I went through the voilence years too. Most of that has gone now compared to years ago. Who wants to go to prison for 3years for throwing a punch. Glad it's all gone. You could not help getting involved in it. I did my time.
But that is different from.paying respect. What respect have we had from them through the years. Hughes with his outburst. Heysel which did our club in. English teams were banned for 5 years. Guess which team went in when the ban was lifted. Yes them. They could have gained respect by saying blues you take our place this year cos you were the team affected by heysel
Klopp runs on the pitch last year to taunt us. They picks on a ballboy at goodison. Then after their champions League says when would anyone in Liverpool support everton when Liverpool are so successful. Don't mind that they don't want respect from us.
But don't expect me to respect them in any way at all. And I think if this goes ahead I could see serious trouble at this game
So please the people who say we should give them respect stop it now. If you want to respect them go to anfield or as they are planning a victory tour around the city(is that a first for League champions?) go to that
You're not paying respect to the club, you'd be paying respect to the team.
It's traditional in the same way that the pre-match handshakes are there to imply good conduct, fairness and sportsmanship. Those things don't always take place from both sides in Merseyside derbies, but the handshakes always take place.
The handshakes are important because they show mutual respect from the players as professionals. The handshakes aren't forced either. If players choose not to shake hands, they could do, but what sort of message would that send to our fanbase and theirs.
I don't see why you're mentioning violence, violence should never ever come into a game of Football and I'd hope we all agree on that. This is a Football match, it's not war. I've young family members who are red and young family members who are blue, some of whom will be at the derby.
It's a rivalry and passion is important but the likelihood is that there will only be one scouser on the pitch, one actual fan of either side. It's ultimately a game, played by a maximum of 28 professionals, the vast majority of whom have no loyalty or attachment to either club beyond a paid contract of employment.
I don't think it's an issue to show respect to winners. We're not sore losers. And that's precisely how we'll be portrayed if the club were to give it a miss.
I fully expect that Ancelotti and the intelligent people at the club would appreciate that and, if the cards fall in such a way and the scenario raises it's ugly head, it will happen. I'm certain of it.
I SERIOUSLY doubt they would do it for us
That's not a good enough reason for us not to do it now.