Jurgen Klopp has leapt to the defence of Gary Lineker as the fallout from the BBC impartiality row continues.
Lineker was told to step down from presenting Match of the Day on Friday after the broadcaster took exception to comments made by the former England international criticising the Conservative government’s controversial new asylum policy.
It prompted a host of Lineker’s colleagues to withdraw their services from the BBC in solidarity, leading to Football Focus and Final Score being pulled from the schedules on Saturday.
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And Klopp admits he could see no reason why Lineker was forced off the screens by the corporation.
“They asked him to step down for the things he said?” said the Reds boss. “So my problem with the situation how I understand it – and I’m not native – is that I cannot see any reason why they would ask anyone to step back for saying that. I can’t. I’m not sure if that’s a language issue or not.
“But that’s the world we are living in. Everybody is so concerned about doing things in the right manner, saying the right stuff to everybody, and if you don’t do that you create a s***storm which we didn’t have when we were young.
“It’s a really difficult world to live in. If I understand it right then this is about an opinion about human rights. That should be possible to say.
“What I don’t understand is why everyone goes on Twitter and says something. I don’t understand the social media part of it. I’m too old for that. If I’ve got it right then for me there’s no reason (for the BBC to have stood Lineker down).”
Premier League players and managers have not been invited to speak to the BBC before and after games this weekend.
And asked if the would have spoken to the broadcaster had they requested an interview, Klopp said: “I’m not so much in the situation to be honest. It’s not that the guy with the BBC mic today is obviously a bad person.
“I heard about the rules of the BBC that you aren’t allowed to have these kind of opinions. How I said, a difficult world to live in, to fulfil all the expectations and the rules, especially in public.”
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