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Spirit of Shankly

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Bill Shankly statue looking out from the Kop

Spirit Of Shankly (SOS) is an unofficial supporters' union for fans of Liverpool F.C.. Named after former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, although the union was formed in early 2008 by disgruntled fans opposed to the former Liverpool F.C. ownership of Tom Hicks and George N. Gillett, Jr., it quickly developed into a cooperative representing its members (and by implication other Liverpool F.C. 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 Torres.

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:[1]

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 F.C.'s supporting community.
  • To improve the quality of service for Liverpool F.C.'s supporters.
  • To improve the standard and value of travel arrangements for Liverpool F.C.'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 22 February 2008. After learning that Tom Hicks Jr. was planning to attend the game,[2] 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. 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.[3]

Tom & George - Not Welcome Anywhere

A "Tom And George - Not Welcome Anywhere" Campaign[4] was started on 29 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.[5] The pictures were reported in various media outlets from locally in the Liverpool Echo [6] to Spanish Paper Marca (newspaper) [7] and to Tom Hicks' home town of Dallas [8]

Spirit Of Shankly 4 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, 4 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 Aldridge and Howard Gayle; Comedians John Bishop 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.[9][10]

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.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13]

On 18 October 2010 the board of Spirit of Shankly met the new owners of Liverpool F.C. for an informal discussion regarding their organisation and their 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 F.C.. 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 Liverpool to watch what was discussed at the meeting and if necessary vote online on any resolutions discussed at the meeting.[14]

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,[15] Sweden,[16] Norway,[17] London[18] and an online branch Scouser Tommy.[19] Many more are getting worked on as well.

Ireland Branch

Chairman : Gerry Farrell

The Ireland Branch was formed by a number of Liverpool supporters from the fan forum IrishKop. After initial discussion, and spreading the word through the aforementioned medium, word of mouth and email, the branch has to date gathered together over 200 members. The Ireland Branch will endeavour to spread information about the union throughout the country, and promote its goals and aims.

London Branch

Chairman : Steph Jones

After initial contact with Spirit of Shankly, a few southern-based members contacted each other about setting up a branch in the south east. With a date set, it began in earnest on a balmy 8 July 2010. Over 100 turned up at the initial meeting – some already members to show support and get involved; others curious to find out more. Committee member nominations were taken and the following week, after a ballot of members, the committee was voted in.

Malaysia Branch

Chairman : Zairi Zakaria

The Liverpool Supporters Union (Malaysia) started in April 2011 although not officially launched until May 2011, membership of the club starts at around 25 with family values practised. Some of the members have been with the club well over thirty years. We are totally independent and being run by supporters for supporters.

Northern Ireland Branch

Chairman : Bill Ramsey

The Spirit of Shankly, Northern Ireland branch was founded in August 2010 with the aim to spread the word of the main branch and increase membership of both the Northern Ireland Branch and the main union.

The branch is one of the largest SOS groups and has and meets occasionally in Belfast. The NI branch notably negotiated a delay with Stena Line Irish Sea Services which resulted in cheaper ferry fares for SOS members travelling between Belfast/Dublin to Liverpool.

Norway Branch

Chairman : Heidi Sparem

Liverpool Supporters & rsquo; Union – Norwegian Branch (LSU – Norwegian Branch) was established on July 28, 2010. We are the Norwegian subdivision of Liverpool Supporters & rsquo; Union - Spirit of Shankly (LSU – Spirit of Shankly), the official supporter union of Liverpool Football Club.

The Union works for & aring; promote the cause of supporters, and we will support the Union's work here in Norway. Some of our most important measurements will usually be; & oslash; the supporters' influence in the club & & aring; holding the club's owners accountable. We shall give members access to Union information; Norwegian, better access and price pairing; travel arrangements for football matches and much more.

Scouser Tommy Branch

Chairman : Kevin Reavey

The Spirit of Shankly Scouser Tommy Branch grew out of the Scouser Tommy LFC fans forum, with members drawn from all over the world – from L4 to Europe and as far afield as Australia, Japan and the US.

The diversity of our members is a reflection of our club’s truly global fanbase and, as a result, 99% of the Branch’s business is carried out online. Again, this is in keeping with the way a significant proportion of LFC fans interact – via the many reputable and free LFC fan forums.

Swedish Tommy Branch

Chairman : Joackim Lundberg

In early June 2010, some Swedish Liverpool supporters decided to do something about the then crisis in the club.

They then contacted Spirit of Shankly who came up with the idea of starting a Swedish department of the SOS project quickly became a success.

The Spirit of Shankly Sweden Branch already has over 90 members in a short time. Sweden also became the first country outside England to help the Union.

Media

On 18 June 2010, the Daily Mirror published an article urging fans to join Spirit Of Shankly in their fight against Hicks and Gillett.[20] The increasing media exposure, not only from the Mirror but from the BBC 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 F.C., such as the sacking of manager Rafael Benítez and the appointment of Roy Hodgson.

On 22 May 2012 the Daily Mirror published an article claiming that SoS is behind a campaign to have Rafael Benitez re-installed as manager after the sacking of Kenny Dalglish, Spirit of Shankly have denied any contact with either the Daily Mirror or Rafa Benitez regarding the job.

Awards

On 20 March 2014, SoS was named Cooperative Of The Year by the regional social enterprise organization, Social Enterprise North West.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Aims".
  2. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  3. ^ [1], Tom & George: Not Welcome Here billboard campaign.
  4. ^ [2] Tom and George - Not Welcome Anywhere
  5. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  6. ^ liverpoolecho Administrator (6 July 2010). "Liverpool FC fans around the world tell Anfield owners Hicks and Gillett: "You're not welcome here!"". liverpoolecho.
  7. ^ "El mundo entero contra los dueños del Liverpool - MARCA.com". 28 September 2010.
  8. ^ Robert Wilonsky (12 July 2010). "Liverpool FC Supporters and Chuck Greenberg Say Same Thing: Tom Hicks Out! Like, Now". Dallas Observer.
  9. ^ "Liverpool fans stage a rally against Hicks and Gillett". BBC News.
  10. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  11. ^ [3], Eurosport on the resignation of Tom Hicks Jr.
  12. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  13. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  14. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  15. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  16. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  17. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  18. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  19. ^ "Page not found - Spirit of Shankly". {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  20. ^ [4], Daily Mirror article.
  21. ^ Johnson, Mark (20 March 2014). "Liverpool FC supporters' group Spirit of Shankly wins top award". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
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