Jürgen Klopp condemns Scott Parker sacking by ‘nervous owners’

Jürgen Klopp has attributed Scott Parker’s sacking to “nervous owners” and said he had no complaints over Liverpool’s spending under Fenway Sports Group.

Bournemouth dismissed Parker on Tuesday four games into the season and three days after their 9-0 humiliation at Liverpool, although his post-match comments on the club’s limited spending appear to have been a factor.

Klopp condemned the first managerial sacking of the Premier League campaign as a knee-jerk reaction that did little for the promoted club’s predicament.

“Unbelievable,” the Liverpool manager said. “When I heard it I felt this is the moment you realise how important the right owners are.

“There are different systems in the Premier League in how clubs are led. Some countries own clubs and some rules do not let them to do exactly what they want if they could stretch their resources. Other clubs have structures, like us and maybe Arsenal. Then there are clubs like Bournemouth.

“Three teams came up: Nottingham Forest is spending, Fulham is spending and I can’t remember Bournemouth doing a lot. That is difficult if you arrive in the Premier League.

“I felt for Scott. It is not that his team is not good enough; not at all. It is just that, if the first four games include [Manchester] City, Arsenal and Liverpool, it is like a setup for a new manager if you have nervous owners.

Scott is an outstanding manager and then you get four games like this and the owner says: ‘See you later?’ That is really harsh.”

While Bournemouth’s owners are said to be looking for a quick appointment of a new manager in a similar mould to that of Parker, Liverpool’s owners have again been criticised by sections of the club’s support this summer over their investment in Klopp’s squad. Klopp, who wants a midfielder before the deadline on Thursday, admits he would take more risks in the transfer market than FSG but accepted its business model when he arrived seven years ago.

“It is always like this,” he said. “Is it always easy? No. From time to time I would risk a bit more but I don’t decide. We will try everything until there is no deadline.

“I am not careful [with transfer funds]. We get told what is possible and what is not possible. There is no criticism. We became champions in a season when we did not sign anyone. That is not the famous approach after coming second. Unfortunately the season started with too many injuries but we have to get through it.”

Klopp wanted to sign Aurélien Tchouaméni from Monaco only for the France midfielder to join Real Madrid in a €100m deal. A lack of high-class – and available – alternatives has complicated Liverpool’s search in the final days of the window.

“We were going for a midfielder but the midfielder decided to go to another club. In that moment it’s not like: ‘We can’t take this one, let’s see if we can take the other one.’ Some players in this moment are not available but really interesting for us. Then you bring in someone who in the short term is a yes but in the long term you’re not 100% sure. What would that mean for the next transfer?

“We cannot just push the button and say: ‘Bring him in,’ and worry next year about all the problems he could create. We always wanted a midfielder but it was always about the right one. We cannot change that just because of things like more injuries.”