Man City issue private apology to Hillsborough survivors group after Anfield chants

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Manchester City have apologised to the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance for the “hateful” songs their supporters sang at Anfield about the 1989 disaster that claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool fans and vowed to take action against the offenders.

But the charity has called upon the Premier League champions to make a public apology after saying chants of “murderers” and “always the victims, never your fault” damaged the mental health of those affected by the tragedy.

City condemned their own fans in an email, pledged to urge fans not to sing such songs before April’s rematch and asked other supporters to report anything they hear.

City said: “We are sorry to read that you and other families have been affected by the events which took place on Sunday, particularly given your personal connections to the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster.

“As a club, we strongly condemn the chanting or singing of songs with connotations to footballing tragedies and will continue to sanction those individuals who are found responsible for such behaviour.

“Alongside condemning behaviour of this nature, we stand with Liverpool fans in marking the anniversary of Hillsborough each year to remember those who sadly lost their lives. At the same time, we also commend the actions of many organisations who continue to educate the wider public about the tragedy and those who call for positive action to be taken through the Hillsborough Law campaign.

“Ahead of the next meeting between our two clubs, we will contact all of our season ticket and matchday members to reiterate that this kind of hateful chanting has no place in the game and ask the vast majority of our fans who would never engage in such behaviour to call out and report any individual that chooses to do so.”

The Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance said: “We’re glad they have replied to the email. We have replied again asking for a public statement.”

City had not made any public comment about the chants in Sunday’s match, during which coins were thrown by Liverpool fans at Pep Guardiola. Liverpool have vowed to give lifelong bans to any supporters found to be responsible for that.

The FA has opened an investigation into events on Sunday, including the incident when the windscreen of the City team coach was damaged when objects were thrown at it.