Galatasaray Footballer Apologises To Leeds Fans Over Knives Tweet
A Galatasaray footballer has apologised to angry Leeds fans after promoting his club’s branded knife set on the anniversary of the fatal stabbing of two United supporters in Istanbul.
Wesley Sneijder tweeted to say the knives are now available worldwide - but it came 15 years on from the weekend Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight were murdered by a Galatasary fan when the two teams played in the UEFA Cup semi-final.
The Holland international posted a picture of the Gala-branded set which carries his image, saying: “Finally, my @GalatasaraySK knife set is now available and can be delivered everywhere.”
United supporters bombarded him with tweets, after which the Midfielder then wrote: “Very sorry. I didn't know this and deleted our promotion for the merchandise kitchen item. #Respect”
Kevin Markey, editor of the LeedsUtdMAD fan page, says the timing was unfortunate:
“He has apologised and obviously rightly so. But I was absolutely amazed to read about it this morning. He’s obviously been horribly misadvised by whoever advises him on these things.
“It just seems very unfortunate that it came out on the same weekend as the anniversary.
“He is a very respected and admired footballer amongst the footballing world and I was amazed that he’d actually got involved in this sort of thing. But he has apologised and hopefully it’s been sorted now.”
Leeds fans are marking the anniversary at today’s match against Blackburn by observing a minute’s silence before the game, during which they’ll hold up photographs of the pair.
A crowdfunding page set up this week has raised over £1,500 in their memory.