The Reds' visit to Elland Road in April 2021 thrust Klopp and his players into a storm as football voiced its anger at the 'Super League Six'
Jurgen Klopp glanced out of the window of the Liverpool team bus, surveyed the scene and shook his head ruefully. How on earth, he wondered, had it come to this?
Outside, a group of supporters, maybe 200 or so, had gathered at the gates of Elland Road, determined to make their presence felt and their voices heard.
“Scum!” came the first shout, louder and louder. “F*ck off to the Super League,” came the next one, followed by the finale. “Six greedy bastards, you know what you are.”
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There were boos, even more loud and even more aggressive than usual, as Klopp and his players made their way off the coach. A couple of fans attempted to climb a perimeter fence and were moved back by stewards and police. One supporter set fire to a Liverpool shirt, while others unfurled banners. “RIP Liverpool, thanks for the memories,” said one, pointedly. “Fans say no to Fenway’s Super Greed,” another.
It feels like another lifetime ago now, doesn’t it? Yet this week marks only the second anniversary of that tense, momentous evening.
And as Liverpool look to get their Premier League season back on track with a win in West Yorkshire, it is worth remembering the last time the Reds made a Monday night trip to Leeds…
Getty ImagesShockwaves
The statement on Liverpool’s official website dropped late on the evening Sunday April 18, 2021. “Leading European football clubs announce new Super League competition,” it read.
Tellingly, it was not posted on any of the club’s social media accounts, and the only quotes within the statement came from Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, Andrea Agnelli, the chairman of Juventus, and Joel Glazer, Manchester United’s co-chairman.
Earlier that day, just after 1pm, had published an exclusive story, revealing that six Premier League clubs – Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham – had signed up for a new midweek competition, sending the football world into a state of shock and panic.
The Super League, its members’ statement said, would feature “20 participating clubs, with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.”
With the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan also signed up, it would, in effect, replace the Champions League as European football’s premier club competition. The ‘Founding Clubs’ would, it was confirmed, receive a payment of €3.5 billion (£3.1m/$3.9m) “to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the Covid pandemic.”
The reaction, naturally, was explosive. There was condemnation from the Premier League, from UEFA, from the UK government, from players’ union FIFPro and from footballers past and present. “Greedy and callous,” Luis Figo called it, while fan groups began mobilising their response.
“Shocking and shameless,” was the verdict of Spirit of Shankly, the Liverpool Supporters’ Union, who accused their club of “greed, pure and simple.” The influential Spion Kop 1906 group announced they, and other groups, would remove their flags and banners from the Kop in protest at the news.
“We feel we can no longer give our support to a club which puts financial greed above integrity of the game,” they wrote. Many related strongly to such sentiments.
AdvertisementGetty Images'Earn It'
The following evening, Liverpool went to Elland Road, the first time any of the ‘Founding Clubs had played since the news had been confirmed.
Having travelled to Leeds on the Sunday evening, and having spent most of the night watching as the storm raged across the football world, Klopp and his players had, as is customary for away games, taken a short stroll near their city centre hotel on the morning of the game.
On it, they were met with a series of abusive, angry comments from passers-by. “Scumbags,” they were called. “Greedy bastards.” There were a couple of tense exchanges as players and staff members, taken aback by the sheer hostility, fired back.
Now, as they arrived in the away dressing rooms at Elland Road, expanded and spaced out due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, they were met with a fresh insult.
A pile of white T-shirts had been left next to the usual ‘skips’ of kits, boots, drinks and medical equipment. ‘Earn it’ read the message on the front, accompanied by the Champions League logo. ‘Football is for the fans’ read the one on the back.
Liverpool were not amused. Even more so as they emerged for the warm-up to find Leeds’ players wearing the same shirts. Gini Wijnaldum, in particular, was incensed, making his feelings clear in a terse exchange with a member of the Leeds coaching staff near the centre circle.
Klopp, too, was unimpressed. “If somebody thinks they have to remind us that you need to earn a place in the Champions League, that's a real joke and it makes me angry,” he said. He and his staff would not forget those T-shirts.
Getty ImagesSpeaking out
Before kick-off, Klopp conducted a pre-match interview with in which he was asked about the proposed Super League, as well as comments he had made in 2019 opposing such a venture.
The world held its breath, waiting to see if one of the key figures in the ‘Super League Six’ would speak out. They needn’t have worried.
“My opinion hasn’t changed,” Klopp said. He insisted he had not been informed of the plans by Liverpool’s owners, and that he understood fans’ frustrations and anger.
It felt like a big moment, and there was another after the game – a 1-1 draw in which the most notable incident came as a lone saxophonist outside the stadium played the ABBA song ‘Money, Money, Money’ throughout the first half – as Reds captain James Milner faced the cameras.
"I can only give my personal opinion,” Milner said. “I don't like it and hopefully it doesn't happen.”
GettyKlopp vs Neville
Klopp was even more forthcoming in his post-match press conference, held via Zoom. He confirmed again that the decision had been made by the club’s owners without his knowledge, dismissed the idea that he might resign from the club, but admitted the abuse from Leeds fans had affected his players.
He then turned his attention towards the media, for what he felt was unfair reporting of the situation.
“People like Martin Samuel [then of the Daily Mail] are saying they should condemn the whole club to hell,” he said, “and after this article hundreds of Leeds fans come here…”
Next, he took aim at an old foe, Gary Neville.
“He does not have the right to speak about our anthem,” Klopp added. “He can talk about the decision, but talking about the club singing You’ll Never Walk Alone? Our owners made a decision. That is one part of the club. The club is bigger than all of us.
“I wish Gary Neville would be in a hot seat somewhere and not where the most money is. He was at Manchester United where the most money is and now he’s at Sky where the most money is. Don’t forget that we have nothing to do with this.”
Neville, of course, had been one the earliest and most vocal critics of the European Super League and, covering the game alongside Jamie Carragher for , was able to issue an immediate response to Klopp.
“I don’t know why I’m living in his head,” Neville said. “I don’t know what’s spiked him. To be fair, we’re on the same page. We’re on the same team, but he can’t say what he wants to say and I can, and I accept that.
“The Jurgen Klopp we know hates every single little thing about this more than I do and more than you do, because it goes against everything in his life that he believes in.”
