WE’RE NOT REDS OR BLUES , WE’RE PURPLE & PROUD
A group of Liverpool and Everton fans grew sick of the cash-obsessed Prem and formed City of Liverpool FC... and they are on the verge of an FA Cup fairytale
IN Liverpool you are traditionally a Red or a Blue – but this weekend it’s fine to be a Purple.
City of Liverpool FC, founded in 2015 as a protest against the commercialisation of the Premier League, take on Buxton in FA Cup qualifying tomorrow.
And ‘The Purps’ are no shrinking violets – they are a highly-politicised supporterowned club that has rattled a few cages.
Many of their small but fiercely loyal band of fans have turned their backs on top-flight football.
The ones who haven’t, and still go to Anfield or Goodison Park occasionally, are still welcomed and affectionately dubbed ‘Lilacs.’
And the role models for
City of Liverpool – in exile currently in Ellesmere Port having ground-shared with Bootle – are not Manchester City or Chelsea, but similarly member-owned Clapton FC in east London, and Merthyr Town in Wales.
Chairman and co-founder Paul Manning said: “We were a small group of Liverpool supporters who were sick of the way things were going.
“Not so much the club, more the effect of the Premier League. It was just getting so expensive, you couldn’t get access to tickets and there were so many tourist fans.
“We wanted an alternative to the globalisation and monetisation for people who had been priced out.
“We have hard-core fans, maybe 200, who have completely stepped away from Liverpool, Everton and the Premier League – they are ‘Purples.’
“And we have fans who still go to Liverpool and Everton if they get a chance, and they are ‘Lilacs!’
“As a club we have spoken out about things and it has hurt us at times. We have upset the applecart at a local level, overtaking clubs quickly. But I think we’ve lit a fire under a few of them.
“If we have ruffled feathers it may also be down to the causes we support. We were big supporters of Jeremy
Corbyn, socialism and fairness in society.
“You hear the mantra ‘Keep politics out of football’... except of course neoliberal capitalism, apparently that’s OK because that’s what the world runs on.
“Disappointingly, we are in Ellesmere Port at the moment after years sharing with Bootle.
“When we started it soon became apparent why it was hard for a non-league club in the city of Liverpool – there was no facility. There still isn’t. But we are working very closely with the city council trying to develop a community football stadium.
“The Buxton game is huge for us. We beat Farsley Celtic from two levels above in the last round and Buxton are only a level up, plus we beat them in the FA Trophy last season. They are owned by a multi-millionaire, so that’s a culture clash.
“We dreamed about getting to the first round of the FA Cup when we formed the club. We should probably grow out of these dreams as grown-ups – but we don’t.”
Captain Nathan Burke was on the books at Anfield until being let go in 2014 – he played alongside the likes of Harry Wilson, Sergi Canos, Jordon Ibe and Sheyi Ojo.
The 26-year-old Scouse midfielder, who spent four years at Bala Town, said: “I was at Liverpool for nine years and loved every minute. People say to me ‘you left Liverpool, where are you at now?’ But I consider it a privilege to be playing at the level I am.”
We have upset the applecart and ruffled feathers with the causes we support