Referee wants points deductions after Jürgen Klopp incident in Liverpool victory over Spurs

Referee wants points deductions after Jürgen Klopp incident in Liverpool victory over Spurs

In addition to criticising referee Paul Tierney, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said that his celebration in front of fourth official John Brooks was wrong.

After the most recent contentious incident involving match officials at Anfield in recent weeks, a referee’s charity has once again asked for Liverpool to be deducted points this season.

When Diogo Jota scored a late winner over Tottenham on Sunday, Jürgen Klopp was criticised for sprinting down the touchline. The Liverpool manager then celebrated in front of the fourth official before referee Paul Tierney issued him a yellow card.

In his post-game interview, Klopp continued to criticise Tierney’s performance during the game, raising the question of if the Great Manchester official merely disliked his team.

“We have our history with Tierney,” Klopp said. “I really don’t know what he has against us. He has said there are no problems but that cannot be true. How he looks at me, I don’t understand it.”

Martin Cassidy, the chief executive of Ref Support UK, has since spoken to The Telegraph about the incident:

The last time when Klopp got charged — the panel fined him £30,000 and there was a one-match touchline ban,” he said. “What happens now? They give him another ban? A higher monetary fine?”

“It was instinctive of him to do it. It’s clear that fines and one-match bans do not stop it. The only thing that I can see that would address this quickly is to say, ‘We are going to bring in a points deduction for regular offenders’.

“I can’t see a stronger deterrent,” the self-confessed Reds supporter added. “Imagine if Liverpool didn’t qualify for the Champions League because they were deducted points because of the behavior of their manager.

“Think of the message that would show across the world. I know a points deduction will seriously address the situation. Instead, you are firing a pea-shooter with these fines that mean nothing.”

Asked specifically whether he would like to see a points deduction for Sunday’s game, Cassidy said: “I would like to see a points deduction or at least look at it. They [the FA] refuse to do it.

“I’m a Liverpool fan but we have to stand back as an organization and I have to reflect the members’ view on this. Only a fool would say that negative behaviors are not copied.”

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) issued a statement refuting the claims made by the German about what Tierney said to Klopp when he showed a yellow card to the Liverpool manager.

“PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jürgen Klopp after his side’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur,” the statement read.

“Match officials in the Premier League are recorded in all games via a communications system and having fully reviewed the audio of referee Paul Tierney from today’s fixture, we can confirm he acted in a professional manner throughout including when issuing the caution to the Liverpool manager so, therefore, we strongly refute any suggestion that Tierney’s actions were improper.”

Earlier in the season Jurgen Klopp was sent off for screaming in the face of an assistant referee during a fixture with Manchester City. On that occasion, referee Anthony Taylor produced a red card for the incident and he was handed a one-match touchline ban.

In other news,Transfer news: Liverpool set sights on €30m PSG midfielder Jurgen Klopp likes a lot