Jurgen Klopp responded to his FA punishment by asking "where the money goes" after being fined £75,000, as well as being slapped with a two-game ban.
The Liverpool manager will be forced to watch this Saturday's Premier League clash with Aston Villa from the stands after losing his temper with numerous officials during a match in April. The Reds beat Tottenham 4-3 with an injury-time winner which Klopp celebrated directly in front of fourth official John Brooks.
Post-match, Klopp also suggested that referee Paul Tierney harboured bias against Liverpool, with the German furious at various decisions during that game and in previous Reds matches which Tierney has taken charge of. Now that Klopp has been served his punishment, which critics argue isn't strong enough, he's spoken out.
"I expected a punishment. It's okay," Klopp, who was banned for a league game earlier this season after harassing a linesman, told a press conference on Friday. "I'd like to know where the money goes. People around me were pretty negative, they thought it would be longer."
After the thrilling victory over Tottenham, he claimed that what Tierney said to him "was not okay." The FA have since published the full conversation, with Brooks communicating to Tierney: "Jurgen Klopp has just run and celebrated in my face. I think it's a yellow card mate, minimum."
The referee promptly booked Klopp and told him: "Right, I have to show you yellow. It could be red, but I am going to show you yellow. He (Brooks) said yellow. We will give you the benefit of the doubt, don't do anything more."
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Klopp and Tierney have "history" going back to shortly after the Liverpool boss first arrived in England, as he alluded to post-match. "We have our story, history with Mr. Tierney," Klopp said. "I really don't know what this man has with us I really don't know. I am really not sure if it's me because how he looks at me, I don't understand it. I really have no problem with any people, and not with him as well."
An FA statement, published on Thursday, noted: "The first match of the manager's touchline ban is effective immediately and the second is suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season on the condition that he does not commit any further breaches of FA Rule E3 in the meantime.
They went on to say: "Jurgen Klopp admitted that his comments regarding the match referee during post-match media interviews constitute improper conduct as they imply bias, question the integrity of the referee, are personal, offensive, and bring the game into disrepute. An independent Regulatory Commission imposed these sanctions following a subsequent hearing."
