One newspaper columnist has said that Jurgen Klopp is ‘right’ to criticise the regularity of Saturday 12:30 kick-offs being handed to Liverpool this season, but insisted that the German is targeting the wrong party in his public protestations.
The 56-year-old has called out TNT Sports over the scheduling, with today’s match against Crystal Palace being the fourth time already this term that we’ve had the Saturday lunchtime slot, and the other three all came immediately after international breaks when we had several players returning from South America.
Following Wednesday night’s win over Sheffield United, the Reds boss took umbrage with Amazon Prime presenter Marcus Buckland, who joked that LFC had been given their ‘favourite’ kick-off time this afternoon.
In his latest column for the Daily Star, Chris McKenna has implored Klopp to team up with his fellow Premier League managers to put pressure on their clubs’ hierarchies to negotiate TV deals which abolish the Saturday 12:30 slot, rather than laying the blame on broadcasters.
The journalist wrote: “This week we saw the Premier League celebrate a new £6.7bn TV deal with two major broadcasters. Within two days, Jurgen Klopp was bemoaning yet another 12.30pm kick off for his Liverpool side this weekend against Crystal Palace. Rightly so.
“The 12.30pm kick-off slot is rubbish. It’s rubbish for fans who have to get up before daylight in some cases to travel to games and it’s rubbish for players who have to play elite sport at a time that doesn’t suit. It’s also rubbish for the atmosphere at these games and it can’t be much better than rubbish for the armchair supporters either.”
McKenna continued: “While Klopp is right to give a bit back to the broadcasters – as he did after his side’s win over Sheffield United on Wednesday – it’s time he, and the other managers who complain, speak to their own bosses about it.
“The Premier League have sold their rights to the broadcasters and given them the control to put on games in that slot. And the Premier League clubs have signed off on it all.
“Why didn’t they negotiate a deal that means the 12.30pm kick-offs are put in the bin? Or why didn’t they strike a mega money deal for a few million less that gives more control to the league and clubs about fixture scheduling?
“While Klopp and the other managers who bemoan – and there are plenty of them – the 12.30pm starts, they have their own bosses to blame and not the broadcasters…the managers should get together and take their grievances to their top brass.
“They’re the ones signing the contracts with the TV money men to make the Premier League one of the richest in the world.”
It’s refreshing to see McKenna speak out in favour of Klopp’s protestations when so many others in the media – including Gary Lineker, Gabby Agbonlahor and Andy Goldstein – have savaged him for banging the drum about a legitimate grievance.
The current Premier League season has seen several clubs’ injury lists extend into double figures, with quite a few of those being major such as the ruptured ACL suffered by Joel Matip, so having to play two matches in less than 72 hours – like Liverpool are doing today – can’t be helpful towards players’ recovery times.
The stakeholders involved in the top flight’s TV deals need to collaborate better on reaching an agreement which is of the greatest mutual benefit, so that footballers aren’t tied to tight schedules which increase the likelihood of being seriously injured.
Ultimately, if many of the sport’s leading players are sat at home recovering from long-term injuries, the matches which draw such vast sums in broadcasting deals are less likely to feature the prominent names who make those arrangements so lucrative.
If anything, the current cycle is counterproductive. That’s the valid point Klopp is making, for those too lazy or prejudiced to avoid castigating him for having the temerity to speak out against it.