We will miss Klopp but we won’t miss the way he behaves with refs
THE one thing about Jurgen Klopp – and there is only one – that will not be missed by English football is his attitude towards referees and officials.
And actually, Liverpool fans will miss that. After all, since Klopp gave him both barrels towards the end of last season, basically accusing him of being biased against Liverpool, Paul Tierney has been something of a good-luck charm for the Reds. Klopp has since moved on to other targets, insulting Carabao Cup final ref Chris Kavanagh by saying ‘he was not at the level of the game’. And after the draw against Manchester City at Anfield last Sunday, Klopp was on the pitch, remonstrating in the face of Michael Oliver, presumably for not awarding a late penalty after Jeremy Doku caught Alexis Mac Allister with a high boot. Replays suggested Doku was, indeed, lucky to get away with it but Oliver’s decision was hardly an out-and-out shocker. At worst, it was contentious.
But still, Klopp was in Oliver’s face. It was not a good look – and neither is it a good look if, as seems likely, Klopp escapes sanction.
The confrontation of referees at full-time is a plague on the professional game – Klopp is far from alone in the practice and it would be unfair to single him out. And to be fair to the Reds boss, he has only two yellow cards to his name this season, compared to the four received by Mikel Arteta, Roberto de Zerbi and Erik ten Hag.
But high-profile managers such as Klopp and Pep Guardiola (three yellow cards this season) set an example that is mimicked throughout the football pyramid.
Ranting at a referee from close range is not a good example and when you see officials being approached immediately after a match, it does make you wonder if there should be restrictions on who is allowed on the field while the referee and his assistants are still out there.
At the end of the Nottingham Forest-Liverpool match earlier this month, it was chaos, and the home first-team coach Steven Reid has been charged with misconduct.
But he was not the only one to approach Tierney. The Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, was even down on the pitch.
In Turkey in December, MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca got down onto the field of play and punched referee Halil Umut Meler.
There has been no indication anything as heinous as that might happen in the English professional game, but if referees are concerned about the number of people flooding onto the field at the final whistle, you would not be surprised – it looks like a free-for-all at times.
Managers such as Klopp dashing straight on to the pitch has long been the norm and is part of the theatre.
But other than to shake them politely by the hand, they should be told to steer clear of referees.