Gilmour’s debut marred by abuse
LIVERPOOL last night condemned alleged homophobic chanting directed towards Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour during their 3-0 victory over Norwich City at Carrow Road.
Gilmour, making his debut for the Canaries after moving on a season-long loan from Chelsea, was allegedly verbally targeted by a section of visiting supporters during the win.
Goals from Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah made it a winning start to the new campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side but an official Liverpool FC tweet posted after the game read: ‘The chant is offensive and inappropriate — a message we have repeatedly communicated alongside Kop Outs.
‘We urge supporters to remember the inclusive values of the club and to refrain from using it in the future.’
Kop Outs, a Liverpool LGBT+ action group, also condemned those who reportedly engaged in such chants, writing on Twitter: ‘Great
result today marred by homophobic chanting by some of our fans targeting Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour.
‘If you can’t support without resorting to bigoted nonsense, you don’t understand YNWA.’
In the day’s earlier top-flight kick-off, Leeds fans aimed sick taunts about the Munich Air Disaster at Manchester United supporters inside Old Trafford.
The chants could be heard from the away section early in the second half. It is unclear if they were provoked, although United fans are believed to have taunted their rivals over paedophile Jimmy Savile’s Yorkshire connections and there were claims last night that a Turkish flag was also thrown into the away end. Two Leeds fans were killed in Istanbul in 2000 before a UEFA Cup tie against Galatasaray.
In the Championship, Derby County’s defeat at Peterborough was overshadowed by allegations of homophobia and racism from a minority of away fans.