Liverpool forums are exploding tonight with supporters outraged over replica shirts being sold in the club store. The shirts have number 96 on the back and “Justice” instead of the name of the players. The timing couldn’t have been worse, it comes just the day after Tom Hicks was boasting on how much money he was going to make from the Liverpool sale.
The photo above courtesy of http://forum.raotl.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=158825 shows the shirts on display next to the Gerrard replicas. Fans are upset that the club is making money off Hillsborough in this way and as far as we know none of the money is going to any of the Hillsborough charities.
My take on the whole thing:
I personally think that whoever had this idea did not think about the implications. Many Liverpool supporters have in the past customised their shirts with the 96 number and “Justice” as the player name. They did this out of their choosing and did not pick one ready off the rack. Whoever had this idea failed to realise that Hillsbrough is a very sensitive subject and you just can’t profit from it like this. Had they offered a percentage of the proceeds to one of the charities then it would have been hailed by many. I am sure that by the time I wake up tomorrow morning there will be a response to this and the shirts will probably be withdrawn.
Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine
What a sad day to be a liverpool fan same old yanks will do anything for money, Hicks Gillet u no nothing about the heart of liverpool fc
I can’t believe this. What the f**k is going on at our club. These people are clueless. This team is on a downhill spiral as it is, now this has happened. These f***in yanks are really takin the piss. At the end of the day they are still in charge so something like thus must be authorised by these f***in clowns
I can’t see the difference. People choose to put the same thing on their shirts, and mostly get it done in the shop, so this is just saving time. They aren’t making any more money out of it than they would do anyway. People aren’t forced to buy the 96 shirt and could buy any other if they didn’t want that one. If that was the only shirt on sale, then that would be different but people still have the choice of whether they want that on the shirt or not.
IF this is the case then there will be uproar, but, we should wait for a statement from either HJC HSFG or the club before we publish articles about it.
This is disgusting and is an outrage. They should be ashamed and whomever came up with the idea of selling the shirts should be sacked!
Dicky, this is a blog not a newspaper.
Bit of an over reaction if you ask me, people have had this on shirts before and probably paid an independant printer/sports shop to do it, where did the profit go then?? We all want H&G out but blaming them for this is stupid do you honestly think they know what names are printed on a shirt in a club shop? I doubt it very much!
You publish this article, yet run an advert offering cheap hotel rates in hillsborough! Does that come with a profit?
Main Stand, what adverts did you see?
Can you please email me the screen shot?
Adverts on this site barely cover the hosting fees, do you honestly think I am making a profit from this website?
-Antoine
Also, why are you shooting the messenger?
Not shooting the messager just pointing out that there was a google banner ad at the top of the site reporting cheap hotel rate in hillsborough. I appreciate that google is just picking up on keywords, nethertheless it does so how easy it is to make an honest mistake around this sensitive issue.
The difference is that Google is automated however these shirts were not.
This has been blown up out of all proportion….especially the price.
The cost of a personalised shirt with anything other than a standard players name is £54.00.
The club are not making anymore money from that than if you had your own name printed on it.
Justice 96 and variations of that have been bought from the club shop for years.
If people see a difference between the club pre-printing it on a shirt as opposed to someone simply asking for it as something to go into meltdown over, then in all seriousness, you need to go out more.
Nice post and I thought it it to be a step up from prior entries on the site.