‘Cheat’ rap hits Kop’s US owners
LIVERPOOL may have escaped an FA charge over claims that they hacked into Manchester City’s scouting database – but the club’s American owners are now at the centre of a cheating storm in baseball.
Fenway Sports Group recently sacked Alex Cora as manager of the Boston Red Sox after he was found guilty of breaking one of the sport’s most sacred rules during a previous role in charge of the Houston Astros.
Cora was exposed for “sign stealing” – a process which involves illegally using film cameras to decipher the complex use of hand signals being made by opposition coaches to give players on-field tactical advice.
Houston were fined £3.88million and had restrictions placed on their draft picks for the next two seasons. And Major League Baseball are under pressure to strip the club of the two World Series titles they won under Cora.
FSG sacked Cora, but the authorities are now investigating claims that the 44-year-old also stole signs electronically when he led the Red Sox to the World Series last year.
It is not Boston’s first brush with scandal.
Two years ago, principal FSG owner John W Henry wrote to the league to give assurances that Boston had taken steps to ensure the practice of using Apple watches to send messages to players had been brought to an end.
Tom Werner – chairman of both the Red Sox and Liverpool – insisted the club had taken the issue “very seriously”.
Liverpool were alleged to have paid City £1m in 2013 after it was found that members of the club’s scouting team – previously employed by the Blues – had accessed the scouting system used at the Etihad.
The FA concluded on Friday that they will not be looking into the matter further after gathering information from both clubs.
The Liverpool boss has been hammered for turning his back on the FA Cup after sending out a team of teenagers to face Shrewsbury in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday night.
Under-23 coach Neil Critchley took the reigns, while Klopp (right) and his title-chasing squad enjoyed a winter break.
But Van den Berg has revealed how Klopp makes the youngsters coming through the ranks at Anfield feel just as important as Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Co.
Van den Berg, an 18-year-old Dutch centre-back, made only his fourth senior appearance in the 1-0 victory which sent Liverpool through to face Chelsea. He said: “The warmth you feel, as a young player at Liverpool, is so special.
“I will tell you the best example of this. At other clubs, you arrive in the morning and people will say ‘Good morning’ or shake hands.
“But, here at Liverpool, you get a hug from the manager!
“Jurgen Klopp gives you a hug – and it’s those special little things that made all the young players feel appreciated and valued.
“That kind of warmth from the manager gives us the hope that we are all on the path to the Liverpool first team.”
Van den Berg, who arrived on Merseyside from PEC Zwolle for £1.3million in January 2018, was criticised for moving away from Holland at such a young age.
But his mind was made up once he met Klopp for the first time. He said: “I had the chance to go to Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven or Liverpool. “I was amazed that such big clubs wanted to sign me and I thought PSV Eindhoven was a brilliant option for me because I have been a fan from a young age. “But, once Liverpool came for me, I knew where I would go because I can only describe my feelings for the club as mega. “It is such a big club, but, at the same time, it feels like a family club. “Thanks to Klopp’s approach and vision, I am up against the best attackers in the world several times a week. “He lets me train and play against Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. “That is something I could only have dreamt of in the past. These guys really belong to the very best attackers on this globe.
“Of course, it is hard. But when you are up against them every week and you learn some valuable lessons, then you only get better and stronger.”
The young Dutchman believes his Anfield peer group have proved – by beating Everton and Shrewsbury in the FA Cup – that the future at Anfield is as promising as the present.
He added: “There is a massive amount of talent in this age group.
“I don’t want to say we’ve now arrived on the big scene because every one of us knows that we still have a mountain to climb.
“But the average age of the team against Shrewsbury was 19.
“We are massively proud of what we achieved on the night and we all talked about it afterwards.
“The topic of our conversations was that we all want to get into the first team together one day.”