LAST Sunday’s meeting between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield was a thrilling game of football between two of the best sets of players in the world.

But instead of being a game celebrated for its frenetic, high-quality play, the fallout focused on unsavoury incidents away from the sport of football itself.

The afternoon featured a number of flashpoints, from Jurgen Klopp bellowing in the ear of the referee’s assistant, for which he was duly and deservedly shown a red card, to Liverpool fans throwing £2.50 worth of coins at Pep Guardiola as he egged them on from the touchline in true pantomime fashion.

But a chant from the Manchester City fans of: “The Sun was right, you’re murderers,” was altogether more sinister and wide-reaching than those isolated incidents.

They are words that have been sung by fans of other teams in the past, and are a direct reference to that particular newspaper’s front page following the Hillsborough disaster.

In its role as part of the establishment cover-up, The Sun falsely blamed football fans for what unfolded on that day in 1989 when 97 people were unlawfully killed.

Singing about the incident in such a way to this day affects survivors and families of those who died, who will still be present at these games or able to hear the chants on TV.

It goes beyond team rivalry and sees what should be a common establishment enemy, one that has long looked down on all football fans, being used by one set of fans in a cheap attempt to antagonise another.

Every time these sorry episodes occur, they indicate a need for supporters to create more avenues and outlets for working-class solidarity within and around the game, rather than continuing along the lines of this antagonistic back and forth, filled with ignorance and whataboutery.

Such vehicles for solidarity in recent years include the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement. It is one which has its roots in bringing together rival fans as it was started as a joint initiative between Liverpool and Everton supporters, and now includes similar organisations at other clubs, including MCFC Fans Foodbank Support.

It is a direct result of fans working in their communities to help those in need who have been abandoned by the establishment.

Behind that initiative are organisations such as Liverpool supporters’ union Spirit of Shankly, and Everton’s Blue Union, which themselves offer fans a way to get involved with their clubs and community in a positive, useful and practical way.

These organisations are also there for fans to have a voice, hold their own club’s owners to account, and ask questions about the way things are done.

Most fans of top-level teams no longer have anything in common with their club’s owners beyond their link to the football club, but fans as a whole do have plenty in common, as shown by their collective response to the European Super League proposals in 2021.

While owners are primarily attached to the limited company aspect of the club, supporters are what give it a unique identity and character, and help maintain historical ties and traditions. Supporters and players are the club, while the owners should be its custodians.

The more these two things can dovetail, with supporters having a say in how the club is run and the owners recognising the unique value of the fans — beyond their regular, loyal contributions to the club coffers — the more healthy the institution will remain, both financially and culturally.

This bond between supporters and their club, through independent organisations, whether they be supporters’ unions or other community initiatives, should also make them more empathetic towards fans of other clubs.

While Manchester City FC have been publicly silent over Sunday’s chants, MCFC Fans Foodbank Support have come out and reiterated their stance that such chants have no place at the game.

They have also reaffirmed their support for The Real Truth Legacy Project and A Hillsborough Law.

Following a similar incident during a minutes silence at an FA Cup semifinal between the two sides back in April, MCFC Fans Foodbank Support wrote to City CEO Ferran Soriano asking the club to get behind those initiatives and received a positive response.

Soriano said he would work on these issues with Labour MP and one of the organisers of The Real Truth Legacy Project, Ian Byrne.

Following Sunday’s events, MCFC Fans Foodbank Support tweeted that they “would be interested to know what went ahead and what progress was made.”

After that game in April, City released a statement saying: “Manchester City are extremely disappointed with the actions of some City supporters during the minute’s silence before today’s game. The Club sincerely apologises to all those connected with Liverpool Football Club.”

All of this isn’t to say that on match days fans of opposing teams should gather together and sing the same songs in harmony, avoiding all conflict and rivalry — far from it — but on certain issues where there is a common cause, it would be good to see more solidarity.

There was a moment in the recent game at Anfield between Liverpool and Brighton where the home supporters began a rendition of a “F*** the Tories” chant, and the away fans joined in, which was encouraging.

Fans may be enemies on matchday in a sporting sense, but away from football, the majority of them have a common enemy. One that must enjoy seeing them at loggerheads, and one that must revel in the singing of establishment anthem “God Save The King” by away fans at certain grounds just to score cheap points.

When Man City fans visited Anfield in April 2014, they held a large banner saying: “YNWA 96.”

It is a gesture of solidarity that seems unthinkable in today’s climate after what was sung by some City fans at the same ground last weekend.

Just like workers or grassroots political movements, fans need avenues for solidarity, which would go some way to eradicating the cheap, feckless chants and gestures such as those seen last weekend.