“What a month to become chair of the union. Our team have been doing wonders on the pitch, 97 points, only one defeat and unbeaten in the league at Anfield for the second successive season.And for the second successive season we are off to a Champions League final. We are going to Madrid. 

Off the pitch, Spirit of Shankly continue to work to ensure our members, and LFC supporters in general, are treated as fairly as possible and with respect. We challenged LFC, Barcelona and UEFA over the pitiful allocation of tickets for disabled fans in the semi-final, and we will always call out unfair treatment or discrimination of our fan base. We also assisted LFC and Merseyside Police in their planning for game away at Camp Nou which went well but there were some ticketing/stewarding issues at the gates and we have taken up individual issues with LFC.

We will monitor issues surrounding the final in Madrid and ask the club for transparency in ticketing and planning. We have been heavily involved in the media jointly with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust, expressing our condemnation of the costs of tickets, travel and accommodation. We have also approached both clubs asking them, or their sponsors, to subsidise tickets for fans.

SOS have been involved with a number of individual cases, including stadium ejections, bans for alleged unauthorised reselling of tickets, and fans mistreatment by stewards. For obvious reasons, details of each case need to remain confidential, but we have achieved successful solutions for a number of our members. We have been aided in some cases by Amanda Jacks, the caseworker for The Unified Football Supporters Organisation, whose knowledge and experience is a great help.

You don’t have to be a member of SOS to ask for and receive help. But we are encouraged by those fans we have helped who have consequently joined. The more members we have, the greater our influence and chances of representing you properly.

Over the summer, we will be putting plans in place to achieve the motions passed at our AGM in March along with usual discussions surrounding ticketing and season tickets.

In June SOS will join other English fan groups to discuss European away games next season, in particular pushing for a ticket-price cap, consistent approach to policing and stewarding, and UEFA reforms.

Finally, a huge thanks to all members who have travelled on SOS coaches this year. Our commitment to affordable coach travel remains, and we look forward to seeing you all again next season.”

 – Joe Blott