Liverpool fans might well have been expecting a big announcement from their club on Thursday, and sure enough, that’s exactly what they got.
At bang on 1pm, a tweet from their official Twitter account pointed them in the direction of a statement which made clear that the club would be freezing the prices of all tickets in the 2018/19 season.
#LFC to freeze all ticket prices for the 2018-19 season.https://t.co/hQf57i7CcG pic.twitter.com/RptQiui9uw
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 4, 2018
Lovely news, right?
Well, yeah, sort of…
To some of the club’s supporters, the reports that Philippe Coutinho is inching ever closer to a move to Barcelona overshadowed this news. Some even went as far as describing it as a PR stunt to deflect away from their soon-to-be-departing Brazilian.
Selling our best player and you think this fixes that. Worst PR stunt I have ever seen by the club.
— Barry LFC O Sullivan (@NotoriousLFC) January 4, 2018
BREAKING – LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB RELEASE POSITIVE STATEMENT TO FANS TO APPEASE THEM IN PREPARATION FOR ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT STATING COUTINHO IS LEAVING.
— G (@g_wilko87) January 4, 2018
Selling our best player and you think this fixes that. Worst PR stunt I have ever seen by the club.
— Barry LFC O Sullivan (@NotoriousLFC) January 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/tBKoN_/status/948903726634487809
That's cause you know there's gonna be a massive fallout from angry fans from the selling of Coutinho?
— ……. (@deltron14) January 4, 2018
Oh God its definitely happening today then. They only ever give good news when there is also bad
— GTTO2024 (@GTTO2024) January 4, 2018
Meanwhile, Jürgen Klopp remained tightlipped on Coutinho when speaking to reporters ahead of his side’s FA Cup third round tie with Everton this weekend. He said: “All the things I could say now would only create stories, I have nothing to say. It’s a transfer window”
“Nothing I could say now would help me, the player or the club.
“Maybe 80% of the cameras are only here for this so that’s a waste of time.”
He did, however, confirm that Coutinho will play no part in the game against Everton due to the injury that ruled him out of their game with Burnley.