‘I will definitely not watch again’ – Jurgen Klopp rips into UK broadcaster and insists Mo Salah spat is over

With just three games left of reign as Liverpool boss, Klopp was clearly eager to speak his mind as he faced the media ahead of Sunday's game against Tottenham and it didn't take long for the subject of 12.30pm Saturday lunchtime kick-offs to leap to the top of his agenda.

Klopp is convinced broadcaster TNT Sports has undermined his ambitions by continuing to put Liverpool matches into a slot that gives the least recovery time from mid-week matches, as he refused to hold back in his criticism of the broadcaster.

He also suggested the demands put on English clubs from TV broadcasters is one of the main reasons why the leading clubs have been knocked out of the European competitions early this season.

"I had a discussion only the other day with colleagues from our favourite TV channel, which I will definitely not watch again, TNT, and said it’s always a conversation they have, saying they pay you, they give money to football,” said Klopp.

“It’s not like that. I really don’t see it like that. It’s exactly the other way round, football pays them. They broadcast it, they deliver, but it’s not that TNT is not doing extremely well, or Sky or whoever, is doing extremely well. They can pay all of you, it’s all fine.

“You have to become a part of football again, and not just the squeezer. That’s it, that’s a little advice from an old man on the way out.

“I will watch a lot of football, but not all, because people can survive without match days from time to time, definitely. This is, City and Arsenal, they are out in the quarter-finals, this is just not a reflection.

“That we are out in the quarter-finals is just not a reflection of quality. It’s just a reflection of we could not deliver on the day we had to. Yes, other countries have really good teams, no doubt about that, but it’s a sign.

We spoke about it in the dressing room, says Klopp as he downplays Salah row

“Years ago, I think we had four English teams in quarter-finals. And then we take that and say, ‘Yeah, it’s the quality of the Premier League and let’s make more of it!’ But we have to change that approach, that’s how it is.

“You always think when I speak about it, it’s because of our last situation. We lost against…, no, we didn’t lose against West Ham. But because of the last game. No, it’s a general problem.

“Nothing to do with our schedule now. Our schedule is right, it’s good. Can we use that? I don’t know, we will see.

“That they dare give Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 is a crime. I was actually waiting for Amnesty International to go to them.

“I would like to meet, I would like to once be part of that meeting where somebody says, ‘Liverpool 12.30’, and the whole room is bursting into laughter. ‘Again?!’ I would like to be there.

“This morning I got sent the stats of the biggest turnaround in the whole world. Liverpool FC, yeah [laughs]. And we sit there, and I’m the same.

“I tell you, ‘You have to do more, you have to fight more, and you have to go for it’. In a whole world, we have the quickest turnaround between games. That is absolutely insane.

“But they are still happy and they like subscribers. You can take me off that list! But if you’re looking for a pundit, I speak English! I could do it!"

Klopp also insisted his relationship with star forward Mohamed Salah has been repaired after their touchline spat at West Ham last weekend.

"It's completely resolved. It's no problem," he added. "If we wouldn't know each other for that long, I'm not sure how we would deal with it. But we know each other for that long and respect each other too much, so it's really no problem.

"I think we have the right to deal with these kind of things completely independent of any expectations from the outside. We are absolutely fine with it. That's a non-story.

"But in general, the best situation would be everybody is in the best possible place. We win the games, we score loads of goals.

"Yes, then the situation would have probably not been exactly like that because Mo would not have been on the bench in the first place. It all depends on each other."