“Liverpool would have fired Klopp if he had been black”: Reds legend John Barnes claims his former club gave their title winner time for the first two years because he was white – in an incredible explosion of discrimination in football
- Jürgen Klopp took over the management of Liverpool in October 2015, but had problems early on
- The Reds finished eighth in the Premier League in their first season at Anfield
- Klopp’s team reached the Europa League final and finished fourth the next year
- But John Barnes believes Klopp would have been sacked in Liverpool for the first two years “if he were black” or “if he were English”.
- Barnes spoke about discrimination against managers in the Premier League
John Barnes claims Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would have been sacked in his first two years at Anfield if he had been black.
The German took command in October 2015 and led his team to eighth and fourth place in the Premier League in the first two years of his tenure. In this first season, however, there were also appearances in the finals of the EFL Cup and the Europa League.
But Barnes, who played for Liverpool between 1987 and 1997, said Klopp lost his job “under different circumstances” – and the 57-year-old added that top Premier League clubs discriminate against “white English managers”.
Jürgen Klopp would have been sacked as Liverpool manager “if he were black,” says John Barnes
Barnes believes there is discrimination when it comes to Premier League managers
“You can set up structures, but until you change your perception nothing will change,” said Barnes PlayOJOFollowing Greg Clarke’s resignation as FA chairman earlier this week after calling black footballers “colored”.
“I use Klopp as an example,” Barnes continued. “How successful was he really in the first two years when he was 25 points off the top? But we [Liverpool] believed that he was the right man.
Under other circumstances he would have lost his job. If he were black, he would have lost his job in the first two years. ‘
Klopp fought in his first season at Anfield when his team finished eighth in the Premier League
Barnes also pointed out that English managers also have a hard time – Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is the only English manager in the Premier League top 6, a fact that Barnes is referring to.
‘If he [Klopp] was English, he would have lost his job, ‘said Barnes.
“The idea of discrimination is a little strange here because there is a group of people who are discriminated against in English football and at the highest level in the Premier League.”
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard is the only English coach in the Premier League’s top six.
‘Now the top six teams won’t have a white English manager. Yes you can tell Frank Lampard, as people have pointed out, but that is because he has a special relationship with Chelsea and that is the only reason he ran Chelsea – but under other circumstances he would not have got that job . ‘
In five years Klopp has won the Champions League and the Premier League in Liverpool in the last two seasons.
Last season Lampard qualified for the Champions League through the top four, during his first responsible season at Stamford Bridge.
Barnes also noted that the lack of BAME managers in the English football pyramid was not due to the specifics of the sport itself.
“It has nothing to do with black football managers,” he explains. ‘This is a bigger problem because how many black managers are there in the higher echelons of an industry? And why should football be any different?
“By the time we address it in society and change our perception in society, it will exist in all walks of life that football belongs to.”
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