Liverpool ‘apologise’ for removal of Wataru Endo banner but fan in question still isn’t happy

The Liverpool fan who had his Wataru Endo banner taken off him prior to the victory over Nottingham Forest has received an apology from the club over the incident - but he’s still not happy.

Jurgen Klopp’s side romped to a 3-0 win over Forest thanks to goals from Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah as they continued their strong early season form.

We reported yesterday that one fan had endured a frustrating experience with the matchday stewards who had removed a banner which read ‘Wataru Endo’ but the ‘o’ was the red circle from the Japanese national flag.

His frustration was evident, especially considering there were many other national flags in the stadium such as an English, Scottish and German flag, which garnered a strong response from fans on social media.

According to Liverpool journalist David Lynch, the incident resulted from a misunderstanding, with the club’s flag and banner policy having not been contravened in this instance. It means that the Endo flag should be allowed to return for the Reds’ next Anfield fixture which is a meeting with Brentford on November 21.

However, according to the fan in question, he took to X to claim that he has not received any such apology and, instead, has had his permissions taken away. “This does not tell the story.” He wrote. “They have not apologised to me at all, but have rather apologised for the grounds stated. They have withdrawn my permission to fly banners in the main stand.”

The issue occurred due to the increased sensitivity around national flags, given the current ongoing conflict in Isreal. As such, the Premier League released a statement saying supporters have been asked not to show either Israeli or Palestinian flags when visiting Anfield.

The current guidelines from the club in terms of flags is that: “In addition to Anfield’s long-standing flag policy, and following consultation with safety and security experts, it has been determined that Israeli and Palestinian flags should not be permitted to be displayed at football matches for the foreseeable future and the same approach can be applied to other displays, banners, clothing or scarves identified as pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian or related to the current crisis.”