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• I am full of energy – Jurgen Klopp says he does not need break from management

  Jurgen Klopp insists he does not need a break from Premier League management following a disappointing campaign with Liverpool.

  The Reds missed out on Champions League qualification after finishing outside the top four for the first time in a full season under the German.

  Sunday’s thrilling 4-4 draw at relegated Southampton stretched Liverpool’s unbeaten top-flight run to 11 games but the late resurgence was not enough to make up for earlier poor results.

  Klopp, the division’s longest-serving manager, maintains he is “full of energy” and ready to revive the club’s fortunes going into the summer.

  Asked if he needs time off, the Reds boss replied: “No, no, no, not at all. Honestly, I’m completely fine.

  “If you’d asked me 11 games ago, ‘do you want to have a break?’, I would have thought about it, to be honest.

  “But I’m absolutely fine, full of energy.

  “I have a break – I don’t have training and these kind of things. But a really busy period hopefully starts now in a different area of the game. I’m more than happy to do that.

  “I will find time to reenergise and then we start again in July.”

  Liverpool’s fifth-placed finish was their lowest since they finished eighth in 2015-16 – the season during which Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.

  The Reds looked destined to sign off this term in style following early strikes from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino at St Mary’s.

  But quick-fire second-half finishes from substitute Cody Gakpo and Jota were required to avoid a major shock after Kamaldeen Sulemana’s double and goals from James Ward-Prowse and Adam Armstrong turned a chaotic contest in Southampton’s favour.

  Klopp believes his club has stuck together during some difficult moments and is determined that they regain a fear factor for rival sides.

  “There is not a lot to learn (from the season) but a lot of clubs when the expectations are as high as ours when things don’t go well pretty quickly you start blaming each other,” he said. “That didn’t happen here.

  “The better you behave in a crisis, the better you get out of it – and I really thought that was the case for us.

  “We’re really, really not happy about it and for a club like us it’s massive not to qualify for the Champions League.

  “If we improve, we are all of a sudden again a team nobody wants to play against and that’s what we have to become again.

  “There were a lot of games in the season where I think teams were happy to face us. That’s actually the worst thing that can happen to you and I hated these moments. But that’s over and now let’s start again.”

  Southampton are preparing for life in the Sky Bet Championship following an exhilarating end to a dismal season.

  Saints manager Ruben Selles, who will leave the club and is likely be replaced by Swansea boss Russell Martin, conducted a performance review ahead of his departure.

  “We discussed the points we can do better, the points we need to hold,” said the Spaniard.

  “We needed to end in a professional way and that’s not a discussion because it’s not about us as a technical staff, it’s about Southampton and the information we can pass to the future people working here is key in not repeating the same mistakes.

  “If they find themselves in the same situations that we did, at least they have this footage and experience of what we did.

  “We did our review as a technical staff together. We got some conclusions for us and somebody will present it in the proper place to present it.

  “It’s not for us to decide for the future but it is for us to say what we think can be different next season.”

• Everton’s great escape will not automatically solve problems – leading academic

  Everton’s escape from relegation will not automatically free them from problems which caused that predicament and proposed new investment will have to inevitably bring changes at boardroom level, according to a leading academic.

  While Premier League revenue has been secured for another season – extending their top-flight stay into a 70th season – a club which has cumulative losses of more than £430million in the last four years will have to make significant changes.

  And while American investors MSP Sports Capital are poised to buy into the club, Kieran Maguire – from the University of Liverpool Management School’s Centre for Sports Business – believes that will not come without strings attached.

  Fans who have been protesting against what they claim is mismanagement by the current board, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale in particular, will welcome that prospect but what impact it has on owner Farhad Moshiri’s approach remains to be seen.

  “Someone suggested £150million for 25 per cent, which would value the club around £600m. Newcastle went for £300m,” Maguire, speaking about the new investment, told the PA news agency.

  “If a new person was coming in, they’d be looking for board representation, more concessions from Moshiri and then where does it leave him: owning three-quarters of a football club and he’d walk away with a big loss.

  “MSP are looking to bring two directors onto the board and for there to be changes on the existing board.”

  However, a new, albeit partial, boardroom will not sweep away all Everton’s issues.

  There are deep-rooted problems at the club which the £600m Moshiri has spent on transfers alone have failed to solve.

  That means it will take some turning around and – after back-to-back seasons of narrowly avoiding relegation – it could be a painful and complicated process with a squad overhaul likely to have to take place on a budget, potentially funded by existing player sales.

  “It is not Football Manager where you think ‘It’s not going too well, I’ll delete and reset’,” added Maguire.

  “You have costs in terms of the infrastructure, legacy costs in terms of player recruitment.

  “There won’t be a lot of money to buy players but you still have the issue of wages at 90 per cent of turnover and this overhang of the Premier League charges.

  “We don’t know how long that will take to conclude – and the worst-case scenario is a points deduction.

  “Football is a talent game and the talent follows the money. It could be you do a Brentford or a Brighton and you succeed at a point in the market but there is no evidence to suggest Everton are capable of doing that.

  “How do you get around that? You pay them more money – and that extra money doesn’t exist.”

  On the horizon is the new 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but that, too, will be no panacea for finances.

  “It will start to kick in for 2024, but it is not going to move the dial a huge amount,” said Maguire.

  “And Everton have a fanbase who are traditional supporters from Liverpool so monetising the corporate element may be more difficult.”

• Sean Dyche outlines vision for Everton’s future and calls for realism

  Sean Dyche is nothing if not realistic and within minutes of achieving his sole aim of saving Everton from relegation he delivered his verdict on the state of the club – and it will have made for difficult listening for his bosses.

  The 51-year-old has built a career on plain speaking and pragmatism but until another season in the top flight – the club’s 70th in succession – was secured he had to keep his own counsel, at least in public, on the state of affairs he inherited from predecessor Frank Lampard.

  But in the immediate aftermath of the 1-0 win over Bournemouth which safeguarded the Toffees’ future, Dyche laid bare the extent of the problems he feels have riddled the club and outlined what needs to be done to change.

  Whether owner Farhad Moshiri, whose £600 million-plus spend on players in just over seven years has almost hastened rather than failed to prevent back-to-back relegation scraps, will listen remains to be seen.

  But Dyche knows throwing money at the problem is not the answer, especially as it has now effectively run out with the club making losses of over £430m over four years and facing sanctions next season for breaching profit and sustainability rules.

  “The fans have been amazing, they want the club to be in the top end of the market but the club currently is not at the top end of the market,” he said.

  “We need solid thinking going forwards. We are not ready to be up there yet, that is quite evident.

  “It is going to be building and progress and I need the Evertonians to understand that. I’ll be very surprised if they (the club’s board) say ‘Here’s another war chest, sign who you like’.

  “It’s not going to happen so we have to be wise, recruit wisely and recruit players who, if possible, understand this club.

  “They have to be able to handle what it is to be part of Everton. I’m learning that all the time and we have to be able to get that heartbeat and also talent as well.

  “I’ve tried to be realistic since I’ve been here but the problem with realism is not many people want it because it sounds boring.

  “But at the end of the day it is time for that. There was a time when this club went from ‘Let’s just do everything’ but there is a time for realism, that’s what I’ve learned.”

  Dyche is already starting to sound like his old self during his decade-long stay at Burnley before his sacking last season in a relegation scrap from which they failed to escape.

  He worked miracles on a small budget at Turf Moor, making the club a Premier League regular against the odds, and believes he can turn things around at Goodison Park.

  But he needs the people in charge – Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale – to accept his version of what the future should look like and abandon lofty but unrealistic ambitions fuelled by influential agents, the owner’s inexperience and a lack of joined-up thinking on a club ethos and recruitment strategy.

  This is a club which are on their eighth permanent manager and third director of football since the billionaire took over in 2016.

  Dyche, who admitted managing up was as much a part of his job as leading those below him, said on him being the driving force: “Someone has got to. That’s usually the manager.

  “Now at least I can bring some of it to the fore and I can say ‘OK, I’ve given you the first step and it’s a big step’ but I need a bit of reality from fans that they don’t think next season we win the first 10 on the trot.

  “That’s highly unlikely from a club which has been edging downwards.

  “There’s that beautiful stadium down the road (at Bramley-Moore Dock) which someone has to pay for.

  “There has to be a reality (about money) because we are trying to build a stadium, they are doing things in the community, and you have to get a team to win.”

  On transfers, he added: “Fans want development but really they want first-team footballers who can play and win and that usually implies money.

  “But we know about the financial stuff, that has to be realigned, so not yet, I don’t know but I will know at some point.

  “Evertonians remember when they had an ‘earthy’ team, a team that gave everything – they are good things even in modern times. Let’s applaud it.

  “And of course we want to play good, attacking, pleasing football that can win games. Not easy.”