Liverpool legend John Barnes has taken a dig at his former team by claiming that if the current manager, Jurgen Klopp was black, he would have been sacked in his first years at the club because of the slow starts he experienced.

The German manager ended his first season at Anfield in position after he was appointed in October 2015 and also lost in the Europa League finals and League Cup. Those results did not give him a perfect start to give a hint of what would be seen of him in years to come.

However, The Merseyside outfit can now boast of another Champions League title under the guidance of the former Borussia Dortmund manager as well as their first top-flight title in 30 years.

Former Liverpool player, John Barnes made this claim of Liverpool while reacting to Greg Clarke’s resignation as Football Association chairman after calling Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic players ‘coloured’.

While trying to back up his opinion, he affirmed that discrimination exists at top Premier League clubs, and Liverpool were a victim of this as he claims that structures can be put in place, but it will have no effect until the perceptions of things change.

The former Liverpool winger told PlayOJO: “I use Klopp as an example. How successful was he really in the first two years in terms of being 25 points off the top? But we believed that he was the right man.

“Under different circumstances, he would have lost his job. If he was black, he would have lost his job in those first two years. If he was English, he would have lost his job.

John Barnes argues that the same can be said of Chelsea, noting that they might have an English manager with Frank Lampard but he is still being condoned because of his special bond with the club.

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Timothy Aiyeku is a Mass Communication graduate from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is a sports, everything football analyst.