Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has called on Jurgen Klopp to apologise for his treatment of a journalist in a press conference, believing the Reds manager was disrespectful and even showed signs of bullying.
Klopp refused to answer a question from James Pearce, journalist for The Athletic, after Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by Wolves in the Premier League.
In response to a question about his team’s preparation for matches and mentality, Klopp said to Pearce: ‘It’s very difficult to talk to you if I’m 100 percent honest. I would prefer not to do that.’
He explained: ‘You know why, for all the things you wrote. So If somebody else wanted to ask that question then I’ll answer it.’
The German then went on to answer the same question from another journalist.
Hamann was not at all impressed with his compatriot and felt it was not behaviour befitting of a Liverpool manager.
‘I found it very strange and petty and what he has to realise is that James Pearce and his family get bombarded with abusive messages since that incident because Klopp didn’t answer a question,’ Hamann told talkSPORT.
‘It was a perfectly good question to ask him and I think the least James deserves is an apology. Liverpool is a club that is based on respect and I think someone has to tell [Klopp] ‘This is Liverpool Football Club and you can’t do this.
‘We have campaigns against bullying and you can’t have the Liverpool manager behave the way he did.
‘I feel nobody at the club has the bottle to tell him, which I think they should. The way things are going at the moment, these things don’t help him and they certainly don’t help the club, which is above everything else.
‘You can’t have a situation where the manager disrespects a very well respected journalist like he did to James Pearce.’
Hamann and Klopp have something of an ongoing beef, which has been stewing this season.
The former Reds star, who played for Liverpool between 1999 and 2006, aimed a dig at Klopp earlier this season and suggested that his time at Anfield was coming to an end.
Klopp was furious with his comments and hit back at him but Hamann doubled down and insisted that it was ‘obvious’ that Liverpool have ‘problems’ this campaign.
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