By Jay McKenna

The Sandon Pub is a well-known feature in the history of Liverpool Football Club. Without the events of 1892, there is no modern-day Liverpool FC as we know it, and all that we’ve heard and witnessed in between. 

That very same pub was the location of another meeting 18 years ago, without which the recent history of the club would have been very different. 

Those who can recall – or who may have blocked from their memory the events of late 2007 and into 2008 – will no doubt shudder. Supporters were growing anxious and increasingly angry. The takeover by Tom Hicks and George Gillett in February 2007 was beginning to show cracks.

Rumours had swirled that Rafael Benitez was under threat of losing his job – a manager that had just taken us to our second European Cup final in three years – and fans protested. Promises of backing the manager looked like a distant dream. Promises of no leveraged buyouts or “a spade in the ground in 60 days” regarding a new stadium had long since been shattered. Protests inside the ground, with anti-Hicks and Gillett songs ringing out, started. 

A meeting was called to take place in the back room of The Sandon on January 31, 2008 to discuss what could be done. 

The 300 or so supporters there that evening came together to do just that, demanding change and action. And while the meeting that took place was clear in its anger towards the club’s owners, there was talk throughout of how we as supporters needed a voice. One that would speak up for us on broader issues that affected us all – on treatment at football matches, on travel to matches, on the local community and that might speak up for then jailed Liverpool supporter Michael Shields. “We need a union,” was the overall suggestion – and Spirit of Shankly (SOS) was founded.

It would be revisionist to now say that it all happened quickly and smoothly. Trying to set up a fully-functioning membership supporter group is no easy task and doing it while planning protests against billionaire owners and worrying about the future of the club you love is something altogether different. 

It was also done against a backdrop of less than harmonious supporter relations. Some felt it wasn’t “The Liverpool Way” to protest publicly, others were distrustful and many just didn’t appreciate the reality of the club’s dire financial situation. 

Supporters organised and marched. Kept up the calling out of the owners’ lies. Protested inside and outside the ground. Made Hicks and Gillett “Not Welcome Here” – wherever they went. And in late 2010, via the High Court, we won. The reality and behind-the-scenes detail of what took place would fill a book or three. The most important line is that supporter power came out on top. Tom Hicks had referred to supporter protests as a “noise that needed dealing with”. Outgoing owners, the incoming NESV (now FSG) ownership and club officials told of how supporter pressure had won the day. We were a noise that refused to be dealt with.

Job done then? Not quite. While we marched, and protested, and blocked owners attending games, all the other work went on too. 

SOS became a fully functioning, democratic, membership-led organisation, and subsequently the official supporters’ trust. We started our own travel to matches (the first coach we ran was a hot success, with the engine catching fire, but we kept going!). We reached out into the community. Engaged with the club on issues affecting supporters. Got involved with the Football Supporters’ Federation (now the Football Supporters’ Association, FSA), made links with supporter groups of rival clubs, and challenged how we were policed and treated at football matches. We’d become a voice for supporters of Liverpool. And all as volunteers, juggling it alongside day jobs and life. 

One area of work that deserves particular mention is the support given to Michael Shields and his family. Working with the club and players, at risk to them from footballing authorities, we organised mosaics in the ground and the players wore t-shirts calling for his release. We fundraised and supported demonstrations in London.

It was a proud day when Michael was freed. 

Our work though didn’t stop there. Since the early 2010s, it has been a journey of a different kind for SOS and supporters. There have been no leveraged buyouts or crises that have risked the financial future of the club. But the voice of supporters has been as important as in those early years – and supporters have continued to win big battles too. 

If you’d asked supporters in 2008 to walk out of the stadium mid-match, despite the very real risk to the future of the club, it would not have happened then. And yet eight years later, over 10,000 did just that against Sunderland in the 77th minute in protest at ticket prices of up to £77. 

Days later, the club reversed its plans and froze prices. Weeks later, after a few seasons of protests against away ticket prices led by SOS with other supporter groups, the Premier League announced a £30 cap on away ticket prices. Despite telling us it wasn’t possible, it’s remained in place ever since. These two wins alone have saved LFC supporters at a conservative estimate over £15million.

There have been more high-profile issues. The proposed trademarking of the Liverbird, or decisions to furlough staff using government funds, all drew ire from supporters and SOS intervened alongside others. All the while, SOS has continued to be a voice for supporters on the everyday issues – ticket prices, supporters facing sanctions, improving how we are treated at domestic and European matches – while hugely growing its work for the community.

During the pandemic Spirit of Shankly helped feed communities, and since then we’ve continued that work as well as supporting debt and welfare advice for those in need, and young people’s activities. It’s about us giving back to the area that is home to a club that gives us so much. 

Most high profile in recent years were the plans for a European Super League. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to supporter engagement at Liverpool and nationwide. There was no going back to the previous relationship of asking nicely from the outside and asking for a meeting – supporters needed a seat at the table. 

SOS led negotiations with the club that created the Supporters’ Board (an improvement on the minimum requirement of Fan Advisory Boards forced on clubs) and it’s our job to use that space to continue to have supporter voices heard to prevent those mistakes being repeated and make things better for all. 

SOS along with representatives from CultuRed, Spion Kop 1906, Liverpool Disabled Supporters’ Association, OLSCs, Kop Outs and LFC Women’s Supporters’ Club make up the board. It is our space for supporter voices, concerns and insights to be taken to the club on a range of issues from ticketing through to changes to kits and crests. 

Working with the other supporter groups and the Supporters’ Board, we’ve pushed our campaign on ticket prices, resulting in a freeze on prices. We want the same again this time around and to use the opportunity of being in the room to find a long-term solution on price that protects supporters. We’re making sure supporter voices are heard when it comes to discussions about ticketing policy now and in the future. 

None of it is perfect – like any new group it can take time and we’re working out how it works best – but we’ll be working to make sure we talk to supporters more about this in the months ahead. 

The journey hasn’t been easy. It’s happened not just because of those of us who have more profile but because of the many people who make a difference behind the scenes. There’s no SOS today without the early work of Helen and Sam or the chairmanship of Paul Rice and Fran Stanton, or the work speaking up for supporters recently by Steph, Anna and Matty. It’s quite a change from the backroom of The Sandon to the organisation of today. 

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” was often said to us in the early days when we were protesting against owners. It was repeated during ticket-price campaigns, and reiterated when billionaire owners of multi-billion pound clubs tried to do things in their interests and not in those of supporters.

The last 18 years show there IS something we can do about it. We have done something about it. And we will keep doing something about it – in the name of our supporters. 

This article was published in Blood Red – a monthly LFC newspaper.