Jurgen Klopp gives his take on Manchester United fans protest – originally posted on Sportslens.com
The past few weeks have been one of the most unsettling phases in the footballing sphere. The so-called traditional big-six made a failed attempt to break away from the existing system and tried to form a new league.
The avaricious nature of the club owners sparked massive reactions among the fans which eventually led them to backtrack from their original plans.
Last week, Liverpool’s visit to Old Trafford dominated the headlines, despite the game being called off, and nobody cared about the top-four race. A section of Manchester United supporters demonstrated a protest against the Glazer family’s ownership.
The supporters’ group entered the stadium and police officers were injured in combat. The likes of Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville urged supporters to unite in protest against the owners’ greed.
Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, feels that a line was crossed on that day.
Klopp said, as quoted by The Guardian:
“I’m an absolute believer in democracy. That means I am happy that people want to tell their opinion. That’s completely fine. But I know in situations like that it doesn’t happen too often that no one gets hurt and that’s why I said the week before, when all the pundits were asking for protests, we need to be careful and calm down and to ask for the right things.
“I heard some policeman got injured and these kinds of things should not happen for sure. You shouldn’t break down the doors. To tell the world what you think about things is completely fine, as long as it is completely peaceful. As far as I know it wasn’t completely peaceful and then it is not right any more.”
A personal view on this subject
Who is Klopp to decide what is “right” and what is “wrong”? The fans are being treated as customers, and at some point, it was bound to happen. United is just a club, Old Trafford is just a stadium – it could have been anywhere.
It’s not like this protest has culminated out of nowhere, and that it’s a knee-jerk reaction. No. United fans have long been protesting peacefully, but the owners have turned a deaf ear to the situation.
Yes, the situation went out of hand, but putting blame on the fans shows that their emotions are being neglected.
Above all, it looks silly that of all people, Klopp has shared such a strong view on this when Liverpool, themselves are one of the clubs that tried to break free from the existing setup.
Despite attempts from the Liverpool owners to save their faces by issuing a public apology, any moral high ground from here on doesn’t suit them.