Fenway Sports Group have been accused of 'cowardice' for their treatment of Jurgen Klopp over the European Super League
The Liverpool owners were part of 12 clubs from England, Italy and Spain that had signed themselves up to a breakaway competition as recently as Sunday evening.
Alongside Arsenal, Manchester United, Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, Liverpool were aiming to completely restructure the format of European football that would enable the same teams to take part every season, regardless of their domestic performance.
The controversial plans drew the widespread criticism of the football world including influential Anfield fan groups and former players.
Despite backing the proposals, FSG refused to make a public statement, leaving remarks from Manchester United owner Joel Glazer to be published on the club's official website site alongside Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and his Juventus counterpart, Andrea Agnelli.
The first public statement on the Super League from Anfield was left to Klopp, who was only informed of the plans earlier on Sunday.
Ian Bryne, the co-founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks, slammed the actions of the Liverpool owners and said he was appalled by the plans that were officially shelved on Tuesday night.
"I put a tweet out saying some would call [the lack of an FSG statement] cowardice and I think I was right," he told the ECHO.
"If they think this was the right idea and it is so good for football and the community, well why aren't they shouting from the rooftops?
"Why was it down basically in secrecy?
"When you see Jurgen Klopp saying he only found out about it the day before, how dare they treat someone who has done so much for the football club like that?
"He is someone who has done so much for the football club and is adored worldwide by fans, a man of integrity, how dare they!"
Klopp moved to quash rumours that FSG 's stance would see him walk away from the Anfield hotseat in his post-match press conference on Monday.
But Mr Byrne, a lifelong Reds fan who is the Labour MP for West Derby, believes the Americans' conduct puts Klopp's position in unnecessary danger.
He added: "And to imperil his position, which is a worry for all Liverpool fans, it is just beyond the pale.
"So I don't know where FSG go from here, I really don't.
"The level of anger across the fanbases and the country...and it is aimed at the owners, let's get it right, this isn't Liverpool Football Club in my opinion, this isn't Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, United, City.
"This is the owners, the Glazers, FSG, this is the owners that are doing this and I think it is important to point out that all the other owners of the Premier League would jump at it too.
"I asked the question on Monday in parliament - what are the government going to do about capitalism and corporate greed destroying the game of football?
"I am appalled by the proposals, appalled by what they have done, appalled by how they have treated the football supporters and how they have treated the manager, the players, the staff."
No comments:
Post a Comment