Hold back tears, it is nearly over. That painful break-up feeling is looming on Merseyside for a set of intensely passionate fans about a Stuttgart-born genius.
Football does not stop for anyone, and sorrow must turn into determination for Liverpool after the Jurgen Klopp grieving period ends.
Six years; brought a first Premier League title, added a sixth Champions League, also won both domestic cups. Most importantly, claimed the hearts of every dreaming Liverpool fan. Miserably, he has had enough, but the misery must be short-lived for every senior figure at the club.
The end is nigh, but please forget that.
Why should they move on so soon? Look East, Fenway Sports Group. It is coming up to 11 years since the departure of Alex Ferguson from Manchester United. The success since that flourishing relationship ended has been a steaming mess at Old Trafford.
The challenge of minimising a long-term decline has had a low success rate in English football in recent years. Recovering to a level of sustained success requires patience beyond belief constant trust, and of course, quite a bit of fortune.
The club has fantastic infrastructure, a top-range training ground and an iconic ground. However, supporter judgement will be laser-focused towards on-pitch improvements for the coming years. Scrutiny will be at an all-time high.
Football should be about trusting the process and patience. Only one team can ever win a trophy, and if you can see obvious weaknesses in your preferred club they are probably not ready to compete for one.
The next Liverpool manager will have a go at overthrowing the authoritative command Manchester City have had on English football, but it is not a quick fix.
Drawing on the experiences of the failed post-long-term manager periods for other English clubs, this is how Liverpool can best reduce the chance of a few years of repetitive disappointment.
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Hire a manager that matches the club's identity
Cohesion between fans and the manager is the initial priority for Liverpool. Find a coach who will match the identity of Liverpool Football Club.
In some ways that is indefinable, but it would be drastically out of character for a low-block, calculated and regimented style of manager who avoids using academy players.
The historically successful teams have played with ultimate freedom and have played to excite and score.
It is looking increasingly more likely that man is Arne Slot. Attacking and attractive football, a good communicator and man-manager orientated, yes, please!
Arne Slot is not a Dutch Jurgen Klopp, despite their trajectories following a similar path in terms of club size in respective countries. A crowd-pleaser will arrive at Anfield, but he must be helped as any new manager should be.
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Offload Klopp-era legends
Time to clear out some players before they overdue their stay. It cannot happen too quickly to avoid disrupting the squad too heavily, but it has to start in the summer to allow a chance to evolve. All eras have to come to an end.
When you still have players who are operating at a world-class ability, there is absolutely no point selling them. Just if you are wondering, that is Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Virgil van Dijk.
Brutal decisions could be made on the likes of Joel Matip, Andy Robertson and dramatically, Mohamed Salah. Matip and Robertson are certainly ageing and are becoming more unreliable, so replacements should be considered.
Mohamed Salah is still hitting big numbers, but he is beginning to look disinterested. Not a, but the legendary attacker of the Jurgen Klopp era. Liverpool should consider cashing in on the 31-year-old now and reinvesting in the rest of the squad, despite how painful that might be.
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Sign players strategically
What is your vision? That discussion will take place between the successor of Klopp and the Liverpool board immediately to plan the strategy in the upcoming transfer market and years to come.
Often clubs are forced to sign players if they are short in a position. Besides that, every signing should be carefully considered and signed because of the full belief that the manager has in that player.
Liverpool has the luxury of a strong squad and decent foundations, so they can certainly be precise in signings.
Do not throw money at the project, it does not work. Exhibit A, Chelsea. Unintelligent signing after unintelligent signing, now in financial fair play trouble.
Liverpool needs to set priorities in the summer and target an age bracket of players, avoid overspending if it makes no sense, and take a risk on a player if it is logical.
The nature of signing players is a poisoned chalice, no one has any clue if it will work. However, if there is a sign of intelligent life on Merseyside, your chances are significantly increased.
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Patience and trusting the process
The first relationship after a long-term relationship will be rife with comparisons to the previous one, naturally. Unquestionably, the next manager will not slot in and instantly have Liverpool challenging for league titles, or at least not consistently.
It took Mikel Arteta until his fourth full season to launch a title challenge. A hell of a rebuild was needed at Arsenal, but Liverpool fans should keep their expectations lowered.
For the first time in almost a decade, the style of play at Anfield will be different, the players will not play the same. That can be frustrating at times as they practically learn the footballing equivalent of a new language.
The first two years should be expectation-free as long as the club is floating in and around European places. A finish in sixth place should not warrant a sacking.
There will be trials and tribulations, undoubtedly drops in form met with promising moments but it will never be smooth sailing. The Premier League is just not forgiving enough.
Something new is coming, and while the inevitable pain of Klopp departing is on the horizon, the club is not in an unhealthy position by any means.
The footballing side has fantastic senior figures such as the chief executive of football Michael Edwards, who has a fantastic reputation.
The squad is relatively young, there is still a handful of world-class players, so there is no need to panic.
