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Sport

Ebbsfleet United’s Dennis Kutrieb joins Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and former Norwich City boss Daniel Farke as the only German managers to have won league titles in England

By: Matthew Panting mpanting@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 01 June 2023

Updated: 10:57, 01 June 2023

What do Jurgen Klopp, Daniel Farke and Dennis Kutrieb all have in common?

They’re three German managers who have won domestic league titles in England.

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb celebrates his side's 2022/23 National League South title win with chief executive Damian Irvine. PIcture: Simon Hildrew

Kutrieb joined the elite club this season by winning National League South with Ebbsfleet.

It’s an achievement that cannot be underestimated, with Kutrieb managing away from his homeland for the first time.

“It's massive,” said 43-year-old Kutrieb. “Just people who have done that can really speak about it.

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“There are adversities and things that are not going your way, not because you are in another country but because you are in another language. That’s the story for me.

“It’s so difficult sometimes to bring across what you want to bring across, your feelings, your emotions, your tone when you want to speak to players.

“This is definitely massive for me, personally, and I really enjoyed it because you can see how the team was improving as well. When you see the first game against Chippenham and the last game against Hungerford, there was a massive improvement.

“Not just how we got promotion, we improved over the season massively and the result of that is getting wins and getting promoted in style.”

Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019/20, while Daniel Farke has won the Championship twice with Norwich. Picture: Keith Gillard

Few could have blamed Kutrieb if he’d walked away from Ebbsfleet during his three-year tenure. He arrived in the summer of 2020 with lockdown still a part of everyday life in England.

“They were tough times but I can see it from a positive side as well,” reflected Kutrieb.

“I could focus straight away on football. It was Covid, nothing was open, I couldn’t find any friends, go to a pub or restaurant, it was just takeaway and go home.

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“I was sitting watching television, BT Sport and Sky, to try and improve my language. This was helpful because the commentator was doing 90 minutes of talk during the game, afterwards you heard interviews, before you heard the pre-talk, this was everything about the topic football.

“It was not just a negative, tough and challenging. There were a few positive things as well.

“When everyone came back it was really nice to see. Unfortunately, with the second season there was a dramatic and sad end for us but maybe we are now even better prepared for the National League.”

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