Mueez Ajao
– Everton boss Frank Lampard says managers have a responsibility to behave on the touchline.
– However, Lampard does not believe there is a link between the behaviour of elite managers and the abuse of referees at grassroots level.
– Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was sent off against Manchester City on Sunday for berating an assistant referee.
Also Read: FA charge Klopp with improper conduct after red card against Man City
– It was one of a number of incidents involving match officials being confronted in the top flight on Sunday.
– “We have a responsibility, I understand that,” Lampard said.
– “There’s also a microscope put on managers in the modern day and we’re in highly pressurised jobs. The amount of pressure we come under and the decisions that go against you can throw you.”
– During Sunday’s match at Anfield, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confronted referee Anthony Taylor when the official, invited to consult his pitchside monitor by the video assistant referee, disallowed a City goal for a foul by Erling Haaland.
– That and the Klopp incident – which the German said had been born out of frustration at what he saw as the officials’ failure to award Liverpool a free-kick for a challenge on Mohamed Salah – came on a weekend where Merseyside Youth League games were postponed amid ongoing issues with referee abuse.
– Martin Cassidy, chief executive of charity Ref Support UK, says “people mimic what they see on TV” and the behaviour of people like Klopp and Guardiola is “replicated by people in youth football and perpetuates the idea that it is OK to do it”.
– Speaking on Tuesday, Klopp said he should have “dealt differently with the situation” that led to his red card.
– “It was a very, very intense game with a lot of decisions we didn’t understand on both sides,” he said.
– “I’m not happy with my reaction but that’s the way it was and everybody saw it.
– “I was sitting after the game with Anthony Taylor and spoke completely calmly about how we saw the game. I got a red card and now we wait for the process.”
– But Lampard said: “People talk about Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. We all know the situation.
– “If you try to draw a line between that and someone in a Sunday league game physically attacking a referee – that’s a personal responsibility of the person who has gone and done that, as it would be on the street.
– “I don’t draw that line, but I understand the responsibility. I see managers in high-pressure situations handle themselves really well 99.9% of the time.”
