Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says the club should not feel ashamed over their abortive involvement in the doomed Super League.
Fenway Sports Group, led by John W Henry, were among the principal drivers of the project as part of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, and as a result have come in for high levels of criticism.
While he accepts the decision by the owners was the wrong one, Klopp, a long-time opponent of breakaway proposals, says he has struggled seeing the reputation of the club “trashed” in the wake.
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“It is difficult for me in truth, because I have found some of the reaction around it difficult to take,” he wrote in his programme notes for Saturday’s home game against Newcastle.
“And by this I don’t mean those who were against it or the protests. This was a great victory for football supporters – I want to make this clear from the outset.
“I agreed with their opposition. I made this clear to our owners.”
However, Klopp, felt the anger generated blurred the historic institution that is the football club with the owners and decision-makers, something he found hard to accept.
“The part I have struggled with is seeing this club, a place I love and am now proud to call my home, trashed – and done so in a manner which suggests no redemption is possible. That I can’t take.
“It was right to take apart the concept and it was fair to criticise it, along with those who came up with it and also how it was presented. All legitimate in my view.
“The anger and disappointment was justified but there were times when the distinction between ‘club’ and this decision (and yes, those responsible for it) were too quickly blurred into one.
“To do so is an insult to the supporters in my view. And the players.
“This was a mistake. A big mistake. And it’s right they (FSG) take responsibility for it. But it doesn’t mean ‘the club’ should feel ashamed.
“The hundreds of employees who work here on Merseyside, be it Anfield, the AXA Training Centre, the Academy, Chapel Street, the stores and the countless other venues have earned the right to feel proud for how they serve this organisation.
“During the pandemic some of the most important work done in the name of LFC to help our community has come from our employees.
“We have had a rough time for many reasons recently but this particular episode is over now and we must heal.”
Only a handful of Liverpool fans turned out to protest at FSG’s ownership of the club ahead of the match against Newcastle at Anfield.
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