Spirit of Shankly
Encyclopedia
Spirit Of Shankly is an unofficial supporters union for fans of Liverpool FC. Named after former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly
, although the union was formed in early 2008 by disgruntled fans opposed to the former Liverpool FC ownership of Tom Hicks
and George N. Gillett, Jr., it quickly developed into representing its members (and by implication other Liverpool FC supporters) on a whole range of issues such as ticketing, travel and community and regeneration issues. Its ultimate aim is to seek fan ownership of LFC in the long term.
.
However, from the 2008 season and amid mounting debts, waning on-pitch form and conflicts with manager Rafa Benitez, as well as a perceived reduction in transfer spending the popularity of the ownership of Hicks and Gillett began to fall. In January 2008 during the FA Cup game against Havant and Waterlooville when Liverpool were trailing 2-1 certain sections of the Kop Grandstand started singing 'Liverpool Football Club is in the wrong hands' it was met by a very loud disapproval and boos from the majority of the Kop. As a result a meeting was called in The Sandon, a pub in Liverpool, to discuss what fans could do about the situation, those in favour of protest formed the Spirit Of Shankly group.
On Tuesday 12 October 2010 Spirit of Shankly organised a bus to the High Court in London for 4am on Wednesday 13th 2010 for Justice Christopher Lloyd's verdict regarding the court between Royal Bank of Scotland Versus Tom Hicks and others.
Constant Aims
Short Term Aims
Medium Term Aims
Long Term Aim
Ultimate Aim
They were dubbed by Liverpool Managing Director Christian Purslow as 'Sons of Strikers'.
February 2010 saw the launch of a billboard campaign across Merseyside
. The billboards had the message "Tom & George: Not Welcome Here" displayed, in reference to Tom Hicks and George N. Gillett, Jr., as well directing fans to join Spirit Of Shankly.
to Spanish Paper Marca (newspaper)
and to Tom Hicks' home town of Dallas
and Howard Gayle
; Comedians John Bishop (comedian)
and Neil Fitzmaurice
; Members of Parliament Steve Rotheram
and Alison McGovern
; General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union Billy Hayes (trade unionist)
; Karen Gill, the granddaughter of Bill Shankly; and music by John Power, Pete Wylie
, Ian McNabb
, Peter Hooton
, John O'Connell and Sons of Anfield.
ShareLiverpoolFC decided to informally retire from its campaigning after the sale of the Club to NESV leaving the Spirit of Shankly as the only organised supporters' group campaigning for supporter investment and ownership.
On the 18th October 2010 the board of Spirit of Shankly met the new owners of Liverpool FC for an informal discussion regarding there organisation and there actions regarding the previous regime. At that meeting new Liverpool owner John Henry said to the members of the group present "You guys need to know that without the action and hard work of the Spirit of Shankly, Tom (Werner) and I would not have bought the Club".
and Sami Hyypia
at which an impromptu version of "Horse With No Name" was sung which encouraged a small number of those attending to adapt the lyrics to mock the Munich Plane Disaster; the video of the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlHMyp_jIyw and the chants and celebrations of those attending was promptly uploaded to the web and came to the attention of rival Manchester United fans and subsequently the general media. Spirit of Shankly promised and delivered a probe into the events and claimed the performer - despite being on stage - was unauthorised. The group did not apologise to either the families or living victims the Munich Disaster. A number of media outlets commented that Bill Shankly
and Matt Busby
, nearly killed in the disaster, shared a friendship and hence would most likely condemn the group acting in his name, if the group condoned such chants - the group condemned the chants after the completion of their investigation. The actions of the group also received condemnation amongst Liverpool fans themselves, damaging the reputation of the group amongst supporters.
and the Liverpool Echo
, has seen the union increase its number of members as well as being contacted by Sky Sports News
reporters on several big stories related to Liverpool FC, such as the sacking of manager Rafael Benitez
and the appointment of Roy Hodgson
.
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
, although the union was formed in early 2008 by disgruntled fans opposed to the former Liverpool FC ownership of Tom Hicks
Tom Hicks
Thomas Ollis Hicks, Sr. , is an American 'leveraged buyout' businessman living in Dallas, Texas. Despite Forbes Magazine estimating Hicks' wealth at USD 1 billion in 2009, Hicks was unable to pay off joint loans of circa £200 million the following year...
and George N. Gillett, Jr., it quickly developed into representing its members (and by implication other Liverpool FC supporters) on a whole range of issues such as ticketing, travel and community and regeneration issues. Its ultimate aim is to seek fan ownership of LFC in the long term.
Background
In 2007 Liverpool were purchased by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, American businessmen, via a leveraged takeover from previous owner David Moores. The initial purchase was met with mixed reactions, with little immediate protest following increased on-pitch success and high quality purchases such as Fernando TorresFernando Torres
Fernando José Torres Sanz , nicknamed , is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker....
.
However, from the 2008 season and amid mounting debts, waning on-pitch form and conflicts with manager Rafa Benitez, as well as a perceived reduction in transfer spending the popularity of the ownership of Hicks and Gillett began to fall. In January 2008 during the FA Cup game against Havant and Waterlooville when Liverpool were trailing 2-1 certain sections of the Kop Grandstand started singing 'Liverpool Football Club is in the wrong hands' it was met by a very loud disapproval and boos from the majority of the Kop. As a result a meeting was called in The Sandon, a pub in Liverpool, to discuss what fans could do about the situation, those in favour of protest formed the Spirit Of Shankly group.
On Tuesday 12 October 2010 Spirit of Shankly organised a bus to the High Court in London for 4am on Wednesday 13th 2010 for Justice Christopher Lloyd's verdict regarding the court between Royal Bank of Scotland Versus Tom Hicks and others.
Aims
Spirit Of Shankly - Liverpool Supporters' Union after formation set out aims as part of their constitution highlighting short, medium and long term objectives for the organisation. These are as follows :Constant Aims
- To represent the best interests of our members and by extension the best interests of the supporters of Liverpool Football Club on both the local and international level.
- To hold whoever owns the football club to account.
Short Term Aims
- To institute a functioning structure for the Spirit Of Shankly.
- To create long lasting relationships with all aspects of Liverpool FC?s supporting community.
- To improve the quality of service for Liverpool FC's supporters.
- To improve the standard and value of travel arrangements for Liverpool FC?s supporters.
Medium Term Aims
- To work with any relevant agencies to improve the area of Anfield.
- To build links with grassroots supporter groups both home and abroad.
Long Term Aim
- To bring about supporter representation at board room level.
Ultimate Aim
- Supporter ownership of Liverpool Football Club.
Protests
The union organised their first official protest against Hicks and Gillett on February 22, 2008. After learning that Tom Hicks Jr. was planning to attend the game, the members remained in the stadium singing anti-owner songs after the end of the match. In addition to this, many in the group began to display banners and sing in opposition to the ownership.They were dubbed by Liverpool Managing Director Christian Purslow as 'Sons of Strikers'.
February 2010 saw the launch of a billboard campaign across Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
. The billboards had the message "Tom & George: Not Welcome Here" displayed, in reference to Tom Hicks and George N. Gillett, Jr., as well directing fans to join Spirit Of Shankly.
Tom & George - Not Welcome Anywhere
A "Tom And George - Not Welcome Anywhere" Campaign was started on the 29th June 2010 to show the depth of feeling from Spirit Of Shankly members and Liverpool supporters all around the world. This saw pictures come in Anfield to Australia, Belfast to Bangkok. The pictures were reported in various media outlets from locally in the Liverpool EchoLiverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...
to Spanish Paper Marca (newspaper)
Marca (newspaper)
MARCA is a Spanish national daily sports newspaper owned by Unidad Editorial. The newspaper focuses primarily on football, in particular the day-to-day activities of Real Madrid CF...
and to Tom Hicks' home town of Dallas
Spirit Of Shankly 4th July Independence Day Rally
A large number of Liverpool fans attended a SOS organised rally on St. George's Hall Plateau in Liverpool city centre, held on the American Independence Day, the 4th of July 2010. The union declared this the day that Liverpool fans declare their independence from their American owners. They outlined how they are planning to launch a credit union partnership where supporters can buy the club. The day included speeches in support of Spirit Of Shankly and their aims by Ex-Liverpool players John AldridgeJohn Aldridge
John William Aldridge is a former Republic of Ireland international footballer and football manager...
and Howard Gayle
Howard Gayle
Howard Gayle was the first black player to play for Liverpool.-Career:He was at the club for six years but was only given a total of five first team matches, later playing for several clubs including Birmingham City and Sunderland...
; Comedians John Bishop (comedian)
John Bishop (comedian)
John Joseph Bishop is an award-winning comedian.His television debut came on The Panel. As an actor, he has appeared in the E4 teen drama Skins as Mr Fitch, father of twins, Katie and Emily and in the Ken Loach film Route Irish...
and Neil Fitzmaurice
Neil Fitzmaurice
Neil Fitzmaurice is an English actor, comedian and writer.-Writing:Fitzmaurice's writing projects include That Peter Kay Thing, for which he received a British Comedy Award, and the critically acclaimed Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, in which he also appeared as "Ray-Von".Neil has also written two...
; Members of Parliament Steve Rotheram
Steve Rotheram
Steven Philip "Steve" Rotheram is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton since the 2010 general election....
and Alison McGovern
Alison McGovern
Alison McGovern is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Wirral South since 2010.-Early life:...
; General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union Billy Hayes (trade unionist)
Billy Hayes (trade unionist)
William Hayes is the leader of the Communication Workers' Union in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born in Liverpool, he attended St Swithin's Secondary Modern School on Croxteth Hall Lane...
; Karen Gill, the granddaughter of Bill Shankly; and music by John Power, Pete Wylie
Pete Wylie
-Studio albums:- Extended Plays :-Singles:-External links:***...
, Ian McNabb
Ian McNabb
Robert Ian McNabb is a British singer-songwriter and musician from Liverpool, England. He is known both for his work as leader and songwriter-in-chief of The Icicle Works in the 1980s, and his critically acclaimed solo career throughout from the early 1990s to date...
, Peter Hooton
Peter Hooton
Peter Hooton was the vocalist of Liverpool-based group The Farm. He was also its sole founder member in the 1980s....
, John O'Connell and Sons of Anfield.
Tom Hicks Jr.
In January 2010 Liverpool director Tom Hicks Jr, son of owner Tom Hicks, became embroiled in an email row with a member of Spirit Of Shankly, in which he called the fan an idiot, before responding with a further reply which said: Blow me fuck face. Go to hell, I'm sick of you.. The precise circumstances of the exchanges between the two remain unknown; however, release of the emails was a publicity blow for the ownership. A spokesperson for SoS stated, "For one of the directors of the club, and the son of one of the owners, to respond to a fan with genuine concerns in such a manner is unacceptable. Tom Hicks Jr should resign, as his position as a director is now untenable.". The club released a statement confirming his resignation soon after.Supporter Ownership
On 23 July 2010, SoS and another fan organisation, ShareLiverpoolFC, announced that they would be joining forces to pursue their common goal of fan ownership of the club. ShareLiverpoolFC is to be rebranded as Spirit Of Shankly – ShareLiverpoolFC (SOS-SL), although it remains a legally separate organisation to Spirit of Shankly.ShareLiverpoolFC decided to informally retire from its campaigning after the sale of the Club to NESV leaving the Spirit of Shankly as the only organised supporters' group campaigning for supporter investment and ownership.
New Ownership
It was unclear what impact the takeover by NESV in October 2010 would have on the future of the group. SoS released a statement claiming it was their actions which had forced Hicks and Gillett out.On the 18th October 2010 the board of Spirit of Shankly met the new owners of Liverpool FC for an informal discussion regarding there organisation and there actions regarding the previous regime. At that meeting new Liverpool owner John Henry said to the members of the group present "You guys need to know that without the action and hard work of the Spirit of Shankly, Tom (Werner) and I would not have bought the Club".
Representation
Spirit Of Shankly is a democratically elected organisation with the committee all being volunteers. Committee Elections are held annually at the AGM in February and there are quarterly EGMs held to update members on SOS activities and information regarding Liverpool FC. These meetings are held in Liverpool usually on a day of a match and are filmed and uploaded online shortly after to allow members from outside of Liverpool to watch what was discussed at the meeting and if necessary vote online on any resolutions discussed at the meeting.Branches
A change in the constitution as voted for by members at the AGM in February 2010 allowed the formation of Spirit Of Shankly Branches. This allows members from all over the world to form a branch where they live to enable them to help expand the work of SOS to help even more members and to allow greater involvement from those unable to attend meetings in Liverpool regularly. Currently there are branches in Northern Ireland, Sweden, Norway, London and an online branch Scouser Tommy. Many more are getting worked on as well.End of Season Party Controversy
In May 2009 the group held an open (members and non-members were allowed to buy tickets)'End of Season Party', attended by Jamie CarragherJamie Carragher
James Lee Duncan "Jamie" Carragher is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League side Liverpool...
and Sami Hyypia
Sami Hyypiä
Sami Tuomas Hyypiä is a retired European Cup winning Finnish footballer who played in the centre back position. He last played for German Bundesliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen and was the captain of the Finland national football team. He joined Leverkusen in summer 2009, ending a ten year spell at...
at which an impromptu version of "Horse With No Name" was sung which encouraged a small number of those attending to adapt the lyrics to mock the Munich Plane Disaster; the video of the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlHMyp_jIyw and the chants and celebrations of those attending was promptly uploaded to the web and came to the attention of rival Manchester United fans and subsequently the general media. Spirit of Shankly promised and delivered a probe into the events and claimed the performer - despite being on stage - was unauthorised. The group did not apologise to either the families or living victims the Munich Disaster. A number of media outlets commented that Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
and Matt Busby
Matt Busby
Sir Alexander Matthew "Matt" Busby, CBE, KCSG was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–1971 season...
, nearly killed in the disaster, shared a friendship and hence would most likely condemn the group acting in his name, if the group condoned such chants - the group condemned the chants after the completion of their investigation. The actions of the group also received condemnation amongst Liverpool fans themselves, damaging the reputation of the group amongst supporters.
Media
On the 18th of June 2010, the Daily Mirror published an article urging fans to join Spirit Of Shankly in their fight against Hicks and Gillett. The increasing media exposure, not only from the Mirror but from the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
The Liverpool Echo is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is Liverpool's evening newspaper while its sister paper, the Liverpool Daily Post, is the morning paper...
, has seen the union increase its number of members as well as being contacted by Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Sky Sports HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4....
reporters on several big stories related to Liverpool FC, such as the sacking of manager Rafael Benitez
Rafael Benítez
Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes is a football manager, and former player. He is currently unemployed, after leaving as manager of Internazionale in December 2010....
and the appointment of Roy Hodgson
Roy Hodgson
Roy Hodgson is a former English footballer and current head coach of West Bromwich Albion.Hodgson, who has managed sixteen different teams in eight countries, guided the Switzerland national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996; Switzerland had not qualified...
.