I was intrigued by the news that Liverpool fans had booed the national anthem dueing Saturday's FA cup final and had also directed obscene jestures towards Prince William. There was also the suggestion that they had chanted during the singing of Abide With Me. I missed the fist twenty minutes so did not witness this on the BBC coverage. I have found the response to this fascinating. There seems to be an amount of indignation that the Liverpool fans have behaved in this manner amonsgst the mainsteam media whereas I believe that this has actually been a regular feature in recent years when Liverpool have played at Wembley. I quite like the fact that there is an anti-establishment element within the support for a game which has recently been taken increasingly away from the ordinary, working class supporters. I am pretty sure that the demographic difference between those supporters from Liverpool and those from London on Saturday woiuld have been immense. In a way, I can sympathise with their sentiments but it does grate when you consder the previous complaint regarding the song sung by Spurs fans at Anfield.
I do think that there is an element of "entitlement" with Liverpool fans who seem themselves as being victimised and that the support for their club should rightly be considered as unique and worthy of the respect of other fans no matter how unsavory. This seemed to be underlined by the comment from a representative of a group representing Liverpool supporters who suggested that this was a totally natural and not unreasonable response to reflect the lack of investment and general levels of poverty in their city. It was seen as cheekily giving the royalty the bird whilst at the same time suggesting that Liverpool had some kind of unique status which justified this behaviour as if no other city in the UK had similar problems. The abindance of food banks was seem as a reason to boo the national anthem. Once again, you get the same old impression of Liverpool being "the city of self pity" which gives their supporters justification for this behaviour. Even Klopp acknowledged that it was , perhaps, something that he did not fully understand and was therefore reluctant to condemn it out of hand.
There are certain clubs who I feel the media sometimes deems it necessary to overlook the behaviour of the fans or at least find some excuse to justify this. I would suggest that Liverpool are probably the prime example in this case. I have found the media coverage of this quite interesting with the BBC initially being critical but subsequently finding justification for this behaviour for social reasons. In comparison, the chants of "Sign on, Sign on" by the Spurs fans seems mild in comparison (amd also more amusing) but I wonder if the BBC would have been quite so generous if the booing at Wembley had been by fans of a club such as Millwall? Personally, I just feel there is nothing remotely classy about Liverpool fans and you wonder just how many of the fans who came down from Merseyside to watch the final and would have spent in excess of £200 to do so were really "salt of the earth." If Liverpool fans want respect , I think it is a two-way street and they need to show a degree of levity when abuse is heeped upon them by fans of the opposition.
