The Pier Head stuff was wrong, TAW’s engagement in it was ill-advised and the ensuing apologies and mia culpa are welcome and appropriate.
The fact that TAW feel obliged to apologies is, in some ways, a testament to their growing footprint in fan media and their influence on LFC fan culture that’s gone hand-in-hand with the exponential growth of Liverpool’s overall global reach across social and mainstream media. Liverpool Football Club have become a huge story in recent years, which has shone a light on the city and the people that live there. TAW have been front and centre throughout this period.
While this attention is broadly welcome and the coverage is largely positive, there is of course a debit side to everything in life. In this instance, the downside to being the main attraction is that transgressions become really big news. As (probably) the biggest LFC fan media operation out there, TAW have had to carry the burden of the fallout from Thursday and Friday night. To some extent, this is fair game as they have looked to build themselves up as a popular voice that represents fans from within the city.
However, the flipside to TAW’s culpability in this story is that they are not experts in town administration, crowd control and the finer points in an ambiguous set of government post-lockdown guidelines. They’re also a group of people who have existed for what happened in football last week – the ensuing hours that followed Chelsea’s victory were a blur of absolute joy and relief. Not being at your best in these moments is understandable; calling for a measured and considered response is not, in fact, reasonable. Missteps were not unlikely.
The sweet taste of disapproval is an emerging factor in modern-day life. There’s nothing better than to laud it over others for their behaviour. This isn’t to say that we should not condemn bad behaviour; but it is to say that the modern propensity for ‘the pile on’ is absolutely exhausting as it offers the perpetrators no way out other than to be cast into the pit of public disgust and to then grovel for clemency.
My point is that TAW has grown to a level that even the folks who run it probably never anticipated. I’m pretty sure they never predicted that they would be perceived as the climate setters in how people could and should respond to the end of a 30-year title drought. Yes, some contributors haven’t covered themselves in glory since Friday…but I do feel compelled, as a huge fan of TAW, to suggest to people that they should bin their sanctimony; dial it down. This is, after all, a great moment for the fan base and TAW have been very important for fans around the world in feeling connected to the club and fellow fans throughout the last few years – me included.
So let’s ease off, eh?