, he had to wait for his first international call-up… until the goal that changed everything. At home to title holders Bayern Munich, in front of 70,000 supporters at the Neckarstadion, Klinsmann crashed in a superb overhead kick which sent Stuttgart on their way to a 3-0 victory. Curiously, he did it while wearing the No.3 shirt.
“That was the idea of my manager Arie Haan,” says Klinsmann. “He was my mentor, I admired him, and he came up with all sorts of funny ideas. He said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to switch your shirt’ – maybe he was superstitious, as he never told me why!
“But it worked out great. That goal was my big door opener – it changed my life. Franz Beckenbauer, the national team coach, was in the stands, saw that goal and boom – he took me into the national team a month later. My debut was a friendly in Brazil. I kind of stole the spot from Klaus Allofs, who’d been Rudi Völler’s striking partner. He never came back after my first game…”
It was Klinsmann who partnered Völler at Euro 88, having finished the season as Bundesliga top scorer – even if the dream of winning the tournament on home soil ended with semi-final defeat to the Netherlands.
