A Liverpool MP says he is "disgusted" to hear that the Football Association backed current UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin for re-election just three weeks after the disastrous and dangerous Champions League Final in Paris.
Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne was in Paris for the match last May and witnessed the horrific scenes that saw Reds fans crushed into dangerously small spaces and attacked by French police ahead of kick off. An independent report has excoriated UEFA's management of the event and slammed their attempts to blame LFC fans for what unfolded.
The Guardian is now reporting that just three weeks after the final and as thousands of Reds fans shared stories, pictures and videos of the terrifying scenes outside the Stade de France, the English Football Association backed UEFA President Ceferin to stand again.
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The report states that on June 16, FA Chief Executive wrote to the board of English football's governing body to ask its members to endorse Ceferin formally for re-election. The board agreed and the FA then wrote to UEFA to confirm this backing. The Guardian says this move was not made public until it confirmed it in an answer the the newspaper's questions this week.
Despite the disastrous organisation of the Paris final, no football association put forward an alternative presidential candidate and Ceferin is now set to be re-elected for another four years unopposed.
Reacting to the news, Mr Byrne said: “I’m disgusted to discover the FA’s backing for Ceferin; it shows the whole football system is built on patronage. Liverpool supporters will feel betrayed that while they were dealing with their trauma and having to push back against Uefa’s false narrative, the FA, which is supposed to look after our interests, was secretly giving the Uefa president its seal of approval.”
Liverpool supporters club Spirit of Shankly called the FA's actions a "Shameless, disgraceful betrayal," and its chair Joe Blott said: "To hear that in June the FA endorsed Ceferin and his clearly dysfunctional organisation is staggering, truly shocking and a huge let-down of supporters by our governing body.”
The recent independent report into the Paris final found that UEFA had the "primary responsibility" for the events that unfolded and that Liverpool fans were not only blameless but helped to save lives with their quick and calm actions.
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