What ‘furious’ Klopp told Liverpool squad about ESL in team meeting

Jurgen Klopp may have just about towed the party line last night, not going so far as to call out his employers, but privately, he is raging.

That is according to James Pearce, who has written about the manager’s response to the proposed European Super League which Liverpool have now signed up for.

“The Athletic understands Klopp was furious over both FSG’s willingness to sign up for the ESL and the timing of the announcement so close to a pivotal fixture with Leeds United,” he writes.

“It’s a concept completely out of keeping with the manager’s values and principles. He described himself as “a football romantic” when he took over at Anfield in 2015. He was attracted by the challenge of reviving the fortunes of a club which valued history and tradition. He felt Liverpool was a better fit for him than Manchester United in the belief that the motivation of the hierarchy wasn’t just making money.”

The boss was upset that Leeds fans welcomed the Liverpool team bus with chants of ‘scum’ and was also disappointed that the Spion Kop group will be withdrawing flags and banners from the Kop – but we can see why both incidents happened and will happen.

It is not Klopp’s fault – not his team’s fault – but a stand simply has to be made. Nobody can be expected to be silent in all of this – unlike FSG, whose lack of proper announcement is deafening and embarrassing.

According to Pearce, Klopp asked his players to ignore the situation and focus simply on winning games in the race for the top-four – but the 1-1 draw with Leeds United likely makes that slightly tarred dream impossible now.

“Klopp spoke to his Liverpool squad about the fallout at a team meeting on Monday morning and urged them not to be distracted by the furore and to retain focus on achieving a top-four Premier League finish,” he said.

“However, preparations for Monday night were undoubtedly affected. Klopp had to spend part of the day preparing for how he was going to handle the inevitable barrage of questions from the media in the absence of anyone from FSG fronting up.”

We feel desperately sorry for the boss in all of this. Has he not been through enough this year without his employers respecting him enough to at least run the idea past him?

Could they not wait until the end of the season for the announcement?

Now our race for the top four and Champions League qualification seems an utter farce.