Standard Chartered celebrates Liverpool Fans of the Decade

Standard Chartered, Official Main Partner of Liverpool FC, have presented the 'Fans Of The Decade' awards to celebrate their 10 years of partnership with the club.

Proud to Stand Red for 10 years alongside Liverpool FC, Standard Chartered commemorated this significant milestone by honouring loyal Reds around the world – both local and international – who have gone above and beyond. These Liverpool FC fans have been selected both for their love for the club and how they exhibit the club's values in their communities.

Thoughtfully selected by both the club and Standard Chartered, these inspirational and passionate stories of Reds are captured in the video below. Each of the recipients were given an exclusive Fan of the Decade trophy just like the Player of the Month trophy, as well as a 2020-21 Nike home shirt.

Here are Standard Chartered's Fans of the Decade...

Mark & Joanne McVeigh

Mark and Jo set up the Owen McVeigh Foundation after their son Owen lost his battle with cancer. Inspired by Owen's favourite football team, Liverpool FC, the Foundation was established to enrich the lives of children with terminal illness, giving opportunities for them to attend football matches, concerts and other unique experiences. With close support from Liverpool FC, Joanne and Mark helped to create football shirts featuring Owen's name to fundraise for sick children in Merseyside, and received more than 13,500 requests for the shirt in five days. They do a lot of fundraising and have supported hundreds of families on Merseyside who have children currently battling cancer. The McVeigh Foundation is now taking donations here, with every penny received going to children suffering from cancer.

Eddie Sullivan

Eddie turned 65 years old this year and has worked in the Anfield community all his life. He is well known across the club and more so in the community. Eddie has been an integral part of LFC In The Community (later LFC Foundation) for just under two decades. Eddie is a hugely popular and well-respected staff member who is always willing to go beyond to help across numerous departments and within the heart of the community. His continuous hard work behind the scenes enables LFC Foundation to run efficiently with regards to the management and co-ordination of kit and equipment.

Eddie has also forged strong links locally and internationally with key partners and external organisations to help promote the calibre of delivery LFC Foundation is able to provide as the official charity of Liverpool Football Club. He is hugely respected by all local schools and to this day still gets free hot dinners at New Park primary, where he sits at the table of school governors.

For the Foundation, for many years, Eddie was the face of LFC. Driving his bus around he would constantly have his hand out the window waving and shouting “You all right” all the while racking his brain to remember their name. He is ‘Mr LFC’.

Lynn Irwin

Lynn is a Kop season ticket holder and works at a special educational needs primary school in Liverpool. She brings these two worlds together by taking students from the school to Anfield to experience Liverpool FC.

Lynn, a business manager at Millstead School, said: "Our children have had wonderful experiences attending Anfield to watch the mighty Reds in action this season. Providing the children with these opportunities has had a positive impact and has given families experiences that they wouldn't normally get to have."

Ian Byrne

Ian is a local MP and member of Spirit of Shankly and set up Fans Supporting Foodbanks with Evertonian Dave Kelly. Ian volunteers at the foodbank every matchday on Anfield Road, collecting food which is then distributed to some of the city's most in-need families.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ian worked with Fans Supporting Foodbanks to scale up food distribution in Liverpool and co-ordinate local efforts to produce personal protective equipment for frontline NHS and care workers. He, alongside others at the foodbanks, travelled to superstores around Liverpool to collate any donations they may have, to ensure the foodbanks could continue to provide for those in need of food and supplies.

Mike Kearney/Stephen Garcia

Like many Reds supporters, Mike sits in the Kop for every Liverpool FC home game but what makes this story unique is that Mike is visually impaired. Mike is always joined by his cousin Stephen, who gives him the match commentary among the energy and excitement of the Kop.

Kearney became an internet sensation in December 2018 when a video was captured of him celebrating Mo Salah's goal against Napoli after it was described to him by his cousin Stephen. As Anfield erupted around him, Mike, from Bootle, could be seen beaming up at the sky.

Ibrahim Yousaf

Not only is Ibby a massive Liverpool FC fan but he has also been continuously raising funds for various charities and he is only 13 years old. Not only has he been named one of Standard Chartered's Fans of the Decade, he is the youngest recipient of an honour in the New Year Honours list.

At the age of 12 he started by donating all his birthday money to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital (RMCH), where he is also a patient, as well as raising awareness on Twitter. In just eight months he has managed to raise £1,310.51 for the charity.

Barrie Wells

The Barrie Wells Trust is a charitable organisation, founded in 2008 by chairman and sports philanthropist Barrie Wells.

Barrie runs the Barrie Wells Trust and has a corporate box in the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand which he uses for 'Box 4 Kids', where he invites children with life limiting or terminal illnesses into the box to experience each game.

The aims of the Barrie Wells Trust are to further the care, relief and convalescence of seriously ill, terminally ill and disabled children and their families, and also help encourage and inspire young people.

To find out more about the Barrie Wells Trust, please visit https://barriewellstrust.org/

Official Liverpool Supporters Club Brighton & Sussex

Brighton & Sussex OLSC live and breathe diversity and inclusivity and are strong advocates of the LGBTQ+ community. They don't let being 270 miles from Anfield stop them showing their support.

Their supporters' group runs 'Kop Kits', a charitable initiative that aims to raise funds for football kits and equipment to be supplied to disadvantaged young people. One of the beneficiaries was a football team in Uganda called Nangabo Kopites FC. "We are very much about building community and friendship through football."

To find out more about Brighton & Sussex Official Liverpool Supporters Club, visit https://www.thebrightonkop.com/

The Ward family

Andrew Ward goes to almost every Liverpool FC game, including away games throughout Europe, with his mum, Ann, and his dad, Billy, despite having a disability. 

The Ward family epitomises what it means to be in the LFC family. The family frequently help raise funds for various charities that the club support. They are active members of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association and look to support their charity initiatives at every opportunity.

The LDSA addresses issues affecting disabled supporters relating to stadium access, pitch view, parking, disabled toilets, access to retail outlets and any other matters relating to facilities for disabled people. Their intention is to be bringing together like-minded Liverpool FC disabled supporters to help ensure a fantastic matchday experience for everyone.

To find out more about the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, visit https://liverpooldsa.co.uk/

Elias Ayoub

A lifelong Red of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club in Lebanon and a part of Right To Play (an official partner to LFC Foundation). Part of OLSC Lebanon, he's taken part in various foodbank drives supporting hard-to-reach areas. Elias dedicates his time to help educating and empowering children in the region to rise above adversity by using the power of play.

In his current role as Global Director of Country Operations, Elias successfully leads 15 countries in developing innovative and impactful programmes, reaching their fundraising targets and raising the profile of Right To Play's work in the region. He also played an active part in foodbank drives and programmes responding to the needs of refugees.

Elias and Right to Play focus on three pillars - education, health and conflict resolution/peace building. "We use sports to be able to achieve some of the outcomes and goals in specific projects around football. Using football brings youths together and breaks down barriers that leads to violence."

Vincent Liu Man Hin

As a big LFC fan from Mauritius, Vincent bid £8,000 for an open training trip to Melwood, of which all went to LFC Foundation, and he's still a regular on these auctions. He travelled over from Mauritius for the experience and paid all the air fares/hotel costs himself. During his trips to Liverpool he has been inspired by the work of LFC Foundation and is a monthly donor. He is a regular on all of LFC Foundation's auctions and keeps in touch when he sees exciting news about what the Foundation gets up to.

Jungyu Lee

Jungyu Lee is a dedicated Liverpool FC fan, so much so that he travelled more than 10,000 miles on his bike, passing through China, Russia and the Netherlands on his way to watch his beloved team play at Anfield. After 235 days of cycling, the intrepid traveller finally reached Liverpool and eventually got to watch his team take on Tottenham Hotspur, whilst also experiencing what the city has to offer.

Jungyu has also volunteered his time at the club's International Soccer Schools academy in South Korea, helping to support in the club's objective to provide young players with an opportunity to develop, learn new techniques and skills, all under the guidance of LFC coaching staff.

OLSC Norway (Pål Christian Møller)

OLSC Norway is one of the many active supporters clubs, with more than 50,000 members, which has grown in the past decade. They've had regular fundraising activities and recently held a group fundraiser in aid of LFC Foundation and 23 Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 is the 40th anniversary of this OLSC and they continue to uphold and deliver the values of the club to the fans in Norway.

To find out more and to become a member of the OLSC Norway, visit https://www.liverpool.no/

OLSC Japan (Yumiko Tamaru)

The members of OLSC Japan have been supporting a variety of different charities, including LFC Foundation, Jamie Carragher's 23 Foundation and the local foodbanks operating in Liverpool.

Official Liverpool Supporters Club Japan have been representing the club in Japan for 25 years. OLSC Japan organise regular match viewing parties which give all passionate LFC fans in Japan a chance to watch their beloved LFC together! Through the activities of the OLSC, Japanese fans feel the connection with the club and supporters all over the world.

OLSC Rwanda (Africa Innocent)

Official Liverpool Supporters Club Rwanda are strong community advocates who have been raising funds and donating to local villages in need. Their goal is to support people in their local community who may not have capacity to provide for themselves.

Through the power of football, providing a regular place for people to come together promoting the values of being part of the Liverpool FC family through their love of the club. More specifically, the OLSC donates cows and rice to local villages in need. To epitomise OLSC Rwanda, in one kind act, LFC provided the OLSC with a gift of LFC kits, which OLSC Rwanda donated to their local community.

Kieran Hardy

Do you know the Liverpool suit? Kieran has been a Liverpool fan since 1974 and has seen them play too many times to count. Originally from Ireland, now in America, Kieran is the man in the custom LFC suit who watches the games in a different location every week, with the greatest fans in the world. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Kieran has been travelling to various Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs in many countries in his Liverpool suit.

He is also involved in fundraising for fellow LFC supporter Seán Cox, the victim of an unprovoked attack outside Anfield which left him with life-changing injuries. Kieran has committed to running the Liverpool Marathon (in the suit) in his continued support for Seán and his recovery.

To support Kieran with his fundraising you can visit www.runforsean.com to find out more.

Nina-Suthita Panyayong

Nina has been supporting Liverpool FC since 1995. She and her family regularly travel to Liverpool to support the team. What she has been doing for Liverpool FC communities in Thailand is outstanding, with Nina volunteering her time and money to donate sports equipment to three remote schools in Thailand. During COVID-19, Nina has also donated face shields and masks to the doctor and care staff at the local hospital.

Nina loves the club so much, not only for providing her with unforgettable memories, but the club is actually the reason she met her husband, through their shared love for Liverpool Football Club. She is 'so proud to be part of the greatest football family'.

Kong Yichan

Kong Yichan lives and breathes Red, and sometimes even shouts "Liverpool FC" from his house. Yichan is a lead singer of a Chinese band where his music is heavily influenced and inspired by the values and his love for the club.

During the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Yichan and his band performed at a fundraising concert to support the people struck by the earthquake with his LFC-inspired songs.

Hidayat Purwito (Eko)

One of our regular bidders and generous Reds, Hidayat has more than 200 LFC shirts and most of them are collectible items or player-issued.

When Indonesia was hit by the tsunami, LFC hosted a charity auction for Wijnaldum's match-worn shirt against Napoli, where he outbid everyone and took the shirt home. He also had donated at other charity auctions including Seeing is Believing by Standard Chartered.