What Really Happened Between Jurgen Klopp And Referee Paul Tierney
The FA have chared Jurgen Klopp with improper conduct after the Liverpool manager's comments about referee Paul Tierney following their 4-3 win over Tottenham. But what sparked the incident, and why does Klopp think Tierney has an agenda against his club.
Transcript
00:00 The referee's governing body, the PGMOL, looks set to throw the book at Jurgen Klopp
00:08 after he was involved in an incident with referee Paul Tierney at the end of Liverpool
00:12 vs Tottenham.
00:13 But what exactly happened between the two of them, why does it seem to keep happening
00:17 and why is it so serious?
00:20 Hello there everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here and it's time to talk yet again about
00:27 Liverpool and officials and why they just can't get along.
00:32 Right so cards fully on the table, at the time of me recording this nothing has officially
00:35 happened between Klopp and the governing bodies as of yet.
00:42 But all the noise and all the rumours are that they are going to gently lean him over
00:47 the desk and just...
00:49 Well as you no doubt will have seen there was a bit of a thriller at Anfield between
00:51 Liverpool and Tottenham.
00:52 Liverpool raced into a three goal lead, Tottenham were like "oh no it's happening again" but
00:56 they dragged the game back to 3-3 in the dying minutes of the match and Liverpool still somehow
01:03 found a way to grab a winner.
01:04 And then it just all went mad.
01:07 Klopp then raced along the touchline to effectively celebrate in the face of fourth official John
01:11 Brooks, somehow pulling his hamstring in the process but I digress.
01:15 He was promptly given both a yellow card and a stern talking to by referee Paul Tierney
01:19 and that sort of looked like it was it.
01:21 But it wasn't.
01:22 Post-match Klopp got in front of the Sky cameras, immediately held his hands up and said he
01:25 shouldn't have carried on the way he did but also that what Paul Tierney had said to him
01:29 while he was giving him his yellow card was not acceptable.
01:32 He also crucially brought up the fact that there seems to be a bit of a history between
01:36 Klopp's Liverpool and Paul Tierney, mentioning several games over the years where he's perceived
01:40 his decisions to be, how can I put this delicately, not all that fair.
01:44 Now look, every single fan of every single football team believes that every single referee
01:50 has a problem with their club specifically and that they don't get decisions just for
01:54 whatever reason but not to get all tinfoil hat about this but when it comes to Liverpool
01:59 fans and Paul Tierney, there's definitely something there.
02:03 It all started with a first touchline spat in July 2020 when Liverpool beat Aston Villa
02:08 2-0.
02:09 Klopp was giving Tierney pelters for missing a fairly blatant foul to which the referee
02:12 simply replied "I missed it Jürgen, I'm going to make mistakes, get over it".
02:16 There was also a very public incident in a 0-0 draw with Manchester United the following
02:20 January where Tierney blew an early whistle for half time despite Sadio Mane looking clean
02:24 through on goal.
02:25 At the end of that year in a 2-2 against Spurs, Harry Kane slid in on Andy Robertson over
02:30 the ball with his stud showing and somehow neither the referee nor VAR thought this was
02:35 a red card.
02:36 Klopp then of course famously went up to Paul Tierney and physically told him "I have
02:39 no problem with referees, only you".
02:42 And then of course there was that Rodrihan ball against Everton where Man City somehow
02:46 got out of Goodison Park with all three points and Liverpool fans, rightly or wrongly, do
02:50 think that was kind of the moment that meant they weren't going to win the league that
02:54 year and yeah, that was Paul Tierney.
02:58 And that brings us nicely to Liverpool for Tottenham 3.
03:01 Not only did Jürgen Klopp feel like Oliver Skipp should have seen a red card for this
03:04 tackle in particular, but moments before Tottenham's late, late, late, late equaliser, a blatant
03:10 shirt pull on Mohamed Salah was somehow missed by all of the officials.
03:13 It was that incident that led to Klopp having words with the fourth official which is why
03:16 he then went and celebrated in his face.
03:19 You can see how all the pieces connect together.
03:21 So you've got a long-standing beef with a particular referee on one hand, a highly charged
03:25 emotional game of football on the other and that has led to Jürgen Klopp coming out in
03:30 an interview and effectively accusing a referee of having a substantial bias against his team.
03:37 That is enormous.
03:39 But what's potentially even more enormous and could be the reason that whatever fine
03:43 or punishment is coming down the line is massive for him is the fact that he's also accused
03:47 him of speaking to him in an unprofessional manner.
03:50 Now the PGMOL have the audio recording of that exchange and they've already said it
03:55 is a smoking gun in their case against Klopp.
03:58 Now a lot of people have attempted to lip read precisely what went on there using the
04:02 one camera angle we got from Sky Sports and there's rumours that he swore at him, there's
04:06 rumours that he made some kind of personal remark, you name it, somebody's tried to speculate
04:10 on it but until we hear that recording, nobody knows.
04:13 But if it is, as the PGMOL are saying, absolutely fine and not unprofessional at all, that means
04:18 Klopp not only went out and accused a referee of having a bias against him but then tried
04:22 to get him in trouble by lying about what he said.
04:25 And if so, ho ho, of course it's only fair of me to point out the other potential side
04:30 of this story which is he did speak to him in an unprofessional manner and he does have
04:33 some kind of deep-seated dislike and bias of either Jürgen Klopp or Liverpool which
04:38 if so, well, yeah, he shouldn't be refereeing games of football.
04:42 Now again, quick little fact that is already getting distorted, Paul Tieni has been removed
04:46 from the upcoming weekend of fixtures but the PGMOL have said that is purely to take
04:49 him out of the firing line while all this is going on, not because he's potentially
04:53 under any sort of investigation.
04:55 If I may be permitted to just throw in a small amount of editorialising into this, Paul Tieni
04:59 did not have a good game full stop in that match.
05:02 On the one hand that was 1000% a foul on Mo Salah so the equaliser should probably never
05:07 have happened.
05:08 Oliver Skipp probably should have been sent off for his tackle on Diaz but also at the
05:11 same time, Jota should probably have walked for his high foot on Skip so he shouldn't
05:16 have even been on the pitch to score the winner in the first place.
05:19 That's the kind of stuff the referee is directly responsible for and decides the ultimate fate
05:24 of these teams either way.
05:25 So until we find out the exact nature of the punishment, that's really all anybody can
05:30 say on the matter but since when's that ever stopped anybody?
05:33 So let us know what you make of it all in the comments below.
05:35 Was Paul Tieni a bad guy?
05:37 Is Jurgen Klopp absolutely out his tree?
05:39 All opinions welcome in the comments they go.
05:41 Oh and just really quickly while I've got you, the latest edition of the world's greatest
05:45 football magazine, 442, is soon to be available from all good retailers and crap ones as well
05:50 but we've got an amazing offer for new subscribers.
05:53 You can get three issues for just £5, wow, and new subs even get a free gift just for
05:59 subscribing like headphones or a football shaped mystery box.
06:02 Something you'd actually want.
06:03 Link is in the description.
06:04 Anyway though thank you very much for watching, I've of course been Adam Cleary, this has
06:07 been 442 and we'll see you on the next one.