Jurgen Klopp used to joke that if Liverpool were ever retrospectively awarded a Premier League title taken from Manchester City, he would be there for the bus parade.
A Premier League commission has made that question real, and the manager who had most to gain is the one quietly stepping away from it.
“I also know what I said about it in the past and how if there’s ever a parade I’ll be there, but it doesn’t feel like that anymore,” Klopp told reporters from the Germany camp on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, the Premier League had confirmed that Manchester City had been found guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges first brought in February 2023, covering a period from 2009 to 2018. The independent commission accepted that sham sponsorship contracts had been used to inflate revenues and reduce costs by around £900m. A punishment will be set at a separate hearing, and City have said they will appeal.
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Liverpool are the club most often invoked by those pushing for retrospective titles. In 2018/19, Klopp’s side finished second on 97 points, one behind City. In 2021/22, they finished on 92 points, again one behind City. Both remain among the strongest losing title bids in the Premier League era.
‘My respect for Pep is too great’
Klopp did not use the Germany press conference to deliver a verdict on the ruling, and he did not press the case for Anfield’s trophy cabinet.
“My respect for Pep Guardiola and the football played at City during the time we played against each other is far too great for me to be able to say anything now,” he said.
Any decision on sanctions, he added, was not his to make.
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“Should any sanctions be imposed, I naturally have nothing to do with it anyway, and that’s why I’m waiting to see how things pan out.”
Pressed on whether the ruling changed how he looked back on his own time at Anfield, Klopp said it did not.
“It’s not as if I need that right now, just so I can say ‘I’ve been English champion a few more times’. I’m completely fine with what’s happened and what we’ve achieved.”
Germany’s Nations League meeting with Serbia
Klopp made the comments ahead of Germany’s UEFA Nations League meeting with Serbia, his first autumn window since taking charge of the national team after Julian Nagelsmann departed following the round-of-32 exit at the 2026 World Cup.
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