Jurgen Klopp insists he won’t walk out on Liverpool as a result of the Super League fiasco, saying the ‘tough times’ mean he feels more responsible for the club than ever before.
Klopp’s Anfield future was uncertain anyway after a difficult season for the club. There have been suggestions that a lack of support from the board had left him disillusioned, with the lure of the Germany job tempting him to consider his options.
So when Liverpool announced on Monday that they will join up for a European Super League next season – an idea Klopp is vehemently against in principle – fresh questions were raised.
Speaking after his side’s 1-1 draw with Leeds, however, Klopp said: “I’m here as a football coach and a manager, and I will do that as long as people let me do that.
“I won’t resign because of this. If times get tougher, that makes me more likely to stay here. I feel responsible for the team, the club, and the relationship we have with the fans. “It’s a tough time, but I will try to help to sort it somehow.”
Speaking ahead of the game, Klopp had hit out at the plans which will see Liverpool join five clubs from England and three each from Spain and Italy as founding members of the Super League, which is set to rival the Champions League next season.
“The most important part of a football club is the supporters and the team. Nothing can get between that. I heard that there were banners being put down, but I didn’t understand that because the players didn’t do anything wrong. We want to qualify for the Champions League next year.
“We have to stick together. We have to show that nobody has to walk alone in these moments. There are things we have to sort obviously, but that has nothing to do with the football and nothing to do with the relationship between the supporters and the team.
“In tough times, you have to stick together. That doesn’t mean you have to agree on everything, but the boys didn’t do anything wrong.”