No more Tiers for boss Klopp

AT the end of last season, Jurgen Klopp launched an infamous tirade against referee Paul Tierney, saying: “I really don’t know what this man has with us…”

Klopp was given a two-match touchline ban and a £75,000 fine for his outburst but maybe it served its purpose.

Tierney has since refereed Liverpool four times and Klopp’s teams have won all four games.

In the 3-0 verdict over Brentford, Thomas Frank claimed Tierney ignored what the Bees manager saw as a red-card challenge by Liverpool’s Wataru Endo on Christian Norgaard.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino insisted Tierney ignored two stonewall penalty claims during their 4-1 defeat at Anfield and, of course, Tierney made a terrible howler that benefited Liverpool a couple of minutes before their dramatic winner at the City Ground last Saturday.

All coincidental, no doubt, but it is safe to say that if Tierney ‘had’ something with Liverpool just over a year ago, he doesn’t now.

DAMON HILL asked a simple question on social media earlier this week. In fact, he clearly framed it as a rhetorical question.

“Formula One. It’s about fast cars and racing drivers, right?”

Well, it might be if one car and one driver was not, as Toto Wolff put it last Saturday night, “in a different galaxy to the rest”.

It might be if one car and one driver had not won 34 of the 44 Grand Prix over the past two years.

Let’s be brutally honest, the things that keep Formula One compelling almost exclusively happen away from the track nowadays.

It’s the behind-the-scenes stuff on Drive To Survive, it’s Christian Horner-gate, it’s FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem being accused of interfering in a race, it’s Lewis Hamilton dumping Mercedes for Ferrari, it’s whoever gets collared by Martin Brundle on his gridwalk.

“Formula One. It’s about fast cars and racing drivers, right?”

No, wrong, Damon (above).

And if that continues, Formula One might flourish as a popular high-end gossip show… but it will become a sporting bore.