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I was fined £10k for what I tweeted when Man Utd beat Liverpool - but I still think it was justified

Ryan Babel of Liverpool goes for the ball during the FA Cup third Round match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford
-Credit:Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images


If you mention Ryan Babel to any Liverpool supporter, one of the first memories that comes to mind of the Dutchman will likely not have taken place on the pitch. Instead, it will perhaps come courtesy of his Twitter account.

Next week marks 14 years since he made headlines by tweeting a mocked up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt. Alongside the picture, he wrote: "And they call him one of the best referees? That's a joke. SMH."

His reaction came after the Reds had been knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by the Red Devils at Old Trafford.

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Losing 1-0, their loss came courtesy of Webb awarding United a first-minute penalty when Dimitar Berbatov went to ground after a slight touch from Daniel Agger - which was duly converted by Ryan Giggs - before later sending off Steven Gerrard for a dangerous challenge on Michael Carrick.

Babel would later apologise to Webb on social media, tweeting: "Sorry Howard Webb. My apology if they take my posted pic seriously. This is just an emotional reaction after losing an important game."

But by this point, the damage - in the eyes of the FA at least - had been done. He was subsequently charged with improper conduct and fined £10,000.

Babel had come on as a 60th minute substitute in the match, with it coincidentally proving to be his final appearance in a Liverpool shirt. Come the end of the month, he had been sold to Hoffenheim in a £7m deal.

While the FA might not have looked too fondly on the forward’s social media activity, it certainly amused Reds supporters. And even now, 14 years on, Babel still stands by his initial tweet despite it proving to be rather costly for him personally.

“Yeah, Yeah, I know (supporters loved it),” he chuckled in an exclusive interview with the ECHO when recalling the incident. “The historical tweet! I get reminded often.

“Yeah, I mean, I think my tweets were justified! But obviously it was from the overall perspective, maybe, yeah, not nice and maybe disrespectful, be seen as disrespectful and hence the punishment.

“But yeah, an historical moment. Even me, I was kind of shocked at the effect it had on social media. You know, one of the very first moments, I guess a tweet went really viral like that.

“It was globally recognised and I remember a lot of different news outlets were covering it. You know, CNN, ESPN all the way to America, and they were all covering it.

“And I've seen my social media following growing in an instant. It was mad. So, yeah, definitely an experience in itself.”

Babel understandably has mixed memories of facing Manchester United from his time at Liverpool.

He scored the winner against them at Anfield in September 2008, while he considers the 4-1 thrashing of the Red Devils at Old Trafford the following March - in which he came on as an 81st minute substitute - as one of the highlights of his Reds career.

“I mean, I had a few (highlights). I had a lot,” he said. “But I think one of the classic ones was, I guess, the win at Old Trafford.

“You know, that was definitely a win, you know, as was Manchester United with Ronaldo, Tevez, Berbatov, Rooney, Van der Sar. So to go there and win the way we did was definitely one of the better memories. Absolutely.”

However, despite Liverpool doing the double over their bitter-rivals that season, they missed out on the Premier League title to Sir Alex Ferguson’s side by just four points.

And Babel points to Rafa Benitez’s infamous ‘facts’ press conference as the turning point in that season’s title-race, before highlighting what the Reds did differently to United that he thinks cost them the league.

“People often blamed the infamous press conference from Rafa when he started attacking Manchester United,” he said. “That was the turning point for us. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

“But I felt like maybe we were too distracted overall and Man United was just focused clearly on just winning and they probably knew that we were more focusing on them than they on us.

“And I think that maybe eventually could have been the difference. Because I do recall that every time when we would, I guess, drop points, we would immediately try to see what was the result for United.

“Did they lose as well? Did they drop points? And I guess that made us maybe a little bit nervous and understood that we are giving it away.”

Babel ultimately found his starting opportunities limited during his time at Liverpool, having seen Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres forge a heralded partnership in attack.

He considers himself fortunate to have played with the pair, but holds one of his other former team-mates almost just as highly.

“I was lucky to experience Stevie in the peak of his career,” he said. “I think he was 27 at that time. So incredible, obviously. And yeah, very fortunate to be part of the Liverpool team at that time to see.

“Yeah. Just the leadership he had, right? He was not really a talker, but he talked in the right ways and at the right moments at the right times. And he was definitely, him and obviously Jamie Carragher, the leader of the team.

“In games Fernando was really electrifying. He was not your average striker, right? Because he would score the most difficult goals.

“But I don't necessarily feel like he had, especially if you're from Holland, you have like this, this fine Dutch style. If that makes sense, right? Like a Bergkamp.

“He was very different and he was very direct and yeah, you know, he would sometimes score impossible goals. He would definitely surprise you.

“But obviously I was training with him. And then you could also see a lot of things not going well in training, but then in games, you wouldn't see that back in real games.

“So he was an unpredictable player. I think that was part of his strength that big defenders like John Terry and Rio Ferdinand didn't know what to do with him.”

He continued: “I have to give credits to Yossi Benayoun. He looked and seemed like a very fragile player. Not the fastest, not the strongest, but his eye, his vision, his way of handling the ball was really world class.

“And he was very important for Liverpool. Clearly, you know, if you look at the stats and overall a very nice person, very nice team-mates. So yeah, he was one of the few players in the squad that surprised me a lot.”

Ryan Babel was speaking to the ECHO to promote his short film about his career, ‘After the Whistle’, which is out now on Ryan Babel’s YouTube channel following his retirement from football.