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Steven Gerrard in £96,000 Hillsborough group donation

Nice one Stevie.
Steven Gerrard has donated £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group ahead of Tuesday's Merseyside derby.

The group, along with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, has been leading the fight to discover what happened at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final which led to 96 Liverpool fans losing their lives.

The Liverpool captain's cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley, 10, died at Hillsborough.

Gerrard said it was something he had "wanted to do for a while" but "wanted to get the timing right".

"It's to send a message of togetherness out as well," he added.

"I know there's a bit of banter in the stands when the game's going on but, for me, the Everton fans have been superb since Hillsborough."

'A special city'
He added: "I think it's good timing to send this out now, just before the Merseyside derby, but also there's a huge thank you from not just myself, but from all the Liverpudlians and all the help and support the Everton fans have given us with this.

"When there is a tragedy in this city, you do get touching moments. It does unite and it does make you feel like you are part of such a special city."

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground during Liverpool's game against Nottingham Forest.

Gerrard was a few weeks short of his ninth birthday when the tragedy occurred.

Fresh inquests into the deaths will begin in Warrington in March after the original accidental death verdicts were quashed in 2012 following an independent report.

The Hillsborough Family Support Group was founded in May 1989 and represents 74 of the families affected by the tragedy.
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Comments

  • Nice gesture.

    I do find the whole Everton inclusion in the topic a bit strange in recent years though.
  • Bloody attention seeker!! ;-)
  • didn't he give £500,000 to charity recently as well?
  • Do funds raised by the Hillsborough Family Support Group literally just go towards legal fees or does the group do anything else?
  • The inclusion of Everton fans is not strange. In every other city in the world there would be very little empathy for the other team. Can you imagine the reaction of the other had it been city/united, spurs/arsenal, rangers/celtic. Everton fans have been fantastic on this as if it had happened to them not like many other scummy supporters around the country (including many on here).
    Fantastic gesture by Stevie.
  • I thought they'd already had the inquest now, struggling to see what else they could want?

    Good on Gerrard though.
  • It's a very generous donation but I also like that he's talked more about the Everton fans than Liverpool fans. The Hillsborough disaster goes far beyond football rivalry and it's good to see that acknowledged so tactfully.
  • Nice one Stevie.

    Steven Gerrard has donated £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group ahead of Tuesday's Merseyside derby.

    The group, along with the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, has been leading the fight to discover what happened at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final which led to 96 Liverpool fans losing their lives.

    The Liverpool captain's cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley, 10, died at Hillsborough.

    Gerrard said it was something he had "wanted to do for a while" but "wanted to get the timing right".

    "It's to send a message of togetherness out as well," he added.

    "I know there's a bit of banter in the stands when the game's going on but, for me, the Everton fans have been superb since Hillsborough."

    'A special city'
    He added: "I think it's good timing to send this out now, just before the Merseyside derby, but also there's a huge thank you from not just myself, but from all the Liverpudlians and all the help and support the Everton fans have given us with this.

    "When there is a tragedy in this city, you do get touching moments. It does unite and it does make you feel like you are part of such a special city."

    Ninety-six Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground during Liverpool's game against Nottingham Forest.

    Gerrard was a few weeks short of his ninth birthday when the tragedy occurred.

    Fresh inquests into the deaths will begin in Warrington in March after the original accidental death verdicts were quashed in 2012 following an independent report.

    The Hillsborough Family Support Group was founded in May 1989 and represents 74 of the families affected by the tragedy.
    A great touch. Fair play to him. The Everton tribute last year was fantastic.
  • redman said:

    The inclusion of Everton fans is not strange. In every other city in the world there would be very little empathy for the other team. Can you imagine the reaction of the other had it been city/united, spurs/arsenal, rangers/celtic. Everton fans have been fantastic on this as if it had happened to them not like many other scummy supporters around the country (including many on here).
    Fantastic gesture by Stevie.

    I don't think there's any need to use this as an excuse to bash the fans of other clubs.
  • There isn't apartheid in Liverpool. There will be Everton fans who lost family and friends in the disaster. The fact both teams come together isn't a surprise at all. Something not a million miles off happens when charlton and millwall back each other in support of Rob Knox and Jimmy Mizen
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  • redman said:

    The inclusion of Everton fans is not strange. In every other city in the world there would be very little empathy for the other team. Can you imagine the reaction of the other had it been city/united, spurs/arsenal, rangers/celtic. Everton fans have been fantastic on this as if it had happened to them not like many other scummy supporters around the country (including many on here).
    Fantastic gesture by Stevie.

    I don't agree with that about that other cities. Certainly not in Britain, anyway.

    As far as fans at games are concerned, people generally know where the line is when it comes to issues bigger than the game. Of course there are dickheads at every club, but when you see memorial silences or applauses for recently passed players or even members of the public, supporters are usually fairly respectful, with only a few exceptions over the years.

    As for the unique situation re: Hillsborough, the thing about that is that there were so many people from all over the city, whether Liverpool, Everton, Tranmere (or any other team) fans who lost a family member, friend or even just a passing acquaintance, so the shock and grief affected the whole community in a way that we've never seen before in one city - and one of the reasons it touched so many of the rest of us was because of the very way it united local rivals.

    However, in my humble opinion, this had nothing to do with it being in Liverpool, it was just the awful tragic circumstances of what happened that day.
    Take nothing away from the people of that city because they are normal people who are no different from people from anywhere else, but if it had happened in exactly the same way to a club from Manchester, North London, Birmingham or any other place with a significant rivalry, I'm certain we would have seen that community bond in a similar way.
  • Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.
  • edited January 2014
    Gerrard, whose 10-year-old cousin Jon Paul Gilhooley was one of the 96 victims of the disaster, has presented a cheque to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
  • DRFDRF
    edited January 2014
    Jayajosh said:

    Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.

    Because of the PR.
    Edited - and before we hail him as a remarkably nice guy can we remember that he earns £140,000 per week.
  • DRF said:

    Jayajosh said:

    Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.

    Because of the PR.
    Edited - and before we hail him as a remarkably nice guy can we remember that he earns £140,000 per week.
    don't be a dick head.
  • Jayajosh said:

    Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.

    Er.......there were 96 fatalities.

  • DRFDRF
    edited January 2014

    DRF said:

    Jayajosh said:

    Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.

    Because of the PR.
    Edited - and before we hail him as a remarkably nice guy can we remember that he earns £140,000 per week.
    Him and hundreds of other footballers around the world earn a huge wad of cash every week for doing what they love, but not all of them give any away to charity, he's a nice bloke and he made a great gesture, why belittle it? Well done Steve and RIP 96.
    And I'm just as many give away more without the fanfare.
    I'm not saying it's not a positive gesture but it isn't like you or I giving away that kind of cash and it doesn't wipe out past deeds which have portrayed him as very much not a 'nice bloke'.

    Anymore than Everton fans supporting the cause makes fans of other teams 'scummy'.
  • Jayajosh said:

    Great gesture, but what an odd amount. Would of thought rounding up to £100K would have been easier but nevertheless we have to say what a nice person he is and great credit to him.

    96 people died so, I assume, the donation is intended as £1,000 per victim.

    A symbolic amount.

  • At the start of the thread I wondered how long it would take to degenerate into absolute bollocks talk. Good going, quicker than I thought.

    A top world class footballer gives more to a charity/good cause than I will ever earn in a good few years. Rather than snipe, how about we say 'well done', just for once. Fuck me, we really are a cynical society sometimes.
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  • less than a weeks money to a multi millionaire.... not much of a gesture
  • Greenster said:

    less than a weeks money to a multi millionaire.... not much of a gesture

    I really hope you're not serious Greenster. How many of us could give a week's wages away. I couldn't.
  • I really hope you're not serious Greenster. How many of us could give a week's wages away. I couldn't.

    SG earns around £150k a week gross, so £7.8m per year and has being doing so for years. He will have millions & millions in the bank. £96k represents a bit more than 1% of gross but he will get tax relief on this when he does his SA return.

    So its like giving £500 when you are on £50k a year, but better as you have £££ in the bank !

    Yes its generous for a footballer but not particularly in terms of his huge wage + endorsements.
  • When this is the reaction footballers get for donating their money it's no wonder they don't do it more. It doesn't matter what percentage of his wage it is, it's a huge amount of money in any capacity and it's gone to a charitable foundation. There's no negative side to it but the criticisms come in anyway.
  • Greenster said:

    less than a weeks money to a multi millionaire.... not much of a gesture

    Proof right there that in some peoples eyes, footballers can never do anything right.
  • edited January 2014
    Some utterly bizare posts. If he donated £96m he would probably get stick for having £96m in the first place!

    Well done Steve.
  • Greenster said:

    less than a weeks money to a multi millionaire.... not much of a gesture

    You're fucking weird
  • The Hillsborough Family Support Group has welcomed the £96,000 donation made by the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard before Tuesday night's Merseyside derby against Everton.
    Margaret Aspinall, chair of the HFSG, whose 18-year old-son James was one of the 96 people killed at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough football ground in April 1989, said: "This is a great gesture, and very welcome indeed. Steven Gerrard has been very supportive of the families all these years and we are grateful. I always stress: nobody has to give us anything, and the support we have had, from well known people such as him, and from ordinary people, has been fantastic. We would not be where we are today without it."
    Gerrard's cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley, who was 10 at the time, was the youngest of those who died in the crush on the Leppings Lane terrace at Hillsborough. Gerrard himself was eight at the time. The HFSG, of which the Gilhooley family are members, and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, have fought relentlessly against the legal processes after the disaster which saw nobody prosecuted or held legally accountable and an inquest verdict of accidental death.
    The verdict was finally quashed in December 2012, and a new inquest is due to start in Warrington on 31 March. A new criminal investigation is ongoing into how the disaster was caused, and an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into possible police misconduct including perjury and perverting the course of justice afterwards.
    The families' legal costs and expenses are being paid by the Home Office this time; Aspinall said Gerrard's and other donations help pay office and travel costs, and a legal fund should it be needed.
    Gerrard said given "my own family's connection to Hillsborough", he had wanted to make a donation for a while, and chose the eve of the derby to recognise the solidarity shown to the Hillsborough cause by Everton supporters:
    "I think the timing is right to send another message out about how we want justice," Gerrard said. "I and every other Liverpool fan can only thank Evertonians for their support."

    Aspinall too said the families were grateful for the backing of Everton who staged a landmark demonstration of togetherness at the Goodison Park derby in September 2012 following the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report.
    "The solidarity of both Liverpool football clubs, and Merseyside people, has been tremendous," she said.
  • I'm a cynical bastard. Even I can't find fault here. Nice gesture.
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