The Liverpool manager feels supporters should be allowed to vent their anger against owners, but only if peace is maintained throughout
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp can appreciate why protests from supporters that saw a meeting with Manchester United postponed were taking place, but feels those involved took things too far as people ended up getting hurt.
Disgruntled Red Devils fans took the opportunity to air their frustration at the club’s ownership ahead of what was supposed to be a heavyweight Premier League encounter between two arch-rivals.
The Old Trafford pitch was, however, stormed and police officers were injured, with players from both sides left stuck in their respective hotels as the decision was made to call off the game and rearrange for May 13.
What has been said?
Klopp understands why United followers are hitting out at the Glazer family, with Liverpool’s owners incurring the wrath of their supporters when signing up for the much-maligned Super League proposal, but the German is eager to ensure that things do not get out of hand.
He told reporters of events in Manchester when looking ahead to a meeting with Southampton on Saturday: “We saw a few pictures from Old Trafford, we watched a bit of TV at that time to get an idea of what was going on.
“Was I surprised these kind of things happened? No, I’m an absolute believer in democracy – it means I am happy that people want to tell their opinion, that’s completely fine.
“But I know that in situations like that it doesn’t happen too often that no-one gets hurt and that’s why I said the week before, when all the pundits were asking for protests, I said we need to be careful and calm down, to ask for the right things.
“I don’t know exactly what happened there but I heard some policeman got injured and these kinds of things should not happen for sure.
“You shouldn’t break down the doors. To tell the world what you think about things is completely fine, as long as it is completely peaceful and as far as I know it wasn’t completely peaceful and then it is not right anymore.”
The bigger picture
Protests appear set to continue, with Chelsea and Arsenal fans also taking matters into their own hands over recent weeks, with calls for change in English football when it comes to club ownership garnering ever greater support.
Liverpool and United find themselves at the centre of that storm, with both clubs seeing already busy schedules become even more hectic in the final throes of a testing campaign.
Asked about the rescheduling of a meeting with the Red Devils – who now face four games in 10 days – and whether his team were consulted on a date, Klopp added: “Consulted means we had a say? We were informed about the process but we had nothing to do with it really.
“Yes, of course, I have sympathy for them as it is not how should be but it is not good for us as well – I would have preferred to play the game last week.
“Now we have five games in the last two weeks so that is not really cool as well. It is like it is. We have nothing to complain about, it is just the situation.”
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