Jurgen Klopp comes out swinging for Gary Lineker after BBC axing and brands Match of the Day crisis a ‘s***storm’
JURGEN KLOPP has slammed the BBC’s treatment of Gary Lineker.
The Liverpool manager insisted that he can not see “any reason” why the former England striker would have been asked to “step back” from presenting.
Lineker was pulled off the flagship footie show on Friday after comparing the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill to “1930s Germany”.
The corporation said the pundit’s comments on Twitter were a “breach of guidelines” and ordered Lineker stepped back until a “clear position” on his social media use is agreed.
Klopp was asked about the situation after Liverpool’s shock defeat to Bournemouth.
He said: “They asked him to step down for the things he said?
“So my problem with the situation how I understand it – and I’m not native – is that I cannot see any reason why they would ask anyone to step back for saying that.
“I can’t. I’m not sure if that’s a language issue or not.
“But that’s the world we are living in.
“Everybody is so concerned about doing things in the right manner, saying the right stuff to everybody, and if you don’t do that you create a s***storm that we didn’t have when we were young.
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“It’s a really difficult world to live in.
“If I understand it right then this is about an opinion about human rights.
“That should be possible to say. What I don’t understand is why everyone goes on Twitter and says something.
“I don’t understand the social media part of it. I’m too old for that.
“If I’ve got it right then for me there’s no reason (for the BBC to have stood Lineker down).
BBC staff were at the Vitality Stadium but they did not conduct any interviews after the game.
When asked if he would have spoken to the broadcaster, Klopp responded: ‘I’m not so much in the situation to be honest.
“It’s not that the guy with the BBC mic today is obviously a bad person.
“I heard about the rules of the BBC that you aren’t allowed to have these kind of opinions.
“How I said – a difficult world to live in, to fulfil all the expectations and the rules, especially in public.”