Ex-Fifa official: Premier League told to match Uefa after Jurgen Klopp ban twist at Liverpool
The Premier League should change the rules to ensure managers like Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp receive an automatic one-match touchline ban when they receive a red card.
That is the view of ex-Fifa and Premier League referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after the punishment for Klopp’s sending off during Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Man City earlier this month (16 October) was confirmed.
The FA released a statement last week (27 October) confirming that the 55-year-old had been handed a £30,000 fine but no touchline ban.
Klopp shouted in the face of an assistant referee during his side’s win over Man City after he felt Bernardo Silva had fouled Mohamed Salah.
“£30,000 is peanuts,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“I’m very clear that the PGMOL and the Premier League should agree to operate the same as Uefa. When a manager commits a red card offence, he’s got a minimum of a one-game touchline ban.
“There is an independent panel of an ex-manager, ex-player and ex-referee that agrees on these things. It could well have been a two-one decision. The manager and the player may have said ‘Ok, £30,000’.
“If you put it into context at the Premier League level, from a financial point of view, it just doesn’t make sense.
“What happens in Uefa competitions, there is a delegate that sits next to the manager during the game.
“He is not allowed into the dressing room post-match, he’s not allowed on the bus to the ground, he doesn’t confer with the players before the game. It’s a ban. He sits with the delegate and doesn’t communicate with his staff about changes.
“That’s what a one-match ban is in Europe.”
In other news, Mohamed Salah could “quit Liverpool” as a “huge offer” is expected.