Always The Victims.........

 There has been plenty of coverage in the press this morning of chants about Liverpool heard at Old Trafford yesterday, prompting Man Utd and the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) to issue public statements. The most widely reported chant was 'always the victims, it's never your fault' which Man Utd say they deplore and that their manager has made the club's position on this clear and it's up to the fans to respect this. the MUST say that while the chants were directed at Liverpool it was related to the Evra / Suarez saga rather than Hillsborough and any attempts to report otherwise are irresponsible. I wonder what it must be like for the press to report your fans as doing something they haven't done and damage their reputation, I hope to God nothing like that ever happens to my club...................

 Manchester United were playing against Wigan, not Liverpool, or indeed Everton, the game was not live on TV so there were no Liverpool supporters watching, there was basically no reason for this chant to be aired yesterday. There may or may not be any truth in the idea that this was aimed at Luis Suarez, I can't go inside the head of everybody who was singing to find out what they meant, but to sing a song that they use to taunt Liverpool about Hillsborough shortly after kick off three days after the independent report was released is only going to be interpreted one way, and any Man Utd fan who thought it was an appropriate chant at a time when the rest of football was honouring the victims is either very naive or very stupid. Anyway, neutral journalists and, according to social networking sites, supporters of most other clubs find this chant at this time insensitive, offensive and disgusting. This is now clear so if the Man Utd fans genuinely weren't singing about Hillsborough they now know how this was interpreted and it is a song that they should not bring with them when they turn up at Anfield next weekend.

 There is a good chance by kick off next Sunday that Liverpool will be in the bottom three, we have had our worst run of results at the start of a season for over 100 years, we're as far away from winning the title as we have been for the majority of the past 20 seasons and we've now started the last four seasons under four different managers. If the visiting supporters want to taunt us next week there is plenty of ammunition for them without stepping into any grey areas or crossing any boundaries into tasteless territory, any chants that seem to allude to the tragedy where 96 football fans lost their lives through no fault of their own will undoubtedly be met with similarly disgusting songs in response.

 The rivalry between the two clubs is massive and next weekend will be key in future relations between the two sets of fans. There will be almost 45,000 people in the stadium but for once at Anfield I feel it is down to the visiting fans to set the tone for the atmosphere, respect the grief and anger felt by a group of people over the way their friends and family members died 23 years ago and it will be appreciated, whatever you may think about Liverpool fans if you show us respect in an area that is so emotive you will get respect back. Mock us over the way they died and cross the line into tastelessness and disrespect and I would expect nothing less than the same coming back at you.

 Both managers have made it very clear they want an end to the unpleasantness from the minority of all sets of supporters and it is up to the fans to listen and take on board. Both clubs have enough about them to make fun of, and both sets of fans are imaginative enough to not sink to the depths I fear could be reached next Sunday.