87% Of Lfc Fans Reject 'cynical' Sun Apology

Dub13

Liverpool supporters today slammed The Sun newspaper's attempt to apologise for their sickening coverage of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
In an official poll on the club's website, a massive 87% of all fans insisted that they DO NOT accept the 'apology' printed on page 8 of today's Sun newspaper. In the editorial, The Sun claims that "it is time to move on" but supporters have flooded to our discussion forums to explain why they can't forgive and forget and why they can never "move on" until the newspaper issues a full and frank apology with no hidden agenda.


Here is just a small selection of the messages left by fans from all over the world.


"You call that an apology? My 2-year-old nephew can say sorry in 15 seconds; he doesn't take 15 years! It hurt to even go online to read the bl**dy article. Being in Malaysia, we (thankfully) don't get the rag, but I had to read it to state points. By the end of the article I was crying (again) at the injustice of Hillsborough. They lost a lot of sales and are trying to ease the pain by "apologising". How? By saying, sorry, we were naive. Sorry, we're a tabloid, therefore it's required to make up stories. Or, sorry, everyone who works at The S*n now were running around in nappies or going through puberty when it happened, so why are they being punished by everyone in Liverpool? Oh, and sorry, but isn't 15 years a little too long to hold a grudge? Even the World Wars were shorter. THAT's the kind of apology we have here. It's not sincere, there's little compassion, and like someone mentioned, it's patronising. Yes, it's time to move on... but we're moving on with heavy hearts. How do we forgive? How do we forget? Personally, I can't even imagine the pain and loss every family went through at Hillsborough but as a member of the Liverpool FC family, this is a slap in the face because I don't see any apology here. If I feel this way, and I'm not from Merseyside, I can imagine what the majority of you are feeling."
Nadz

"Rooney can come out in public and apologise for selling his story to the S*n. He can say he was badly advised. His story won't be printed again in the paper. He did it for the money and that's not acceptable. The lad is going to earn a lot of money in the forthcoming years. His future isn't depending on the money he got from that "paper". If he came out on public and apologised I would forgive him! People make mistakes and should be forgiven. But the s*n will never be forgiven!"
GerrardRules1

"Front page of that rag, it should have said, “WE LIED-. Disgusted with it even more than I was before which I never thought possible.
Apology my a**e."
Brimag

Let me break it down as I read it. This is not an apology! This is shifting blame & trying to turn people around to love their RAG MAG by using a scapegoat.
"We gladly say sorry again today: fully, openly,honestly and without reservation." - There appears to be plenty of reservation in the so-called apology!
"What we find impossible to take, though, is the way some of Liverpool is turning its anger on one of the greatest footballing talents the city has ever seen." - Use of a scapegoat to try to encourage the supporters to love their RAG MAG also turning the rest of the nation against these supporters.
"Instead, he is being vilified by some Liverpool and Everton fans." - Turning the nation to their advantage by slating the supporters again.
"But the words of other fans leave us in despair." - All supporters have a right to voice their opinions. Just because a supporter didn't lose any family on the day does not mean we cannot sympathise with our fellow supporters.
"It?s not as if Wayne?s the first footballer from Merseyside to talk to The Sun" - Again having a dig to say others players have done it in a neh neh neh neh neh childish type of way.
"We hope that the people of modern Liverpool, a city of spirit and sophistication, are not taken in." - Kissing serious ass there to try & turn people around to their corrupt mindless way of thinking.
"We cannot believe these protests properly represent the opinions of the majority of men and women in Liverpool." - More lies, these protests represent the majority of supporters, both home & abroad!
"But trashing a young man of whom everyone should be proud is not the way to honour their memory." - In typical RAG MAG fashion turning the nation against the supporters to favour their way of thinking by using a scapegoat.
"It is time to move on." - DISGRACE! Until justice has been done & even then I'm sure the RAG MAG that is the S*n will never be forgiven in my lifetime any way!
abu-jay

If anything that article just supports the reason why Liverpool fans boycott that paper. Even when it tries to be sincere it is snide and underhand. Disgraceful to play around with people's emotions and try to slip in (crowbar more like) their own agenda at the same time. 15 years on and they've learnt nothing.
loop-r-eviL

The "apology" points the finger at fans on Merseyside's attitude. Cheap snipes at Trinity Mirror whilst hailing themselves as nice honest people is just rubbish. As far as I am concerned they can stick that rag and all it stands for. As for Rooney, sorry lad but whoever advises you sure got it wrong big time!
-BJ-

"This is a CONTINUATION of the STEROTYPING VITRIOL directed towards Liverpudlians. They are merely taking the Rooney thing as an excuse to have another go at us and make out we're all a bunch of primitive warhogs taking it out on a local. The word to describe this is 'disingenuousness'. It's kind of like pretending to do something innocent but only using that to do something more sinister. Here, the 'innocent' thing is the 'apology'. The 'sinister' thing, which is more important to the Sun and what they're much, much more interested in, is the 'stereotyping' and hatred towards scousers. Boycott the Sun - they've done the dirty again."
Attack

"I have 3 concerns about this 'apology':
1. It promotes Wayne Rooney to the Sun's benefit.
2. It slates the Mirror group to the Sun's benefit.
3. Are they just trying to sell more papers on Merseyside?
Surely, if they meant what they were saying, then the apology would be unreserved and not try to pass blame onto other factions? Rather than improve relations, I think this has made them worse. To my mind it stinks."
angelo34

"I have now read it 3 times just in case I missed something. My conclusion is, Yes they do apologise but then they rip the **** out of the people of Liverpool for slating Rooney! They claim to have apologised several years ago yet I have never heard of this so-called apology and have never seen any evidence of it! With the line, "And nearly all Liverpool-born celebrities regularly talk to Britain?s favourite daily newspaper," they manage to hype themselves up in what is meant to be an apology to the people of Liverpool. And finally, if that wasn't enough, they manage to turn it into the Rooney show!"
Scottish-Scouse83


"There are several things to be said about this statement. From a positive point of view:
1) There is a clear apology in the headline.
2) The editorial contains an open admission that the statements the paper made after Hillsborough were "grave" and "untrue". The paper had displayed "carelessness" and "thoughtlessness".
3) The paper ruefully expresses regret that it cannot unsay the things it said and "ease the great anguish [the paper] caused to so many people in mourning".
Less welcome:
4) The paper claims to have apologised before, "long ago". I have heard this claim before, but have never been able to track down anyone who saw or heard this alleged apology, and personally I don't believe the claim.
5) The apology is diluted by being linked with a reprimand for the people of Liverpool over Rooney.
6) The paper uses Rooney's popularity to try to shift the moral perspective. Now, if the people of Liverpool continue the boycott, they are "trashing a young man of whom everyone should be proud" and continuing a vendetta that all right-thinking people would have dropped long ago. It is The Sun at its most cynically manipulative.
7) The editorial implies that supporters of the boycott have been the dupes of its great rival, the Daily Mirror, simultaneously insulting the people of Liverpool, and belittling the cause they have stood up for over fifteen years.

KdjaCL

The other 13 cant read?

I doubt anyone in their right minds would take that crap from those scumbags.


kdjac

super_furry

Like I said earlier, it's not an apology, it's an article trying to justify Wayne Rooney signing a deal with The S*n, and then using the Hillborough disaster to get one up on their competitors. They claim that people should 'move on' and forgot the fact that their scummy paper told so many hurtful lies about the deaths of 96 innocents, but their latest scam proves that in those 15 years, The S*n hasn't changed on bit.

cerbeus

As pointed out this is more of a publicity stunt than a sincere attempt at an apology.

If they really wanted to apologise they should run it on the front page and a further coupple of pages inside like the Wayne Rooney exclusive.

cerbeus

Just found this:

Statement from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign


The Hillsborough Justice Campaign does not recognise the comments in today's edition of The Sun (7th July 2004) as a genuine or sincere apology for the lies it told in respect of the Hillsborough Disaster.

Any apology should be front page and stand in its own right - on a par with the original damning headline fifteen years ago. However, what we read is front page sensationalism regarding Wayne Rooney being threatened, backed up by a leader inside the paper which attempts to apologise followed by an attack on Liverpudlians.

Any attempt to convince us of the sincerity of their remorse is immediately negated by the context in which the apology occurs.

It is the view of the HJC that the article and commentary are an attack, once again, on the people of Liverpool. It is our belief that The Sun has seriously miscalculated the intelligence of Liverpool people who, we believe, will see through this cynical attempt to increase sales in the Merseyside region.

Bateman

In fairness, Rooney, no matter what age he was in 1989, should have known full well what he was doing, and what it would cause. Not saying he deserves it (if it is even true), but it's hard to have much sympathy for him.

As for the "apology", I don't think the shopkeepers who refuse to stock the paper will rush to order it, and as for the people who boycott it, well they aren't going to read it because they wouldn't open the paper.

mike65

Blimey Bateman, I thought you must have died!

Mike.

Bateman

Back in business after a few technical glitches. I couldn't fit my stirring spoon in the door of the new restricted board.

Big Nelly

Any links to the original article?

Pigman II

Rooney must either have a screw loose or be naive beyone belief to have agreed to appear in that rag. Anyone who'd spent even a day of their life in Liverpool would know the score on this particular issue.

Big Nelly

Originally posted by neilbrady79
Any links to the original article?

So nobody? does any1 actually know wat was in the paper that day? seen a pic of front page and said something about the Liverpool fans where robbing the dead fans???

super_furry

You can learn all about the Hillsborough disaster, including the lies of that scummy rag here - http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/