Many scousers will have come from Irish family. The behaviour of the British government incl the British Army will have left indelible scars on many families. I don't agree with violence or excuse the IRA but if you read some of the history of the British in Ireland you can at least understand the residual feeling.
Maybe so. But (and I´m genuinely curious here as I was not alive at the time) did these pro IRA chants come out amongst our support amidst the height of the Troubles? I suspect not, although I stand to be corrected, no matter how sympathetic many in Liverpool are to the cause of Irish unity, or against the oppressions of the British establishment. Granted we´ve never played Rangers before, but if it was pro-IRA chants from any deeply held conviction and not an attempt to "get one over" Rangers fans, I´m sure we´d have more of a history of it?
I have zero doubt that Scousers were involved with IRA chanting yesterday (and other unsavoury chants - I´m thinking "Lizzies in the mud"), but looking at the videos I´ve seen, it's clear there was also more than a few Northern Irish voices involved also.
Without wanting to tar our great and always welcome Irish support with the same brush, my guess is some of the scenes we saw yesterday were just the carry-over from some of our significant numbers of Northern Irish (from both sides of the divide) and Irish fans, with more than a few Scousers joining in. Once again, booing the anthem fine, but I´m talking the other stuff...
I used to have no problem with Irish Tricolours and Union Jacks being flown in the stands. In fact, I saw it as a positive that we could fly them side-by-side and still all consider ourselves Reds cheering on the same team. Now I´m not so sure.