Don’t drink and type. I’ve given that advice to friends of mine on many an occasion. It’s 10:55 PM as I write this and I’ve had a few rum and cokes. I’m typing. Fuck it. I’ve been watching telly with the missus this evening. She’s headed up the stairs and I’ve gone onto the BBC Sport website to get the FA Cup results and the draw. And I saw this:
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was unable to return to Germany for his mother’s funeral on Tuesday because of Covid-19 travel restrictions. Germany has banned most travel from countries hit hard by new variants of the virus, including the UK. Liverpool tweeted a message of support for Klopp on Wednesday, which read: “You’ll never walk alone, Jurgen.” Speaking to German newspaper Schwarzwalder Bote, Klopp said his mother “meant everything” to him. “She was a real mum in the best sense of the word,” he added. “The fact that I can’t be at the funeral is due to the terrible times, but as soon as the circumstances allow, we will hold a wonderful commemoration that is appropriate to it.”
Oh my God. What the fuck have we become? A man is “banned” from attending his mum’s funeral? On who’s authority? The chap must be distraught. He needs to be at home to grieve, to hug his brothers and sisters, to honour their mum, to give her a proper send off, but he’s stuck in Liverpool, banned from boarding a plane home. God love him. It’s unimaginably wicked.
“She was a real mum in the best sense of the word” he said. She meant “everything” to him. Of course she did. It is his inalienable human right to bury his mother! It’s essential that he be there, for his own wellbeing and to process his grief.
We’re running out of time friends. We really are. Each incident like this, is a nail in the coffin of freedom. The time for civil disobedience is here. Jurgen, along with his wife and children, should rock up to Liverpool or Manchester airport and demand they be allowed board a plane for home. Someone has to make a stand. He’s got a massive profile. This is happening to thousands of people, but they are anonymous. Guys like Jurgen need to stand up. The time is now.
