What The Spirit of Shankly Supporters Union Is And Why Fans Need It
There aren’t many figures in the history of Liverpool Football Club that have been as influential as Bill Shankly, who not only has some gates named in his honour at Anfield but also a statue in front of the Kop. Such is the importance of the Scot that the club’s main supporters’ union was named after him, with Spirit of Shankly having been formed in 2008.
The question is, why did a supporters’ union have to be formed in the first place and what, exactly, does it do for the people that it represents as far as the football club is concerned?
The Precursor to the Formation of SoS
During the club’s glory years, Liverpool FC was owned by a local family called the Moores. They had made their money through Littlewoods Pools, which were extremely popular before the advent of the National Lottery in 1997. Once that had become available, however, people were less willing to spend their money on the Pools and its popularity died away, seeing the Moores’ money also decrease. It meant that they were no longer in a position to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea in the newly launched Premier League.
@spiritofshankly Why join SOS? You can now register as a supporter of Spirit of Shankly for FREE. Under 18s can also sign up for a free membership. Full membership with voting rights remains at £10. Unity is strength #lfc #liverpool #liverpoolfc #spiritofshankly #footballfans #stopexploitingloyalty ♬ original sound – Spirit Of Shankly
As a result, they chose to sell the club, with George Gillett Jr. coming forward to do so but lacking the necessary funds. He was given time to find a partner, eventually seeing him return with Tom Hicks in tow, the pair having formed an uneasy partnership in order to buy the club in 2007, doing so via a means known as a leveraged takeover. At first, there was little objection to the new owners, especially thanks to the fact that the Reds were enjoying on-pitch success and had spent money buying Fernando Torres, who was an exciting player.
The Reason for the Formation of a Supporters’ Union
It didn’t take long before Liverpool supporters realised that the purchase of the club had been done via what seemed like smoke and mirrors. A story emerged in the Liverpool Echo, talking about how the family of Tom Hicks was living on the LFC credit card, whilst as much as £50 million had been given to Texas-based architects for plans for a new stadium. Having been promised that the takeover would be debt-free, Moores quickly realised that the pair that had bought the Reds had been lying to him about that.
Spirit of Shankly welcomes Liverpool FC’s decision to freeze ticket prices for the 2025/26 season. #LFC #StopExploitingLoyalty
— Spirit of Shankly – Liverpool Supporters Union (@spiritofshankly.bsky.social) 17 February 2025 at 11:08
Fans understandably revolted. During an FA Cup game against Havant and Waterlooville, a section of the Kop began chanting, “Liverpool Football Club, it’s in the wrong hands.” The form waned, the debts mounted and there came a feeling that the right thing to do was to create a more formal way of opposing the ownership model of the Americans. Not everyone agreed with the idea of protesting against the owners, so a meeting was held in the Sandon pub, where it was agreed by those in favour of protest to form the Spirit of Shankly.
The Organisation’s Objectives
When the Spirit of Shankly was formed, the organisation created a constitution that set out some short-term, medium-term and long-term aims, as well as an ultimate aim that it hoped to achieve. These were as follows:
Constant Aims:
-To represent the interests of SoS members and, by extension, the interests of all supporters, both locally and internationally
-To hold the owners of LFC to account
Short-Term Aims:
-To put a functioning structure in place for the union
-To ensure a long-lasting relationship with the supporting community of Liverpool FC
-To improve the service offered to Liverpool supporters
-To improve the standard of travel as well as the value for fans
Medium-Term Aims:
-To work with agencies as necessary to improve Anfield as an area
-To build links to the grassroots supporter groups in England and abroad
Long-Term Aims:
To gain supporter representation on the Liverpool board
Ultimate Aim:
To support the Liverpool owners
Life After Hicks & Gillett
Although nowadays everyone is entirely on board with the decision to protest against Hicks and Gillett, the same was not true at the time of their ownership. Spirit of Shankly and other supporter groups faced opposition as they attempted to get fellow fans to march against the owners. In spite of this, the move to get rid of them ultimately proved to be a positive one. In the October of 2010, after a battle that went all the way to the High Court in London, New England Sports Venture took over from Hicks and Gillett as Liverpool owners.
That organisation went on to be renamed Fenway Sports Group and, to date, has overseen the Reds winning two Premier League titles, a Champions League and numerous other trophies. Although the owners can unquestionably be referred to as having been successful during an era of sportswashing at clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle United, Spirit of Shankly has continued to hold the ownership to account. This has included objecting to things such as the launch of the European Super League and higher ticket prices.
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