Jurgen Klopp: Football turned blind eye to ownership

Jurgen Klopp:  “It is pretty obvious where the money is coming from. Everyone knew it, but we accepted it. That’s our fault. It is a society’s fault so we accepted it."

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes football authorities and fans have wrongly turned a blind eye to ownership issues in the Premier League so Chelsea’s current predicament should not come as a surprise.

The Stamford Bridge club are operating under a special licence after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government over his ties to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

Stringent restrictions have been placed on the day-to-day operations at Chelsea, who are attracting interest from a number of parties after being put up for sale – currently paused – by Abramovich before sanctions were imposed.

Klopp, whose fellow German Thomas Tuchel is having to deal with the very public fall-out, was asked if enough attention had been paid to the checks placed on owners by the Premier League, which recently green-lighted the Saudi-backed takeover at Newcastle.

“I don’t think it is really fair to ask me. You are much longer in this country,” Klopp said.

“Did you care really? Did anyone really care when Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea?

“Did anyone really care when Newcastle got taken over? Do supporters really care? It is a question.

“It is pretty obvious where the money is coming from. Everyone knew it, but we accepted it. That’s our fault. It is a society’s fault so we accepted it.

“Now we cannot accept it anymore and so we punish them. It is not Chelsea’s fault. Not at all.” Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group are, despite having made some mistakes on season ticket price hikes, furloughing staff at the start of the pandemic and the failed European Super League, generally seen as good owners.

But the club is not too far displaced from its own experience of dysfunctional ownership after the disastrous reign of American duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who bought Liverpool in 2007 but were forced to sell three years later after struggling to refinance mounting debts.

“I have no idea about what background checks would look like, but I can tell you I am six-and-a-half years here and from the first day I came here, I was really happy with our owners,” added Klopp.

“And in these times, I am even more happy with our owners.

“In the end, owners are there to lead the club, to give financial resources when they want to make a benefit.

“We don’t even think about where the money is coming from…now we start obviously thinking about where the money is coming from.

“I think that is a good idea to be honest. We should think about that a bit more.”

Klopp admits his players take defeat worse than he does and so he expects a reaction after experiencing only their third loss of the season.

The 1-0 Champions League defeat to Inter Milan on Tuesday was offset by the fact a 2-0 first-leg lead meant the team progressed to their fourth quarter-final in five years.

However, it was Liverpool's first defeat at Anfield in a year and there were muted celebrations at the final whistle.

When it was pointed out to him his side had not lost many matches in the last year, Klopp said: "Enough. More than enough. We are not good losers.

"I have usually after a game a little speech in the dressing room, most of the time it is quite nice to tell the boys how good they were, but in this game it was slightly different.

"I realised when I looked in their eyes I am in a better mood than the players when I came in and I lost as well.

"My first thought was 'We are through against tough opponents' and their first thought was 'We lost'. Both is fine somehow."

Enock Mwepu and Adam Lallana are available for Brighton's Premier League clash with Liverpool on Saturday.

Mwepu has been sidelined since early January with injury and illness and boss Graham Potter is keen to take things steadily, while Lallana returned to training last week.

Adam Webster (groin) is still out while Yves Bissouma has been managing a slight knee problem but should be available.

Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino is set to return to the squad having missed the last six matches with a groin problem.