Liverpool Football Club really might never be the same again after the European Super League drama, in which the club’s ownership ridiculed a fine history for the sake of a greedy, now botched venture.
After a drama like this, fans of the historic side would’ve been looking to their manager, a usually outspoken socialist, to condemn the actions of the hierarchy, that isn’t how things panned out though…
In the pre-match interview with Des Kelly of BT Sport ahead of this afternoon’s Premier League encounter against Newcastle, Klopp instead took a shock defensive stance on the matter.
Kelly mentioned Klopp’s matchday programme comments, in which he felt the club he calls ‘home’ had been ‘trashed’, but then proceeded to distance Liverpool from the controversy they helped create.
Klopp’s initial statements were fair and just, insisting that the Liverpool players should not have faced abuse – like they did from Leeds fans – for a decision they had no hand in.
But, the German then urged everyone to ‘calm down’, having seen the protests at fellow failed founding clubs Arsenal and Chelsea, later telling pundits to also ‘calm down’ and everyone to ‘relax a little bit’.
See More: Video: Liverpool star Diogo Jota knocked down after stern elbow to the face from Newcastle defender Federico Fernandez
Here is the full transcript of Klopp’s comments:
“Look, it hurt a lot because the thing was that, yes our owners made a mistake, we’ve said it often enough, they know it and all these kinds of things.”
“What I didn’t like in that moment – the Leeds supporters were a good example, they’re not worse or better than others, they went on us.”
“We had nothing to do with that, we are just the faces of the club. As our supporters, have nothing to do with that obviously. For other teams to go ‘yeah you were in that’, no they were not, we were not.”
“We didn’t even know about the idea, we had nothing to do about it and that’s what for me is really important that we don’t forget that.”
“It’s constantly mentioned, Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool Football Club – no, it was not Liverpool Football Club. It was representatives of Liverpool Football Club, we have to make a difference. That’s really very important.”
“Then I see the pictures out in the last few days, yesterday Arsenal and then the Chelsea stuff like this… I really think, you all have to calm down.”
“Yesterday on Sky, three journalists sitting all the time and talking the whole day about it, it’s winding up people, you cannot just wait for and create other pictures… We are still in a pandemic.”
“People are out there without face masks and just shouting their opinion out.”
“All the pundits have to calm down as well a little bit because, yes, nobody wanted it, definitely. But now let’s deal with it and not constantly show yes we didn’t want it.”
“We know it all, it’s all clear now, the people who made the decisions – they learnt their lesson, I’m 100% sure. So just relax a little bit.”
“We have to carry on, that’s always how it is. If something bad happens, we have to carry on – that’s what we try now.”
Here is how some football fans have reacted to the moment:
Klopp was right in stating that many protesters were not wearing face masks, whilst we’re still dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, but calling for the media to essentially forget about the matter was ‘tone deaf’ as BT Sport host and legend Gary Lineker tweeted.
It’s obviously not nice to see people endangering themselves by not sporting masks as they stage and attend protests, but the pandemic is no reason for the issue to be forgotten – as we’ve seen in other mass protests on worldwide issues since the virus struck.
It’s quite a sad day for football when someone like Klopp appears to have bowed down to the club’s ownership after a disastrous decision, whilst it may act as a platform for all the other involved managers to act the same now that they’ve seen the German take this stance.