FOR the second week in a row, Jurgen Klopp’s comments on the fixture schedule have generated plenty of traction for the broadcasters he is railing against.

Klopp, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and others are concerned about the working conditions for players in a unique, condensed season.

They believe playing a game at 12.30pm on Saturday when they have played a late kick-off on Wednesday, sometimes away in Europe, is putting players at risk.

Any time a manager speaks passionately to the media, questions are raised as to their motives. Mind games? Taking the spotlight from their players? A distraction from a poor performance?

But Klopp raised these issues following one of Liverpool’s best performances of the season — a 3-0 victory against Leicester at Anfield — when it would have been easier for him to revel in victory.

“Sky and BT have to talk because if we keep playing on Wednesday, and Saturday at 12.30, I’m not sure if we will finish the season with 11 players,” he said.

“I know you [the broadcasters] don’t care, and that’s the problem. We’ve discussed it for a long time and nothing’s happened.

“It’s about all the players. Players who play at the Euros next summer. It’s not just about Liverpool.”

Klopp’s views echoed those of Solskjaer who, after a 3-1 win at Everton earlier in November, launched an attack on the TV companies in support of his players.

“The kick-off time set us up to fail,” Solskjaer said of the 12.30 start time, refusing to answer questions around what was a good win for his side.

“We’ve been to Turkey on Wednesday night, back on Thursday morning, then we’re playing Saturday lunchtime kick-off, it’s an absolute shambles.

“It is such a serious issue that in the times we are in we don’t look after these players. They are not robots, they are human beings.”

Klopp followed up last week’s comments in an exchange with BT Sport’s Des Kelly after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Brighton this weekend.

There was a lot of back and forth between the two but, stepping back from that, Klopp’s assertion during it that “after Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 is really, really dangerous for the players,” is the key point.

One of the main concerns is that everyone is being asked to be flexible and asked to make sacrifices, except the TV companies, who even tried to take more money from fans by making some games pay-per-view.

Managers have plenty of gripes throughout a season, but it appears they believe this request is so simple, and the solution so easy, that they have decided to push for change.

The amount of money broadcasters pay for these slots is often raised in response to managers’ complaints, as is the amount players are paid. This is irrelevant when looking at the most important immediate problem, which is that of player welfare. After all, without these players, the TV companies don’t have their “product.”

The high salaries paid to footballers at the top level doesn’t magically give them bionic hamstrings or make them impervious to mental or physical exhaustion. 

One advantage they do have is access to specialist injury treatment and sports scientists, but these experts will also be able to pin-point when a player has stretched themselves to the limit and might be about to go over the edge.

They know those extra hours of recovery matter and can make a difference between getting through the next game with only a normal chance that injury occurs, and going into the next game knowing that one is very likely.

Norwich manager Daniel Farke, whose side are top of the Championship, has also raised issues around players’ workload this season.

“The teams who are in a worse position are not allowed to complain because everyone says they are searching for excuses or want to distract a little bit, but I am allowed to still stay humble and talk about this topic,” he said last week.

“It’s not like I just think about success, success, success. I also work with human beings and I think about the health and safety of them, and also in the bigger picture we want to cheer up our supporters.

“Football is for the supporters and they deserve to see the best teams and the best quality, not the best players on crutches.”

Fans already know first-hand what it’s like to be an afterthought in the minds of TV broadcasters.

Games have long been scheduled at awkward times for away supporters, leaving many to travel the length of the country at unreasonable hours or stuck miles from home due to lack of public transport options at these times.

Following months of behind-closed-doors matches, broadcasters are now beginning to realise that without fans they don’t have their “product.”

Given they now know how much supporters add to their broadcasts, it almost feels like the TV companies should be paying fans to attend games, but supporters will still have to pay high prices for tickets on their return.

As Farke alludes to, TV companies should recognise that the sports entertainment they beam around the world in return for millions of pounds is weaker when players aren’t firing on all cylinders, or not playing at all due to injury or fatigue.

It’s sad that it has taken a monetary hit for broadcasters to realise fans are one of the biggest parts of the game, and it might take something similar for them to put player working conditions before kick-off times.

Klopp, Solskjaer, Farke et al are simply pushing for change before more damage is done to their players and, therefore, to the game.