I love Jurgen Klopp even more after ‘snowgate’ – fans must appreciate dark arts

YOU have to love Jurgen Klopp. The man comes across as very likeable and exactly the kind of manager that I would like to play for.

And he endeared himself further to me this week when the Liverpool ground staff cleared the snow from the penalty area at the end that his team were attacking.

The forerunner of what is borderline acceptable when it comes to gamesmanship was undoubtedly my manager at Cambridge United, John Beck.

I actually believe that he was a genius in many ways, years ahead of his time and as an unfortunate consequence he wasn’t taken as seriously in the game as he should have been.

Sam Allardyce is nothing more than a student of John Beck's vision but he is respected for what he brings to the game.

He did everything to help us win. He grew the grass long in the corners because he wanted the passes played by his defenders to hold up in the channel so that we could play for throw ins and corners.

Set pieces were massive to John, he recognised that one in three goals comes from a set piece way before anybody else. Why not stack the odds in your favour?

And it went beyond the pitch. The walls of the away changing room were painted black and the showers were cold. And if you think that kind of conduct is a one off then you’re wrong.

Years later at Reading we painted the walls of the away changing room navy blue, which science claims is an even more depressing colour than black.

At Stoke, Tony Pulis was also a John Beck apprentice. Rory Delap would toss the ball in from the halfway line in certain games.

I remember playing against Manchester City and seeing Robinho doubled over in fits of laughter when he first saw the Delap throw. Apparently the percentages game is an alien concept in Brazil.

Opposition teams would move the advertising hoardings closer to the pitch to stop Rory's run-up.

I admire all of these managers for using the tools at their disposal to gain an advantage. It is a great bugbear of mine that football does not garner the same level of appreciation for its use of the dark arts as other sports.

If you write a book about cycling, which is one of the most corrupt sports in the world, and call it ‘marginal gains’, then it’ll go to number one, and people will label you a genius.

But if you write one about football, the same people will call you a cheat.

Football is the most emotive sport in the world; it’s tribal. It stands to reason then that the people whose livelihood depends on this great game will naturally look for every advantage open to them. And I have no problem with that.

If ever I become a manager – and don’t rule it out - I’d use every sporting option open to me to beat the opposition.

Personally, I believe that attackers are marginally more alive in the penalty area than defenders.

Defenders make mistakes, especially when the odds are stacked against them. I’d have left the snow in the penalty area in the hope of a Leicester defender slipping up.

And as everybody on Merseyside knows, a little slip at the wrong moment can have massive implications in a title race.