On February 28, 2001 — Rose Monday in Mainz — the club parted ways with Krautzun after seven games without a win and a place in the relegation zone. Heidel sat at home with little appetite for the televised parade and thought: something has to change. His idea was a man from within.\n\n“Kloppo wanted to be a coach anyway,” he thought to himself, phoned him, and offered him the job.
Klopp later reenacted the call in his own style: Christian Heidel rings up, says they’re throwing Eckhard out, asks whether he can imagine doing it. Klopp did not need long.\n\nThat Rose Monday decision changed Mainz forever.