ADVERTISER.COM.AU SUNDAY MARCH 8 2015 INSIGHT 73

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vision and more open mediabeaming Liverpool into South-East Asia and America.

Then the theme of greatnesstook hold. Galacticoes such asKenny Dalglish, GraemeSouness and Ian Rush ensuredtrophy after trophy, the boastof a team of “all stars and nostars” – the ad man’s delight.

Liverpool got to sportsbranding first, and that’s whythey’re here this year, 12 monthsafter selling out the MCG.

Today’s Liverpool packs in40-odd thousand every matchbut the club trades almost sole-ly on its 1970s and ’80s heritage,one astonishing and deserved2005 European ChampionsLeague triumph aside.

There were 22 clubs acrossEurope last year that filledtheir grounds each week withmore fans than Liverpool.Ground capacity inhibitsLiverpool here, but it has nevermatched the domestic supportManchester United garners.Everton, too, drew highercrowds than their neighboursin nine out of Shankly’s 15seasons at the helm.

Hillsborough, the tragedythat claimed the lives of 96Liverpool supporters at an FA

Cup semi-final in 1989, is cen-tral and piquant to the clubstill. Recriminations are on-going, accusations of mediaand police cover-ups againstthe club’s fans proven correcttime and again.

Hillsborough allows Liver-pool FC a morality it is una-fraid to inhabit, yet four yearsearlier there was another Liv-erpool tragedy, at the final ofthe European Cup in Brussels.

Then 39 fans, mostly Italian,died as a result of antiquatedfacilities and administration,much like Hillsborough.

Only at Heysel Stadium,there was a genuine element ofblame attached to Liverpoolfans, who charged the oppo-sition (Juventus) support, massdeath the outcome.

Heysel, however, has es-caped the morality LiverpoolFC encapsulates. There is noongoing and public self-flagellation to match the fin-ger-pointing of Hillsborough.

The bottom line is thescrum of emotion that has be-come Liverpool since Shank-ly’s time is what we see now.To borrow a motto fromBarcelona FC, it is “more thana club”.

The Liver-pool of thisJuly is not a team ofenthralling courage or ability.

Its best player, Steven Ger-rard, departs for a new footbal-ling life in California in June.The other man of recentachievement, the repulsiveLuis Suarez, is long gone.

What we will see is a sidethat will finish fourth or fifth inthis year’s Premier League withpotential to continue higher.

Liverpool will pocket some$10 million from the match,more still from shirts, mer-chandise and online subscrip-tions. That’s why they’re intown, and fair enough. Anyclub that could do this would.

The match will stir cynicismmore than emotion for non-Liverpool fans, the saccharinefeel will make many true Redsa tad uneasy, given the con-trived nature of the exercise.

But it will be an occasion,whatever you make of it.

Richard Evans has coveredfootball extensively as a sportseditor and writer in north-west England. He is a greatadmirer of the city of Liver-pool and a Middlesbrough FCsupporter.

NEVER WALK ALONE: Fans pose with a billboard of Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard at Anfield last week.TRAGEDY: Memories endure of the 96 football fans who died in the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in 1989, left.IN THE RED: Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling in action.

Pictures: GETTY