Former Liverpool boss’ previous comments could cost him after City ruling

Jurgen Klopp, Man City Charges and the Promise That Still Hangs Over Liverpool’s Near-Miss Titles

There are stories in football that sit quietly in the background for years, then suddenly begin to throb with fresh significance. The latest developments around the original source report on Manchester City’s charges have done exactly that, pulling Jürgen Klopp’s old remarks back into view and reminding Liverpool supporters of two title races that still sting.

City have been found guilty of 114 out of 115 Premier League charges relating to alleged financial irregularities. City have long denied wrongdoing and are expected to appeal, so there is still distance to travel before the game knows the final shape of any punishment. Yet even the possibility of retrospective action revives old wounds on Merseyside.

Photo: IMAGO

Man City charges revive old Liverpool pain

Klopp’s Liverpool were one of the great modern sides, a team of ferocious quality and conviction. To collect more than 90 points in both 2018/19 and 2021/22 and still finish second left a mark. Those campaigns were never defined by failure, but by the brutal excellence of the opponent standing in the way.

That is why Klopp’s comments from January 2025 from the Liverpool Echo have endured. Asked what might happen if Liverpool were eventually handed titles, he said: “Did you say few months or three? Ah okay. We’re getting closer.” He added: “Should? I don’t say anything. Would? We had this discussion when we left, if it would happen I told all the people who want it, just book the flight and I buy the beer.”

Klopp Mallorca parade promise still lingers

There was humour in it, naturally, because Klopp always understood how to lighten a moment loaded with grievance. Yet there was something else too, a sense that football’s moral ledger does matter. When he continued, “Whatever we have to celebrate, good weather, we would have our own parade in my garden. God what a headline,” it sounded playful, but also like a man acknowledging how deeply those narrow misses were felt.

Klopp has since left Red Bull and taken charge of Germany, while Liverpool have moved into a new era under Andoni Iraola. Still, his words remain attached to this case because they captured what many supporters feel. Titles are won on the pitch, in the lungs, in the legs, in the tiny moments that define spring. If any are ever reassigned, the celebration may feel unusual, but the grievance behind it will be real enough.

Premier League fallout could reshape legacy

Liverpool’s next league meeting with City on 11 October will carry its own intrigue, as every match between these clubs tends to do. But this issue reaches beyond one fixture. It reaches into legacy, credibility and whether the Premier League can persuade the world that sporting competition has been protected with sufficient force.

If Klopp does end up buying that beer in Mallorca, it will cost him a fair bit. For Liverpool supporters, the emotional bill has already been far higher.

Our View

Right then, Mallorca. We are all going, apparently. One minute it is a quiet autumn, the next we are pricing flights, checking passport dates and wondering whether Klopp’s garden has room for six thousand Reds, three inflatables and one lad who swears he knows the best kebab place on the island.

This is the part where Liverpool fans try to stay calm and dignified, which lasts about seven seconds. Because if those near-miss titles ever land at Anfield after all this time, nobody is pretending it will be normal. It will be wonderfully weird. There will be songs, there will be flags, and there will definitely be at least one fella claiming he always believed the parade route through a private garden in Mallorca was realistic.

And imagine Klopp on beer duty. Risky promise, that. Liverpool supporters treat free ale like a pressing trigger. One whisper of “I’ll buy the beer” and half the fanbase is already in flip-flops at the departure gate.

Still, beneath the jokes is the serious bit. Fans invest years, money, emotion and sanity into title races. So if football tells them those races were bent out of true, of course it matters. Deeply. Even if the celebration arrives late, sunburnt and slightly confused.

For now, we wait. But if this ends with retrospective titles, someone start stretching. We have got a garden parade to win.