25 Feb 2008

Sandon Liverpool fans are a disgrace to the club

The regrettable mob mentality that has haunted English football for decades reared its ugly head again at the weekend, as a minority of pathetic so-called Liverpool ‘Fans’ brought shame on the club and its worldwide fanbase by allegedly intimidating and spitting at Tom Hicks’ son in a pub after the Middlesborough victory...

According to The Times, Hicks Jr was subjected to ‘anti-American chants’ and was later ‘spat at’ by one particular fan. Rabid fans also attacked Hicks Jnr’s car, causing over 1000 worth of damage.

And what was Hicks Jr’s heinous crime? He had the sheer audacity to enter the Sandon pub outside Anfield and attempt to have a drink.

Such behaviour makes a mockery of the oft repeated assertion that Liverpool fans are ‘the best in the world’, and it saddens me to see a small minority of thuggish fans taint the club and the rest of its fanbase with such reprehensible behaviour.

Irrespective of what’s happening at the club, such loutish behaviour is unacceptable. End of story. It doesn’t matter if Hicks Jr was unwelcome, or his decision to go to the Sandon was ill-advised; it’s a free country and Hicks Jr is not his father.

No doubt, there will be many who support what happened – chief among those will inevitably be the Scouse ‘Superfans’, who believe that anyone that lives more than a mile away from Anfield is not a real fan.

They will go on about how much they ‘love the club’ and how 'it’s their life’, as if that is a justification for what went on. Please – homegrown Reds do not have the monopoly on love for the club.

And to put things in perspective, if it wasn’t for the worldwide fanbase and the contribution of non-Liverpudlians throughout the club’s history, THERE WOULD BE NO CLUB.

Then there will be the fanatical, xenophobic, anti-yank brigade – the same people who believe that only Liverpudlians should be allowed to sit on the Kop.

Many pundits, ex-Liverpool players and news outlets will be conspicuous by their indifferent silence on the subject. Then, there will also be those, like Tony Barrett in the Liverpool Echo, who clearly agree with what went on and barely make any effort to hide this in their articles.

It just makes me sick that these idiots act like this – the laughable thing is, they probably believe that they speak for every Liverpool fan, when the reality is THEY DON’T.

Everyone connected with Liverpool FC - from the staff, players and management, to the worldwide fanbase - should condemn these moronic fools masquerading as fans. They do not represent the club and they do not represent the millions of decent, civilized fans across the world.

Anyone condoning such this behaviour under the guise of ‘but Hicks and Gillette have lied and blah blah blah’ should also be condemned.

To his credit, Hicks Jr took it all in his stride and responded in the best possible way: “I went to Sandon with some friends because I have wanted to go for quite some time to see the birthplace of the club.I also wanted the opportunity to have a direct talk with some of the supporters.

He added: “I respect that some patrons have major disagreement with us, but that comes with the territory. I did have several constructive conversations in my short visit and look forward to following up with them next time I am in Liverpool.”


I personally feel the same as lots of other Liverpool fans in that I want Hicks and Gillette out of the club. However, There are ways and means of expressing discontent, and acting like brainless Neanderthals is not the answer.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment