EXPLOSIVE STUFF
While anyone who actually watched last Saturday’s lunchtime draw in the Premier League could be forgiven for thinking Liverpool’s inability to beat West Ham was down to Liverpool’s inability to defend crosses into their penalty area and repeated insistence on firing shots wide of, over and against the woodwork, Jürgen Klopp used his press conference this morning to set them straight. Clambering aboard his soapbox ahead of his side’s 15-goal thriller against Tottenham on Sunday, the outgoing Liverpool manager laid the blame for the damaging draw in east London squarely at the door of TNT Sports, who had broadcast the game for armchair and bar-stool viewers in the UK.
The German loves nothing more than a good grumble about the fact that following midweek games, his team are occasionally forced to play again on a Saturday lunchtime at the behest of a TV network who pay his employers and their Premier League rivals extremely handsomely for the privilege of broadcasting these matches. It is a deal which was reached with the full agreement with the Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, who will collectively trouser £6.7bn between them for the most recent deal agreed with Sky and TNT and – crucially – who vote to set the guidelines within which broadcasters operate when carving up the matches for broadcast.
Despite the fact that he will never have to endure the horror of a Saturday lunchtime kick-off again, Klopp lit the fuse and hurled another stick of dynamite in the direction of TNT, going off on another one of his won’t-somebody-think-of-the-players rants in which he more or less blamed Lynsey Hipgrave, Peter Crouch, Joe Cole and assorted other folk associated with the corporation for the fact no English teams made it past the quarter-finals of Euro Vase or Big Cup. “If no English team is in a European final, have we underperformed?” he asked. “The Premier League is the best in the world but the players are overworked. Someone needs to help the people. I had a chat with TNT – a television channel I will never watch again! – and they said they pay us to play football but I don’t see it that way. Football pays them. You have to become a part of football again and not just the squeezer. That is some advice from an old man on the way out.”
Klopp has had several conversations with TNT, most notably during their previous incarnation as BT Sport back in 2020. In a discussion with dishy, debonair touchline reporter Des Kelly following a disappointing draw at Brighton, a chippy Klopp blamed the network for hamstring-twang suffered by James Milner but refused to listen to Kelly’s calm and entirely accurate insistence that any frustration he felt about Liverpool’s fixture schedule was being aired in the direction of the wrong people. For all their faults: the overpriced subscription fees, devil-may-care attitude to match-going fans and insistence on hiring bland pundits who are clearly biased against your team, TNT cannot realistically be held accountable for the fact that Liverpool went out of Euro Vase with a whimper this season. They are, however, entirely to blame for the fact that only a handful of subscribers with more money than sense got to see the feeble surrender of Klopp’s side.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Simon Burnton at 8pm BST for Premier League updates on Luton 2-1 Everton.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Since February this year, I have been proud to have done so under a consultancy agreement between NFFC and Referee Consultant Ltd. However, it is now clear that the existence and performance of these consultancy services has caused unintended friction between NFFC and other participants, to the extent that it has become more of a hinderance than help to NFFC” – Mark Clattenburg signs off from his Nottingham Forest helpy-handy role after it turns out that chat emerging from the club to the tune of “The VAR is a Luton fan” rubs people up the wrong way. In brighter news, Gladiators – where Clatts still showcases the whistling skills with which he made his name – is apparently coming back for another series on BBC1.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
With regard to the suit clearout at Manchester United, CFO Cliff Baty may have been asked to Do One at the end of the season but surely interim CEO Patrick Stewart has been encouraged to Boldly Go” – Declan Houton.
I’m one of those readers lucky enough to have friends to go to the football with regularly. My buddy will happily regale me with tales of being bought drinks by German fans after that night in Munich, or bunking off school to see his beloved (and sadly no longer with us) Nuneaton Borough play away in the FA Cup at Firewall FC’s Old Show Ground. Therefore when you posted your gallery of images from the new FSC book At The Match, I thought it would be something that he would enjoy, especially since he has a big birthday coming up. After scrolling through them, lo and behold there he was with his family staring back at me from the picture of Yorkshire v Parishes of Jersey. Thanks for saving me the hassle of thinking of something appropriate to buy him, and hopefully you won’t see through this blatant attempt to save the £40 by winning the prized Letter o’ the Day so I can spend more money buying him beer at the NCEL Premier Playoff Final on Saturday! Up the Miners!” – Chris Richardson.
Thanks for the recommendation of the WSC photobook, it looks great and an ideal early xmas gift for my stepdad who is both an amateur photographer and match-goer in his 70s. Excited by the possibility of winning one I decided I had to write in on the off-chance Barry Glendenning was rifling through the mailbag again – and if I could think of a good-natured pop/gag at the expense of Manchester United, this would increase my prospects for being awarded letter o’ the day, as that seems to work a lot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of one at short notice so I’m sending this in as is, as an absolute bloody cheek. And to cover my bases, I have just bought a copy to make sure my stepdad gets one in any event” – Mark Read.
Wrexham would appear to be following in the footsteps of Dingwall whose population of 5,491 could comfortably fit into local club Ross County’s Victoria Park (capacity 6,541)” – Bryan Fisher.
• Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of When Saturday Comes’ At The Match photobook is … Chris Richardson. You can buy a copy here if any of your friends feature in it … or just purchase it anyway because it’s great.
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