Whenever it is safe to do so, Reds will have a party: Klopp
Klopp believes what the title means to those affiliated to the club trumps all other opinions.
“I never thought ‘oh in the year we can become champions this happens’ and maybe it’s kind of a destiny,” Klopp told The Anfield Wrap from Melwood during an interview conducted over Zoom.
“This club went through so many difficult moments in the past. This situation is still absolutely doable from a football point of view.
“It’s not perfect. Of course it’s not perfect. But we decide what it means to us.”
Pointing to his head and then his heart, Klopp continued: “We decide what it means for us here and here.
“If anybody thinks ‘oh, they’re a little bit crazy,’ I couldn’t care less.
“If it will happen, it would have been an absolutely incredible ride with all the things that happened last year (missing out on the title to Manchester City by a point) and before that losing the Champions League final (to Real Madrid in Kiev).
“It would be an exceptional celebration.
“Most people will never, ever forget these tough times.
“We have more time to find the right moment to enjoy it together. And then we can say like three or four weeks before ‘make sure that you are all ready’ and we do it.
“We just enjoy ourselves and celebrate what we are, who we are and what we’ve won and that would be my absolute dream.
“So I really can’t wait. I can promise, whatever is in my power, I’ll do to make sure that we’ll have a proper parade — whenever that will be.”
Klopp circled the fact that Liverpool
haven’t secured the title yet and that their objective goes beyond adding that silverware to the three trophies collected during the past year.
He has also underscored the club’s desire to make sure they are the division’s pacesetters against next season.
“There’s a lot of yards still to go,” he said. “We want to go for everything. This could be the most special season, with or without Covid-19. We have to make sure that we just stay on track, because the next season will come up and we have to be ready for that as well.” √Tottenham have had one positive coronavirus result in the latest round of testing by the Premier League, the club say. That person will now self-isolate for seven days.
This was the only positive result after 1,197 players and staff were checked in the latest round of testing. There have now been five rounds of testing for Covid-19, and the total of positive results has increased to 13 from 5,079 tests.
√Jadon Sancho will face no further action over his anti-racism gesture during Borussia Dortmund’s win over Paderborn at the weekend.
Sancho unveiled a ‘Justice for George Floyd’ T-shirt after scoring in the game, a gesture for which he received a booking. He was one of a number of players to display statements of solidarity with Floyd, who died while being restrained by police in Minneapolis.
TWO days after Sven-goran Eriksson was shown the door against the wishes of most fans, Manchester City appointed his replacement when Mark Hughes joined the club on this day in 2008.
Hughes, a star striker for City’s rivals United during his playing days, had begun to build an impressive resume as a manager.
He turned around the fortunes of the Wales national team during five years in charge, narrowly missing out on qualification for Euro 2004, and then built a strong Blackburn team which qualified for Europe twice and went deep in the domestic cup competitions.
He was a man in demand by the summer of 2008, having also been linked with Chelsea, but City owner Thaksin Shinawatra was determined to land his man and reportedly paid world-record compensation to prise Hughes out of Ewood Park.
At Hughes’ introduction, City’s executive chairman Garry Cook said key transfer targets had already been identified and a busy summer began.
Fan favourite Shaun Wright-phillips returned from Chelsea while Hughes signed Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Jo and Tal Ben Haim.
Three games into Hughes’ tenure things changed dramatically in east Manchester as Shinawatra sold the club to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan on September 1.
It was the start of a frantic transfer deadline day which culminated in the dramatic signing of Robinho from Real Madrid late in the night.
Overnight, expectation levels changed at the club but Hughes was given time and money. He signed Nigel de Jong, Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy and Shay Given that January, although City could manage no better than 10th in the league in Hughes’ first season.
Hughes had notable successes with City but his record in the transfer market was mixed.
Although he signed several players who were key to their title-winning season under Roberto Mancini in 2011-12, and the likes of Kompany and Zabaleta went on to become firm favourites, other big-money outlays including Jo, Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor were major disappointments.
Ultimately, results did not match the money spent or the huge ambitions of City’s new owners and the Welshman would be sacked in December 2009, with Mancini replacing him.