Many of us of a certain age have witnessed Liverpool's rise from 2nd Division obscurity in the early 60s on the back of Littlewoods money to becoming the football powerhouse of the latter part of the 20th century. And we've admired the quality of their football and the successes they've had along the way, even supported them on reaching European finals and the like.
At the same time we've seen the dreadful behaviours of sections of their supporters, from match-day supporters' aggression to their current inability to see themselves as others see them, especially those internet keyboard warriors who support the club. In City's case, our dealings with Liverpool's support have been dreadful this past decade, from the cheering of Yaya Toure's injury at Anfield, to similar with Ederson's injury at our gaff to the bus-wrecking incident, to the jeering of 'Blue Moon' and the booing of the national anthem at Wembley recently and so on.
All the while, our supine media has responded to this behaviour by, well, not responding except to barely report the facts of any situation, with no critique of what these Liverpool supporters have been getting up to.
But it was ever thus. As Liverpool grew and gained success (often with some sublime football), so that support became more and more notorious, outdoing all of the knobheads who attach themselves to football clubs, including ours, around the country. For your interest, herewith Brian Glanville's take on the matters of behaviours evidenced by Liverpool supporters and the media. This reflects the article you quote by Tony Evans (no relation!) and is taken from his book 'Champions of Europe; The History, Romance and Intrigue of the European Cup' (1991), some six and two years respectively after Heysel and Hillsborough:
'As a club, Liverpool, alas, were not remotely matched by their notorious supporters. Among these there was beyond doubt a core of decent, largely middle-aged, peaceful, pleasant fans, who would share the mature, sensible attitudes of the club itself. There were also, as fans from other clubs all over the country knew all too well, thousands of brutalised, violent toughs, whose excesses had been known for many years.
When the detested Manchester United went to Anfield shortly before Heysel the city had seemed awash with hatred. Coaches and trains of United’s supporters were stoned. Mechanics would run out of garages to scream abuse at the coaches as they went by. When United, just a few weeks later, came once more to Merseyside to play Liverpool, this time in the FA Cup semi-final at Goodison Park, Liverpool’s supporters were firing flares into the Manchester fans’ sections. Quite where Liverpool’s following had gained its spurious reputation for good conduct with a blinkered press was obscure. But then, journalists see little or nothing from the Press Box, nothing of what goes on, often sinister and violent, in the surrounding streets and alleys, at railway stations. Unless they are privy to good, first-hand information, journalists accept the public, distorted image; in this case, a misleadingly benign one. Nor would it be enough to say that violence among Liverpool fans could be explained by unemployment, the crumbling and deliquescence of a doomed city. The behaviour of Everton’s fans, in Rotterdam for the Cup Winners’ Cup Final two weeks before, had been exemplary.'
Thanks for posting the link, interesting reading from one of their own who was there.