The Everton Fan Advisory Board (FAB) has written to city leaders urging them to stop using supporters as “ammunition in political disputes” and to “lower the temperature” after a debate about improvements to Sandhills station led to comparisons with Nazi Germany.
The ECHO reported yesterday that two Liberal Democrat councillors apologised after likening the queuing system at the station to Auschwitz. During a discussion on expanding a holding area at the station for fans travelling to and from Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on matchdays, Cllr Richard Kemp, a former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, said the current arrangement risked treating fans “like cattle” and added that the lanes were “like the greeting area for Auschwitz.”
Cllr Pat Moloney added that corralling zones and sterile areas proposed for staff and fans were “like something out of a horrific death camp in Nazi Germany.” The two men said they would “never knowingly cause hurt” to the Jewish community, adding: “if the specific language used on Tuesday, in the heat of a debate about the treatment of football supporters, has caused genuine offence, we are both sorry for that, and say so without qualification.”
Call for political unity
Steve Rotheram, Labour Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region, and Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, had called on the party to remove the whip from both men pending investigation. The independent group representing Evertonians has now called the comments “deeply inappropriate, insensitive and entirely unhelpful.”
In a letter sent to Mr Rotheram and Cllr Kemp, seen by the ECHO, the FAB urged political leaders to come together to resolve issues at the station. The letter said: “Supporters are not interested in who can attribute blame most effectively.”
The letter added: “The Everton Fan Advisory Board has followed with concern the debate around the proposed expansion of the matchday fan management zone at Sandhills station. At the centre of this discussion should be one simple fact: Everton supporters and our local community are the people and businesses living with the consequences of a transport solution that still requires significant improvement.”
Supporters' group calls for focus on improvements
The 11-strong supporters’ group, formed in 2022 to represent fans in discussions with the Blues’ hierarchy, said “some perspective has been lost in the political argument of recent days.” The letter said: “Comments comparing the facilities at Sandhills with concentration camps were deeply inappropriate, insensitive and entirely unhelpful.
“There is no meaningful comparison between football supporters waiting for public transport and the suffering and murder of millions during the Holocaust. Such language does nothing to advance legitimate concerns about Sandhills and instead distracts from the issue supporters want resolved. We also believe some of the wider rhetoric misrepresents the current matchday experience.”
A formal complaint was also made to Liverpool Council’s monitoring officer by the Liverpool Labour group about the remarks, but this did not carry any weight with the FAB. The letter said: “What Evertonians do not benefit from is this becoming another source of political infighting across our city and city region. Supporters, Everton Football Club and Hill Dickinson Stadium should not be used as ammunition in disputes between political parties, elected representatives or public bodies.
“We therefore urge everyone involved to lower the political temperature and get back around the table. A table that should involve the fan groups and Everton Football Club. Supporters are not interested in who can attribute blame most effectively. They want to know what is going to improve, who is going to deliver it and when it will happen. Our ask is simple: stop using Everton and its supporters as a political football and work together to deliver the improvements fans have been asking for.”
