Fan groups show their strength as furlough reversed

Liverpool fan groups have shown their strength after the club has announced they will reverse the decision to use the government’s furlough scheme.

The decision taken by Liverpool have been greeted with relief by fans and those who love the club as CEO Peter Moore confirmed that they will find another to make wage saving while COVID-19 has put an end to all football.

It’s only taken a few days for Moore and the owners to understand the error of their ways after serious backlash from fans, journalists, former players and supporter groups.

All sorts of people have taken the chance to criticise Liverpool for their decision to put 80% of the non-playing staff onto the government books before their more highly paid players are still earning full wedge.

Melissa Reddy in the Independent wrote a scathing assessment of the club’s actions, the Guardian had a pop and Simon Hughes in the Athletic was also critical of Liverpool in the hours after the decision was announced.

But this couldn’t have only been brought about because journalists didn’t like the decision. This was brought about because of the furious backlash from fans on social media and in real life.

We all felt betrayed, but this decision shows that you can have an impact in how Liverpool is run- but you have to make your voice known to the owners.

This still leaves a fairly bitter whiff around the club and you can be sure that nobody will forgot the time when the club abandoned everything it was supposed to stand for, but this is better than nothing and it reverses a horrific misjudgement.

Now it’s up to the rest of the clubs, especially Tottenham Hotspur, to do the same or they face being remembered as a club who let everyone down when the going got tough.