Bah humbug! Seriously, who works on Christmas Eve other than Ebenezer Scrooge? Well, Liverpool and Arsenal Football Clubs might have to, and the situation prompted LFC manager Jurgen Klopp to boisterously speak out.
The schedule hasn’t gone full on Dickensian yet, as the match hasn’t officially been moved from December 23rd to December 24th, but Klopp absolutely slammed the idea of having to play on Christmas Eve.
At his weekly news conference on Friday, ahead of the Sunday clash with Newcastle, Klopp took issue with away supporters being unable to attend, festive period fixture congestion and much more.
“If the supporters want to see a game on Christmas Eve then probably the television broadcaster will find a way to deliver. How it was in the last few years: if something not too cool is possible around fixtures then Liverpool is involved,” Klopp said.
“In this moment, it would mean that we not only mean we play on the night of the 24th, it would also mean that we play again four games in nine days. That’s pretty much the worst you can get.”
“I always said that the broadcaster has to consider that the wonderful thing they sell — and give a lot of money to the clubs — depends on the players, depends on the quality of the players, depends on the freshness of the players.”
Jurgen Klopp ripped the idea of moving a game to Christmas Eve, just to accommodate television, and lamented the same gripe that most of us have with all sports these days- the broadcast partners have way too much power.
“So if we have to play on the Dec. 24, I’m not sure we can fight against it, but Sky has to then make the decision if they really want to do this — if they really want to bring supporters on the street at night, bring all the people who work for the television away from home. I think we are the last ones to say something about this decision.
“I really think it’s no problem for the people to be concentrated on something else than football. For us, it’s not a normal time. If we don’t play on the 24th then we will probably play on the 25th or the 26th — I’m not sure. It’s still Christmas for our families, but not for us. We are used to it.”
“I really cannot imagine anybody wants to watch football on this night, but I’m not so important.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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