Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has made outspoken public criticisms of Brexit (Great Britain’s voting to leave the European Union) before, on more than one occasion, but today he kicked that up another notch.
When the Reds boss first heard about Brexit in June 2016, he thought that Britain exiting Europe meant that the England national team had been eliminated from the European championships.That’s how shocked he was to hear that the Brexit voted actually passed, because the concept of it made no sense to him.
In an interview with The Guardian, Klopp said that Brexit “still makes no sense,” and he added that there “was not one time in history where division creates success.”
He’s far from the only key Premier League figure to give a strong take on the Leave campaign winning. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Brexit will hurt the league, while Gunners goalkeeper Petr Cech spoke out on it too. Additionally, the agent of Tottenham Hotspur winger Christian Eriksen attempted to exploit Brexit fears to his advantage.
England’s leaving the EU officially takes effect in March of next year.
Here’s what Klopp had to say in The Guardian about it today:
“When Mr [David] Cameron had the idea [of a referendum] you thought: ‘This is not something people should decide in a moment.’ We are all influenced by the way only some of the argument is given, and once the decision is taken nobody gives you a real opportunity to change it again,” Klopp said.
“The choice was either you stay in Europe, which is not perfect, or you go out into something nobody has any idea how it will work. So you give people the chance to make this big decision. And then it’s a 51-49 [51.9%-48.1%] vote and you’re thinking: ‘Wow, 49% are not happy with the decision that’s going to change the country.’
“For the 51%, I’m sure they realized pretty early after the vote: ‘What have we done?’ The two leaders of the leave campaign then stepped aside. It was a pure sign they were surprised themselves by the vote.
“OK, that can happen. But then, come on, let’s sit together again. Let’s think about it again and let’s vote again with the right information – not with the information you’ve got around the Brexit campaign. They were obviously not right, not all of them. It makes no sense at all.”
“The EU is not perfect but it was the best idea we had. History has always shown that when we stay together we can sort out problems. When we split then we start fighting. There was not one time in history where division creates success. So, for me, Brexit still makes no sense.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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