Shrewsbury Town earned a huge draw with Liverpool earlier in the season, taking the champions-elect to a replay at Anfield.
It should have been a great occasion, instead Jurgen Klopp chose to honour the winter break and sent his Under 23 out to face the Shrews. The game wasn’t televised and, to make matters worse, Salop lost the tie. It raised a few eyebrows, Liverpool took some stick for their actions and everybody thought it was done and dusted.
It has now been revealed that Shrewsbury lodged a complaint with the FA, which has only been thrown out this week. That led to Salop chief executive Brian Caldwell to lash out in an open letter to fans, saying: “You will recall our incredible come back in the FA Cup Fourth Round tie live on BBC with Liverpool to draw 2-2 back in January.
“Immediately following the match, the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp ruined what should have been a wonderful moment for our Club by making public statements that he and all of his first-team would not attend the replay at Anfield, effectively ruining what should have been not just financially but for the players and fans a wonderful achievement and a very special occasion.
“We struggled to believe that his statements had no effect on the replay being televised and we are convinced that LFC broke the FA Cup rules by not ‘fielding their strongest team’ in the return fixture.
“This had a knock-on effect of STFC not getting anywhere near the financial rewards that were to be expected from an FA Cup Fourth Round replay including a potential live TV fee against the World and European Champions and Premier League Champions (elect).
“In February we put a complaint into the FA about the alleged rule breach but unfortunately and quite unexpectedly we were informed that this was dismissed last week (four months on).
“This without doubt resulted in a much lesser occasion for our players and fans as well as the financial reward that would have been expected from LFC playing their strongest team and abiding by the FA Cup rules.”
That has, of course, prompted Liverpool fans to respond on Twitter, mainly mocking Salop as they were unable to beat the young side, managed by Neil Critchley who has since taken over at Blackpool.
https://twitter.com/LFCJ__/status/1270728550484754433
https://twitter.com/eoinsim1/status/1270728782161350659
https://twitter.com/RealHarrison17/status/1270714403000705029
https://twitter.com/theklopposphere/status/1270733534022467586
https://twitter.com/Camlongstaff2/status/1270725694872408072
https://twitter.com/eddie_corrigan/status/1270730542422556675
https://twitter.com/SportandMusic10/status/1270732772089487365
https://twitter.com/Joshh__Smedleyy/status/1270735248024838146
https://twitter.com/RossT17/status/1270731550401785856
https://twitter.com/QuicklyOrigi/status/1270729341941530626
