Chris Wilder says ‘every club has a right to defend their corner’ in response to Jurgen Klopp

Chris Wilder says ‘every club has a right to defend their corner’ in response to spiky comments by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp who hit back at Sheffield United manager over ‘selfish’ jibe

  • Jurgen Klopp hit out at Chris Wilder in the aftermath of Liverpool’s 1-1 draw
  • The German retaliated at being called ‘selfish’ and said Wilder was the same 
  • Wilder was asked about the comments after his side’s defeat to West Brom 
  • He said that every club had a right to ‘defend their corner’ in response to Klopp 

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has said every club has a right to defend their corner in response to comments made by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp

The German had a fiery rant after his side’s 1-1 draw with Brighton on Saturday afternoon in response to previous comments from the Blades boss. 

Wilder labelled Klopp as a ‘world-class politician’ before the weekend’s fixtures, just a week after he labelled him as ‘selfish’ over his concerns regarding fixture congestion, TV companies picking inconvenient kick-off times and the lack of five substitutions.

Jurgen Klopp called Chris Wilder ‘selfish’ as part of a fiery post-match interview on Saturday

It was in response to prior comments made by Wilder who also called the German 'selfish'

It was in response to prior comments made by Wilder who also called the German ‘selfish’

Klopp was unhappy after his side’s draw at Brighton and as part of his rant, hit back at Wilder saying: ‘When we had the talk between the managers a week ago it was 15-5, if not 16-4 for five subs (rule to be introduced), since then nothing has happened.  

‘You need 14 votes but Chris Wilder said I am selfish. I think all the things he said is selfish too. But it was a similar situation for me at Mainz as well.’

Wilder’s side also had a disappointing result, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals West Brom.

After the match he was asked by Sky Sports for his comments on what Klopp said and initially he tried to brush them off.

He said: ‘I’m not interested in that today, not right at this particular moment I can imagine you can understand my view on that. So maybe that’s for another time, today is about talking about the result. 

‘And obviously as Jurgen put, good observation, we’re still on that one point but it’s not the time to talk about from that point of view.’

Chris Wilder tried not to respond too much to the comments after his side's loss to West Brom

Chris Wilder tried not to respond too much to the comments after his side’s loss to West Brom

When asked a further question about backing his own club, Wilder added: ‘Everyone has their right to do that and defend their corner, there’s 20 votes in this league and everyone looks after themselves all the way through. 

‘We have to look after ourselves. I’m not going into the nuts and bolts of what was said. I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for Liverpool as a football club as I’ve consistently said and respect for Jurgen (as well).

‘So whether it’s looking after the club, whether it’s selfish, there’s a few other managers in there  that have looked after their own club as well. I’ll always look after my own club.’