On 26 September 2018, I woke up to something most small-brand founders dream about.
Stylo Matchmakers was in The Sun.
Not a tiny mention buried at the bottom of a page. A proper feature:
“Stylo Matchmakers: The boots worn by Pele and George Best are making a comeback.”
It told the story of a school leaver who became a hairdresser, built Hairbond and then decided to take on Nike, adidas and Puma.
For Matchmakers, it was brilliant publicity.
And I had very mixed feelings looking at it.
Because it was The Sun.
I don’t read it. I don’t like it.
And there is one reason above all others why I cannot look at that masthead without thinking about football.
Hillsborough.
I am a Blackburn Rovers fan, not a Liverpool supporter.
You shouldn’t need to support Liverpool to understand why 15 April 1989 still matters.
Ninety-seven people ultimately lost their lives as a result of the Hillsborough disaster. The 2016 inquests concluded that the 96 people then recognised as victims had been unlawfully killed and that supporter behaviour had not caused or contributed to the dangerous situation. Andrew Devine was subsequently recognised as the 97th victim following his death in 2021.
What followed Hillsborough became a stain on British public life.
Liverpool supporters were blamed.
Stories of drunkenness, violence and theft were circulated and published.
The Sun’s coverage became infamous.
Decades later, the official record could hardly be clearer. The IOPC found no evidence that supporter behaviour caused or contributed to the disaster and no evidence substantiating some of the most serious allegations made about supporters afterwards. It also examined 327 amended police accounts, finding that in 63 of them criticism of senior officers or police command and control had been removed or reworded.
The wider investigation concluded there was evidence that South Yorkshire Police had sought to deflect blame away from the police.
Newspapers don’t just report history.
They help write its first draft.
And when that draft is wrong, the damage can survive long after the paper itself has been thrown away.
Which brings me back to a pair of football boots.
The 2018 article itself, written by Tom Sheen, was excellent.
He treated Matchmakers and its history with respect.
Then I looked at the photographs.
There, underneath The Sun masthead, were the great Liverpool players of the 1970s.
Peter Cormack.
John Toshack.
Emlyn Hughes.
Phil Thompson.
Brian Hall.
All wearing Stylo Matchmakers.
Beside them was Kevin Keegan, Matchmakers on his feet, scoring for Liverpool in the 1974 FA Cup final.
The very newspaper whose name had become so toxic in Liverpool was using photographs of Liverpool heroes to tell the story of my football boot brand.
That image contained the whole contradiction.
A newspaper Liverpool could never forgive was celebrating Liverpool legends to promote my business.
When you’re building an independent football brand without Nike or adidas money, national coverage is gold dust.
You don’t have hundreds of millions to spend on sponsorship.
You don’t own half the advertising boards in football.
If somebody gives your brand serious national coverage, you notice.
And I did.
I was grateful to Tom Sheen.
I was proud that Matchmakers’ history was being recognised.
Pelé.
George Best.
Billy Bremner.
Kevin Keegan.
Those great Liverpool teams.
A forgotten British football brand was being talked about again.
But exposure does not demand blind gratitude.
You can appreciate the journalist who wrote something good about you without pretending the masthead above his work carries no history.
Two things can be true at once.
Business people sometimes struggle with that.
Apparently every bit of publicity must be “amazing”.
It wasn’t.
It was complicated.
Because heritage isn’t just old photographs, famous players and black leather boots.
Heritage means remembering the uncomfortable parts of football too.
Football has a long memory.
It remembers who saved clubs.
Who damaged them.
Who stood with supporters.
Who blamed them.
Liverpool remembers Hillsborough.
It should.
And perhaps that is why, nearly eight years later, I still remember that newspaper article differently from almost every other piece of publicity Matchmakers received.
I never framed it.
I never put it on the wall.
The feature was good.
The publicity was valuable.
The journalist treated us well.
But some things are bigger than getting your logo in a national newspaper.
Getting your brand’s name in the paper is nowhere near as important as what that paper chose to do with other people’s names.
Completely understand mate. Hillsborough is bigger than football and bigger than any newspaper story. What The Sun published afterwards caused real hurt to families and an entire city, and I can fully understand why people on Merseyside will never forgive or forget it. Whatever anyone thinks about the paper today, that history cannot just be brushed aside.
As you know mate, I live on Merseyside and the Sun newspaper is truly hated and despised by the majority of people here - I’d question anyone wanting to read that rag to be honest - nobody has forgotten, and nobody will forgive, and rightly so. The poisonous lies they peddled in the days that followed Hillsborough, caused irreparable damage that should never be forgotten, and all for the sake of selling newspapers (at any cost), Kelvin McKenzie should still hang his head in shame.