BESPECTACLED and possessing continental suaveness, there has been a new professor in residence in England’s Premier League over the past 18 months or so, with Jurgen Klopp making a not bad start to his Anfield reign.

The German’s Liverpool team have, at the end of his second season in charge, claimed a Champions League slot by sealing fourth place this season having won precisely half the 86 matches under his charge in all major competitions, a pretty decent return.

Pundits consequently speak in breathless tones about the impact so far of the best Liverpool manager since . . . well, since his immediate predecessor Brendan Rodgers, who just missed out on the Premier League title at the end of his second season and, over a rather longer period, won 84 of 167 matches, a slightly better return.

That’s the same Rodgers whose efforts in going so much closer to bringing Liverpool a 19th English title than any other in the past quarter of a century were dismissed by many as wholly reliant on the individual brilliance of Luis Suarez.

The Irishman has, of course, since demonstrated his coaching credentials in his next post by bringing the best out of a squad largely assembled by another much-maligned individual, Ronny Deila, and turning them into domestic “invincibles”.

Which takes us back to Klopp’s current portrayal when compared with the manager of the original “invincibles” – the man originally dubbed “Le Professeur” – and the irritation expressed by Arsene Wenger ahead of last weekend’s FA Cup final regarding the lack of respect shown to him by those who owe him most.

Few clubs have a greater debt to any manager than Arsenal, who won 10 English titles and six FA Cups in the 93 years before he arrived. Under his tenure – which will now continue for a further two years – that has been extended to 13 titles and a record haul of 13 FA Cups, more than doubling the club’s tally.

Their failure to add to their two European trophies has also, strangely, been a sign of success – Arsenal having, virtually throughout his time in charge, competed in the Champions League.

The triumphs claimed by the teams managed by Bertie Mee and George Graham were in lesser European competitions, the Fairs Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.

In the 62 years since European competition has been instituted, Arsenal have qualified on 35 occasions, 22 out of 22 under Wenger while, in the most challenging environments in club football, the Frenchman has registered 672 wins and 268 draws, suffering just 228 losses in 1168 matches as Arsenal boss.

Yet it is symptomatic of the modern sporting world that while the media coos over Klopp, it has become bored with Wenger, consequently feeding the malcontents in the Arsenal support and his increasing irritation was expressed with characteristic eloquence last weekend.

“One of the big problems in modern society is that the big companies don’t sit there any more to make the decisions that are good for the company, but whether it is popular or not. I don’t care about that.

“I just want to always make a decision based on, is it right or is it wrong? Is it good or not? All the rest for me is artificial debate,” he observed.

This need for instant and constant gratification and stimulation that has permeated society is deeply unhealthy.

And it was also on show at my own club this season where we had the unedifying sight of Paul Hartley collecting the manager of the month award in February and being sacked a month later, with many supporters having called for him to be relieved of his duties.

Players who had beaten Rangers, then scored five in the opening half against Motherwell in the matches immediately preceding an inexplicable run of seven succession losses which cost a clearly-bemused Hartley his job, then found the stimulus they needed in the enthusiasm of Neil McCann for a week or so before slumping again once they thought they had protected their livelihoods for next season.

In the same street as I attended the press conference announcing McCann’s appointment, I listened, a couple of weeks later, to Paul Hegarty remind us how Dundee United’s board had shown faith in Jim McLean in the 1970s despite fans protests several years after he took the post.

Wee Jim’s first trophy was won after eight years, midway through which United avoided relegation in the first Premier league season on goal difference.

We wonder why no provincial Scottish manager has emerged to match the likes of McLean since, but it is inconceivable because, as Wenger so rightly pointed out, most modern decision-making in all walks of life is based upon short-term populism rather than the cool-headed patience required to build success.