AS LIVERPOOL FC just about got over the line against Fulham at Anfield on Wednesday, making it five wins from five and seven games unbeaten in the Premier League, supporters on the Kop stand made it clear what they thought of the upcoming coronation of Charles III.

Just as Celtic fans had done earlier in the week, Liverpool fans, as part of an anti-establishment medley, advised where the country, the Premier League, whoever, could stick their coronation.

The ceremony is being forced upon football by the Premier League who “strongly suggest” the national anthem be played and images of the king appear around stadiums during Saturday’s fixtures.

Messages over the stadium PA marking the occasion are also encouraged, as are sections in matchday programmes dedicated to the coronation.

Some clubs will willingly, even enthusiastically accept. Those in London seem particularly keen as it is close to home. 

Tottenham Hotspur said they will mark the occasion by showing the coronation on a big screen in Park Lane Square prior to the match.

“Shortly before the 3pm kick-off to our match, players and officials will form around the centre circle for a rendition of our national anthem, God Save The King,” the club said in a regal statement.

Given the Premier League directive, disguised as a suggestion, any club not doing something similar to Spurs will likely be criticised across the establishment media into next week and beyond.

A club and a city such as Liverpool, where there will be a large amount of vocal anti-royal sentiment, will be lambasted for not falling in line like submissive subjects to the new king.

It will be interesting to see how the sports pages of the mainstream media, sometimes politically detached from the front pages or at least politically apathetic, cover it.

The city of Liverpool is currently hosting the Eurovision Song Contest on Ukraine’s behalf with events throughout the week. This is the kind of cultural occasion more worthy of a presence around a high-profile football match in the city.

The Premier League is now a global product as much as it is a football league, and who knows what its global audience will make of the furore around the coronation, and indeed the opposition to it at Liverpool.

Many foreign republics will likely see it as something of interest historically. A quirk of those weird English people that lives on in the present day.

Many republicans in England may even be drawn to the event for similar reasons, and there’s a soap opera element to the story of the royal family and its history that intrigues people.

But strip it down to the reality of what the majority of people in the country are having to deal with, and the misery British imperialism has dealt to other countries in the past with the royal family as its figurehead, and it becomes not just a ridiculous ceremony but an insult to many that something like this can still go ahead at such a cost.

The question shouldn’t be why Liverpool fans are booing God Save The King, or why there is backlash from supporters at Anfield against this event that has been thrust upon football fans. The question should be why aren’t more football supporters joining in with them?

You don’t even have to have a particularly strong anti-royal sentiment to question why such an event is being forced upon football.

The sport naturally embraces social movements that affect fans and communities where its clubs reside. Even the big clubs, out of some sense of corporate responsibility, realise their impact on a community even if they don’t always consider it.

On top of this, football and politics are intertwined, increasingly so as it becomes embroiled in geopolitical scraps between rich nations at the top level.

But this particular ceremony is detached from football. The Prince of Wales may be the head of the Football Association, so some royal presence in the FA Cup, for example, might be more understandable, but you will struggle to find links between this peculiar pompous event and this weekend’s fixtures.

Ironically, English football has more links to the royal families of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates than to its own. It also appears to be encouraging ownership from Qatar, which now owns more property in London than the English monarchy. Maybe capitalist football is hedging its bets.

Travelling Manchester United fans at Brighton on Thursday night were seen pushing back against Qatari ownership with a sign that read “No To Qatar.”

Related to matters closer to home, Liverpool supporters will push back against the celebration of the coronation of Charles, third of his name, King of the Combined Counties and the First Division, Lord of the Arnold Clark Cup and Protector of the Premier League. You can’t blame them.