Jürgen Klopp takes departing stab at Manchester City over 115 FFP charges

Jurgen Klopp joked about Manchester City's 115 Financial Fair Play (FFP) charges at his Liverpool farewell event. The charismatic German manager said he would be happy to take part in a bus parade if City is stripped of the titles when found guilty of the charges.

Klopp was speaking at an event at M&S BankArena in Liverpool where 11,000-oddfans had gathered to give him one last send-off after an emotional goodbye at Anfield less than 10 days ago.

During the Q&A round, hosted by comedian John Bishop and LFC TV presenter Peter McDowall, Klopp said he had been told not to discuss TNT Sports and 12:30 pm kickoffs referees, Manchester City, financial issues and VAR.However, Bishop probed around and managed to elicit a response from Klopp.

“You leave this club having won the Premier League once. There could be a court decision that means you’ve won the Premier League three times," said Bishop before being interrupted by Klopp:“If you organise a bus parade, I’m in! How long it takes I don’t care.”

Klopp's Liverpool twice lost the title to City by an astonishing one-point margin. In 2018-19, the Reds finished with 97 points while in 21-22, the club raked up 92 points, only to lose the title yet again and a week later, suffer a UEFA Champions League defeat against Real Madrid.

Quizzed whether he received sufficient backing from the club's American owners, the Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Klopp replied with a dig at Chelsea's owners.

“Can you imagine LFC as the club with unlimited money?We won what we won and we did it the Liverpool way. We had hard conversations and other clubs didn’t do that in the same time," said Klopp.

“We should be really happy that we have these owners and not guys who bought London clubs and other stuff. I wouldn’t have survived a year at Liverpool (with them in charge). ‘Great development but not good enough, sack him!’ A year later: ‘Sack him’. Then finally they play football where people think they might be back and they sack the manager anyway," added Klopp, referring to Mauricio Pochettino's sacking.

What are the 115 charges over Man City?

The Manchester-based club is facing 115 charges related to the breach of Premier League regulations. The clubis accusedof providing inaccurate financial information between 2009 to 2018. It also failed to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009 to 2018. Additionally, itfailedto comply with UEFA's ruling, including Financial Fair Play (FFP) between 2013-14and2017-18.

Between 2015 to 2018, the club hasbeen chargedwith sevenbreachesof Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Whilethe likes ofEverton and Nottingham Forest have been punished this season for breachingPSR,City are yet to face any action.

(With inputs from agencies)