In an exclusive extract from Mark Clattenburg’s autobiography Whistle Blower, the former Premier League referee opens up on his prickly relationship with the Liverpool boss...
Jurgen Klopp . Brilliant manager. Sour loser. I first came across him in April 2014. His Borussia Dortmund side lost 3-0 at Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final first leg.
After the game, I came out of my dressing room and Real defender Marcelo and his wife asked for a picture. It was a private picture on their phone so I said yeah, no problem.
Klopp walked past just as the photo was being taken. ‘Oh, so that’s why we got beat, is it?’ he said. He was not being humorous or friendly, he was being sarky.
‘You’re lucky you only got beat 3-0,’ I said. The fact we were in Madrid probably gave me a bit of bravado to answer back.
It annoyed me when managers could not be gracious in defeat.
Klopp never took losing well. When he was winning he was happy, he was good fun. When things were not going his way, he got prickly.
My final game with Klopp was in January 2017 against Chelsea at Anfield. Managers rarely came into my dressing room for the exchange of team-sheets an hour before kick-off. On this occasion, Klopp came in with Jordan Henderson. It was bizarre, he stood and stared at me for about 30 seconds. I just stared back at him. I could see Jordan was a bit like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’
Did Klopp think I was stupid?
I was not going to be bullied by him. He left and all I thought was: ‘What a strange bloke.’
Extracted from WHISTLE BLOWER by Mark Clattenburg, published on 30th September by Headline at £20. © Mark Clattenburg 2021. To order a copy for £18 (offer valid to 2/10/21; UK P&P free on orders over £20), visit www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193.