New 777 crisis after Liege game forced off by protest

Wembley in 2013. Guardiola has won 26 of his 29 finals. Klopp’s hit rate, by contrast, is six of 13.

Not that you can measure the Klopp effect by raw numbers alone. A tale of the tape cannot reflect all those times when he hauled his players off the floor, when he wandered into bars for casual meetings with fans, when he introduced his players to training- ground staff to foster a sense of common cause.

He has given everything of himself to Liverpool, emotionally and ideologically attuned to those he represents. His absence will create a crater. It is the famous Maya

Angelou line: that people forget what you said, and even what you did, but never what you made them feel. Klopp has earned this epitaph, many times over. But he closes his body of work at Anfield, spanning eight trophies, amid a sense that it could – and perhaps should – have been more.

Standard Liege were unable to play their Belgian League game last night because fans blocked the team bus in protest at owners 777 Partners – the American firm whose controversial takeover of Everton is close to collapse.

Miami- based 777, is facing a £480 million fraud lawsuit in a federal court in New York, and its Australian airline is currently grounded. Its most ambitious move in football, attempting to buy Everton, has stalled for months as scepticism has grown about closing the deal.

Fans of Liege, 10- time Belgian champions, have stepped up protests this season against 777, whose problems led to the club currently being under another temporary transfer embargo. Liege were due to host Westerlo last night but the team bus was impeded as it was about to leave the training ground.

A sign of the gathering crisis around 777 was the news that it has hired restructuring experts to overcome “various operational challenges” putting even further doubt over the Everton takeover.

It follows two days of face-to-face meetings this week between Everton owner Farhad Moshiri and the crisis-hit Miami group, who are facing mounting lawsuits and claims of unpaid bills.

Two millionaire Evertonian businessmen and US firm MSP Sports Capital will be targeted as potential buyers if Moshiri axes his deal with 777. Dealmakers believe Liverpudlian investors Andy Bell and George Downing, who already have money tied up in the club, would be seriously interested in at least partownership.

Meanwhile, Everton have withdrawn their appeal against their latest two-point penalty for breaching Premier League Profit and Sustainability rules. A hearing was due to begin next week However, with Everton’s Premier League safety now secure, the club has taken the pragmatic view that an appeal is unnecessary.