Jurgen Klopp has become the first Premier League manager to break cover and insist that sanctions against Roman Abramovich, and Chelsea, are the right response to Vladimir Putin ’s aggression.
And the Liverpool manager believes now is the right time for football’s authorities to take a far closer look at where the money invested in clubs is coming from - with stricter checks on Premier League owners.
Klopp says he feels nothing but sympathy for Chelsea’s employees, with a cloud hanging over the club, but he said: “One man is responsible for it, Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t know about Roman Abramovich but it is clear he is pretty close [to Putin] and I think the British government is right.
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“It is pretty obvious where the money is coming from. Everyone knew it, but we accepted it. That’s our fault. It is society’s fault so we accepted it.
“Now we cannot accept it anymore and so we punish them, it is not Chelsea’s fault. Not at all.”
Klopp believes though, that there needs to be far more scrutiny over owners, with clubs increasingly being bought by oligarchs, super-rich individuals and even nation states.
He pointed not only to the mess at Chelsea, with so many links to what some have described as “dirty” Russian money, but also the situation at Newcastle, where the Saudi Arabia government has links to the club.
And the Reds boss said: “We don’t even think about where the money is coming from… now we start obviously thinking about where the money is coming from.
“I think that is a good idea to be honest. We should think about that a bit more. Did anyone really care when Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea?
“Did anyone really care when Newcastle got taken over? Do supporters really care? It is a question."
He did express sympathy though for his managerial counterpart Thomas Tuchel and his team, who are caught in the middle of a storm engulfing the London club.
“The Chelsea employees are not responsible and I feel for Thomas Tuchel and the players because it is a (terrible) situation for all of them,” Klopp explained.
“I have no idea what background checks would look like, but I can tell you I am six and a half years here, and from the first day I came here I was really happy with our owners and in these times I am even more happy with our owners.”
