An incident comes to mind, one that requires some paraphrasing due to Google having no recollection of it.
We are a few years into Jurgen Klopp’s tenure as Liverpool boss and in the midst of a press conference a hand goes up and a journalist asks him what it feels like to be universally loved.
This actually happened. A journalist asked a Premier League manager this.
To his credit, Klopp defers. He points out that supporters of both Manchester clubs and Everton are probably not too keen on him and then there’s an awkward silence as the sheer, nauseating sycophancy of the query sinks in. It’s a silence quickly punctuated by the German’s trademark, manic laugh.
The clip is shared online and rumour has it a great many people lost teeth, even intestines, from cringing so damn hard.
Okay, that last bit was made up but the rest is true. And it is recalled here to illustrate the unremitting devotion that the British media have for the Liverpool gaffer, a devotion so complete they erroneously believe it is shared by everybody else.
They hang off his every word, guffawing far too loudly at every non-serious utterance. They routinely excuse his bad behaviour, passing it off as passion. They so clearly desperately want to be his friend.
In fact, it can be stated with little exaggeration that there has never before been a top-flight manager who has enjoyed an easier ride from the media than Jurgen Klopp. Not even ‘Arry Redknapp.
How strange then that it is precisely these adoring acolytes who Klopp turns on when things go awry, biting the hands that feed him simply because Liverpool’s Premier League betting odds are drifting and his team is under-performing.
A singular defeat and they may be okay, but two in a row and along comes his patented habit of targeting some unfortunate scapegoat as a proverbial punchbag. He bullies the journo in question.
He isolates and embarrasses them. He mocks their footballing knowledge or harasses them into offering an opinion only to then mock their footballing knowledge. He seeks to humiliate. He is rude, sometimes borderline unhinged and always overtly confrontational.
And whether it’s a Sky reporter speaking to Klopp post-defeat or a journalist in a press conference, they take it because it’s more than their job’s worth not to.
They want the ground to open up beneath them. They wish they had been assigned any other match that day. But they take it. The power dynamic in these instances are frankly disturbing and gross and needs to be called out for what it is. It is bullying. It is punching down.
Should you be under any confusion as to where Liverpool currently are in the football betting it only needs to be pointed out that recently Klopp refused to answer a question posed by James Pearce from the Athletic, citing a previous article that angered him.
Down the years Pearce has been one of the most pro-Liverpool writers out there and one of Klopp’s staunchest supporters, laughing far too loudly at every non-serious utterance. The flak he subsequently received on social media by Liverpool fans revealed Klopp’s actions to be deplorable.
Unquestionably, Jurgen Klopp is an exceptional coach. As a man, he pales to that of his peers.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
