We have opened a new live blog to cover this incident in more detail, so this blog on the trophy parade will close.
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The prime minister Keir Starmer has released a statement, saying: “The scenes in Liverpool are appalling – my thoughts are with all those injured or affected.
“I want to thank the police and emergency services for their swift and ongoing response to this shocking incident. I’m being kept updated on developments and ask that we give the police the space they need to investigate.”
Here is our initial story on the incident. A lot of details are still unclear, but clearly this is a troubling end to what had been an absolutely joyous day in the city of Liverpool.
Ambulances and police are on the scene, where crowds have dispersed. A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “NWAS is supporting an incident in Liverpool city centre, following reports of a road traffic collision.”
“We are currently assessing the situation and working with other members of the emergency services. Our priority is to ensure people receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible.”
Police say car involved in collision with pedestrians
Shortly after the parade ended, there were reports of an incident on Water Street, just off the Strand. Merseyside Police have issued a statement:
“We are currently dealing with reports of a road traffic collision in Liverpool city centre. We were contacted at just after 6pm today, Monday 26 May, following reports a car had been in collision with a number of pedestrians on Water Street.
“The car stopped at the scene and a male has been detained. Emergency services are currently on the scene. We will issue more updates as we have them.”
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Some quotes from the Liverpool team bus, including Arne Slot, who called the day’s celebration “by far the number one” moment of his career.
“It’s far more than you could expect or dream of maybe,” the Liverpool manager said, with owner John W Henry beside him. “I won a few things before but this cannot compare with anything.”
Curtis Jones, Liverpool’s Toxteth-born midfielder, said: “[It’s] unbelievable. It’s my second [title] but this one feels more special as I’ve played a bigger role in this.”
Catch up with our review of the season here:
The parade has now passed along the Strand to its end point on Blundell Street, with fans who waited for seven or eight hours to get that brief look at their heroes now not quite sure what to do with themselves. Despite the wind and rain, many are heading for the city centre to continue their celebrations.
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Meanwhile, Ed Aarons was out and about in south London to see Crystal Palace celebrate their first major trophy. Mid-table teams: this is why it’s worth trying in the cup competitions.
Earlier today, Arsenal celebrated their Women’s Champions League triumph with thousands of fans outside the Emirates. Suzanne Wrack reports:
One of that quartet – Antonio Conte – is on board the Napoli team bus today, amid speculation that he could leave this summer despite delivering a fourth scudetto.
“We work to do something important and give these sensations to ourselves, but above all to the fans. I am truly happy, celebrating the Scudetto at Napoli is truly something extraordinary,” Conte told Rai.
“It is a city that gives you everything, and wants a lot in return. I think we gave them all we had and they are repaying us today with this extraordinary affection. You really need to experience it to understand what it means. It is difficult not to create a special bond with this city, it is full of passion and enthusiasm.”
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The Liverpool chairman, Tom Werner, has been praising Arne Slot and talking about summer transfer plans. “It’s already busy. We go again. It never gets old, winning. We owe it to all of our supporters to bring back a team even better next season.”
“We obviously had high hopes for this season but he has been an extraordinary coach,” Werner said of Slot. “I think there have been three* coaches who have won the Premier League in their first season and Arne is one of them. He is just an extraordinary leader.
“He’s authentic, he’s not trying to be anyone else. The team was an extraordinarily good team but he brought the best out of them.”
*We think it’s four – José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte (all Chelsea) and Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City) – but the point stands.
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They’re here! Fireworks are set off from the Liver Building as the team bus moves down the Strand, around three hours after it set off from the south of the city. A huge rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone greets their arrival. The BBC’s aerial shots show a cloud of red smoke now covering pretty much the entire city centre.
Mohamed Salah has both arms around the Premier League trophy as the bus heads into the city centre. It’s rainy (and still very smoky) in Liverpool, but spirits remain entirely undimmed. The amount of people awaiting the team on the Strand is absolutely ridiculous.
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As Liverpool’s team bus rolls towards the Strand – ETA about 20 minutes from now – the club are already looking at how to push on next term. Talks are under way over a move for Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz and his teammate Jérémie Frimpong, while Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez is also a target.
It’s been quite the season for London clubs. Tottenham have won the Europa League, and Chelsea could add the Conference League next week. Crystal Palace won the FA Cup, Charlton won the League One playoff final, and Wimbledon the League Two final.
In the women’s game, Arsenal won the Champions League, Chelsea a domestic treble of WSL, FA Women’s Cup and League Cup, and London City Lionesses topped the Championship.
In men’s non-league, you can add Barnet winning the National League and Boreham Wood the NL South playoff final, too.
AFC Wimbledon are promoted! They’ve beaten Walsall 1-0 to seal a return to League One. Get live reaction with John Brewin …
The Guardian’s own Gregg Bakowski is with family in Liverpool today and caught a glimpse of the parade. “Mo Salah looked ridiculously healthy, like he was ready for the new season. Trent Alexander-Arnold looked more contemplative, just taking it in. I love these parades, gives those fans who can’t get tickets for Anfield the chance to celebrate and get close to their heroes.”
“When Celtic won the European Cup in 1967, a hastily arranged parade and celebration was held at Parkhead for the fans,” writes Ian Macpherson. “At short notice, they needed a vehicle to convey the players around the ground. So, naturally, somebody knew somebody who could get hold of a coal lorry, on the back of which the players cavorted. Remembering that every player in that team came from within a mile of the ground, this was a truly local celebration in every sense, Old school eh?”
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Liverpool council’s leader, Liam Robinson, has been chatting to BBC News. “We want to make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to join the party, in a safe way. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city, from the city, across the country and even across the world. These are phenomenal scenes. The eyes of the world are on the city of Liverpool, and it’s a great opportunity to project how great this city is.”
More from Palace, where Doc Brown and Kelly Somers have been talking to Oliver Glasner. “I couldn’t be more pleased to work with a group of players like they are, not just because of the talent, but especially what great characters they are,” he says.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to manage a club like Crystal Palace, with fans like you,” Glasner adds. “We had tough moments, but you always supported us. We are all one team. That’s why we could win this trophy, why we could succeed.”
On balancing the Europa League with domestic duties, he continues in a crowd-pleasing vein: “Four competitions, four titles to win, let’s go for every single one.”
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Somewhere that is indubitably in south-west London is Wimbledon. And there might be a parade there soon, because AFC Wimbledon lead Walsall at Wembley in the playoff final:
“I know Selhurst Park is supposedly a difficult ground to find, but it isn’t, as suggested earlier, in south-west London,” writes Jon Macqueen. Entirely fair point, and corrected; the ground’s postcode is SE25, but as a denizen of Croydon, I consider it to be part of the Brixton-Streatham corridor that is South London proper. I imagine I’ll get more emails now.
It’s estimated that 750,000 fans came to the city to celebrate Liverpool’s Champions League success in 2019, and reporters on the ground suggest there could be more out today. We’re also on the lookout for Jürgen Klopp, thought to be in town but not on the official parade bus. Call it a Kloppwatch.
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Chants of “Championes” greet the Liverpool bus on the route from the city’s southern outskirts, with Arne Slot cupping his ears and asking for more. We’re maybe halfway through the journey to the Strand – it’s hard to tell, so relentless is the red flare smoke. Kudos to the one fan I just spotted waving a blue and white umbrella amid a sea of red.
Parade history and mishaps combine: “Sheffield Wednesday held an open-top bus parade when they won 1935 FA Cup according to Sheffield Memories site. Seems the bus was newly built, but actually in Sheffield United colours.”
Thanks to Clive Needle, who’s hoping for a Southend parade after the National League playoff final on Saturday.
More oldest trophy parade contenders: Lee Spence and Mike Hughes point out that Newcastle’s FA Cup winners in 1951 and 1952 enjoyed a bus parade through the city.
Dillon John adds: “Parades have been held in Liverpool since the 1920s: LFC paraded the league title in 1922, and Everton brought the FA Cup to the city in 1933.” But were they on a bus?
While Liverpool, Palace and others celebrate, Manchester United’s squad have left the country. It’s not been 24 hours since they kicked off against Aston Villa, but Ruben Amorim and the majority of his first-team squad are already in Malaysia. United are playing two friendlies there this week in a very, very early pre-season tour.
A quick update from Liverpool: The bumping tech-house beats subside for a mass rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone. Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai are currently the men in charge of holding the trophy, trying not to do a Sergio Ramos.
Kevin De Bruyne to Napoli? The Belgian has bid farewell to Manchester City this week, and the Napoli owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, claims he spoke to De Bruyne on video call this morning, and that the wheels are in motion for a move to Italy. “I believe he’s bought a beautiful house [here],” De Laurentiis said.
Di Laurentiis sounded less bullish on the future of Antonio Conte, saying only that he wanted the title-winning manager to stay. Napoli are on a parade of their own today, giving De Bruyne a glimpse of the kind of sky-blue confetti parties he had grown accustomed to in Manchester.
Some news from the blue half of Liverpool: Everton have confirmed that four of their five loan players – Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrøm, Orel Mangala and Armando Broja – will all be returning to their parent clubs when their deals expire at the end of next month. Everton had an option to make Broja’s loan move from Chelsea permanent this summer for £30m but, following an injury-hit campaign for the striker, have opted against it. The club are interested in extending Carlos Alcaraz’s loan move from Flamengo, however, and are in talks with the Brazilian club over a new deal for the Argentina midfielder.
Everton had more players on loan this season than any other Premier League team and the departures underline the extent of the upheaval that David Moyes has to manage this summer. Decisions are also due on the futures of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane, all of who are out of contract at the end of next month. The Everton manager said: “We would like to thank all our loan players, who have contributed to the positive steps we made on the pitch. They all embraced what it means to play for this club, and their attitude and commitment throughout their time at Everton was first class.”
Back to Selhurst Park, where we’re hearing from a few players. Dean Henderson: “The celebrations have been amazing, the fans deserve this.” He also admits some players were “struggling” against Wolves, three days after the final. Jean-Philippe Mateta, wearing novelty glasses that say BOOM, adds: “When I win, I’m always happy, and it’s great to bring the trophy here for the fans.”
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We now have live video of the Liverpool trophy parade at the top of the blog, in case the pictures I’m painting for you simply aren’t enough.
Ross Brennan points out that Spurs’ double winners held a bus parade in 1961 – and this year’s team paid a floral tribute to Bill Nicholson’s side on their Europa League jolly.
On a similar theme – here’s some trophy parades fans would rather forget. That Middlesbrough one must have been quite the day out.
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Here’s a question I haven’t been able to quickly find an answer to: who were the first football team to hold an open-top bus parade? Bill Shankly’s Liverpool side held one for the FA Cup in 1965; I can’t find an earlier example. If you can help, get in touch.
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Sky have switched to Liverpool, where there are so many people out in the city, the 4G/5G networks have ground to a halt. They’re estimating that it could take three hours for the bus to reach the finish line, on the Strand in the city centre.
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Down at Selhurst Park, the players have made their way on to a makeshift stage in front of fans on the pitch. Some players in red t-shirts, some in blue. Oliver Glasner is nodding his head to Waka Waka (This Time for Africa). Marc Guéhi is eating some Haribo. Captain Joel Ward hoists the FA Cup, and passes it around his teammates, every lift greeted with cheers of “Eagles!”
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Thanks, Barry. The champions’ parade is making its way through south Liverpool, amid a sea of red flares. Apparently, Calvin Harris is DJing live on the bus; he did the same in 2022 – when Liverpool won the FA Cup and League Cup – and says he got a call from Virgil van Dijk to get on board again this year.
Niall McVeigh is here to take you through the rest of the festivities.
Meanwhile at Selhurst Park: Following the arrival of Oliver Glasner and his FA Cup winners, top DJ Jay Knox appears to be on the steel wheels, tasked with spinning the platters that matter in a bid to keep the Croydon masses entertained.
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League Two playoff final: While Arsenal’s women and their male counterparts from Liverpool and Crystal Palace are cutting loose and enjoying the rewards of a hard season’s graft, the players of Walsall and AFC Wimbledon still have work to do. Their League Two playoff final kicks off at 3.01pm and John Brewin has all the latest news and build-up from Wembley.
Liverpool parade hits roads of Merseyside
Liverpool’s parade is under way: With Virgil van Dijk perched perilously close to the edge of the open-top bus, sandwiched between Joe Gomez and the Premier League trophy, the parade begins its 15-kilometre procession slightly ahead of schedule.
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Arsenal’s trophy ceremony: “Great to see Katie McCabe’s unapologetic Dublin swagger on stage today,” writes Fiachra in North London. “No doubt she started the day with an Irish coffee … or maybe she went straight on to the Guinness. A true Tallaght icon!”
Yes, while I feel compelled to point out that neither Fiachra nor I have any idea what Katie had for breakfast this morning, it would be fair to say that she was the undisputed star of the Arsenal celebrations as she led the chorus of abuse against Tottenham while chomping on a cigar, although the parents of any young children in the audience may have had to cover their litttle ones’ ears.
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Football Weekly podcast: Max Rushden was in the big chair as myself, Jonathan Wilson and national treasure Robyn Cowan got up at the crack of dawn to pick over the bones of Sunderland’s Championship playoff win, the final day of the Premier League season, the wisdom of ordering curry for lunch before heading to Wembley. You can listen here and if you’re not already a subscriber, please sign up in all the usual podcast places.
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This just in: Having helped Sunderland to win promtion to the Premier League at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, Jobe Bellingham is reported to be in Germany for talks with Eintracht Frankfurt, one of three German clubs believed to be interested in signing the 19-year-old this summer. Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig are the others who are interested insecuring his scrawl. Well, it certainly didn’t take long for that particular Mackem promotion parade to drenched with rain!
Crystal Palace's parade on the road
The players and staff of Crystal Palace are currently wending their way through the streets of south London on a couple of open-top buses, showing off the FA Cup to fans. They’re making their way to Selhurst Park for a trophy-lift and Party on the Pitch and Sky Sports News have roped in none other than the Guardian’s Ed Aarons to tell viewers what’s what. I’ll tell you what, he isn’t having milking his team’s triumph.
“We’ve been waiting for the whole club’s existence for this to happen and the fans have turned out despite the dodgy weather,” he says. “They’ve turned out in their thousands to watch the bus parade through south London. Beating Manchester City at Wembley last weekend was a magnificent occasion for all Crystal Palace fans. Oliver Glasner deserves enormous credit for taking this team to heights it’s never been to before with a lot of the same players who were already at the club when he arrived. He’s a real asset for Palace and I’m hoping they can keep him for the long term.”
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Liverpool’s parade: It’s not due to start until 2.30pm, but will probably set off later because anyone who has ever tried to get hungover passengers on a bus on time knows it’s like trying to herd cats or mind mice at a crossroads. Nevertheless, the route is already thronged. Neil Atkinson, a top man from the Anfield Wrap who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few times, has just been talking to Sky Sports News.
“There is a feeling of carnival around the city because we’ve just had the Big Weekend [music festival] as well,” he says. “This is sort of what I was expecting but it’s a bit overwhelming when you see it and begin to take it all in. There’s so many people around the country who have this in mind for a destination for the bank holiday weekend. All the way around the city of Liverpool there’s people who want to acclaim the champions.”
An email: “Don’t forget the 100-odd thousand who were on the streets of Aberdeen yesterday after our vaguely miraculous win over Celtic on Saturday,” writes Jim Douglas. I’m afraid to say I have not seen a kick of Aberdeen’s vaguely miraculous Scottish Cup final win over Celtic because I was attending Sunderland’s vaguely miraculous win over Sheffield United in the Championship playoff final at Wembley while it was being played. I was genuinely taken back upon discovering that Aberdeen had beaten Celtic. I was even more shocked to discover it was their first Cup win for 35 years. I’d always presumed they were good for one or two a decade.
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Victory parades: The only open-top bus parade I have ever attended in any capacity was to welcome Stephen Roche home to Dublin after he won the Tour de France in 1987. I was 14 and travelled up to Dublin from the sticks on my own because none of my pals were bike-racing fans, O’Connell Street was thronged and I can’t remember much else, if I’m honest.
I’ve also attended a few homecomings for triumphant and staggeringly drunk Birr and Offaly hurling teams over the years but they tend to eschew the open-top bus option in favour of clambering aboard the stationary trailer of a flatbed truck in Emmet Square, Birr.
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An email: A club with a wide reach, it won’t just be natives of Liverpool who’ll be lining the streets to pay homage to Arne Slot and his players this afternoon. Colin Todd has been in touch: “I‘m travelling south after being at Anfield yesterday,” he says. “It was brilliant there. Birmingham New Street station is currently thronged as people try to get on trains to Liverpool. There’s already hundreds inside the barriers queuing to get on them.”
Key event
Flops of the season: It’s that time of the year when assorted Guardian writers are tasked with compiling their lists of the good, the bad and downright Southampton in our annual end-of season lists in order to prompt discussion below the line. Michael Butler sifts through the duds …
Liverpool hold talks over record Wirtz deal
Liverpool: Before Liverpool’s 15-kilometre slow roll through the city, the club’s chairman Tom Werner has said Fenway Sports Group owe it to fans to build on their Premier League title win by strengthening Arne Slot’s squad. A deal has effectively been done for Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong and talks are ongoing with the Bundesliga side over a club-record £125m signing of the attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz.
Liverpool are in the market of a new left-back, with Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez being heavily linked with a move to the club. A new striker and centre-half are also believed to feature on Slot’s summer shopping list. “It’s already busy,” said Werner upon being asked if Liverpool had a busy summer ahead in the transfer market. “We go again. It never gets old, winning. We owe it to all of our supporters to bring back a team even better next season.”
Werner also paid tribute to the job Slot has done, having been given the unenviable task of taking over from Jurgen Klopp. “It’s extraordinary,” he said. “We obviously had high hopes for this season but he has been an extraordinary coach. I think there have been three coaches who have won the Premier League in their first season and Arne is one of them. He is just an extraordinary leader. He’s authentic, he’s not trying to be anyone else. The team was an extraordinarily good team but he brought the best out of them.”
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As the party continues in north London I have the honour of passing on the baton to Barry Glendenning. Please continue to fire in your emails and comments.
Arsenal lift the Champions League trophy
Up it goes, out comes the confetti and now we get the dubious honour of hearing the players sing over the top of Queen’s ‘We are the Champions’.
Katie McCabe takes the opportunity to ask “What do we think of Tottenham?” Which gets a predictable response before she doubles down with “Who do we think are shit?”
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Here comes the trophy…
Charles Antaki has emailed in:
The team is in a position very different from where it was in the previous golden age under Vic Akers; the teams around them are better, more skilful, better organised and play a tighter game. To beat Barcelona, at all, let alone in the final, and after having beaten Lyon and Real Madrid, and after a punishing league season, is stretching credulity. It was all tougher than it was when they were beating everything in front of them in the early 2000s, so the achievement is all the more extraordinary.
Renée Slegers speaks! A slightly hoarse Arsenal coach says: “There were so many emotions after the game and I thought when I came home I would be taking it all in but I ordered food and fell asleep.”
On her team, she says: “They are very good footballers. They have enjoyed their football. I think if you’re together and you stay together – whatever happens - and you want to become better everyday you can reach high levels and that’s what we’ve done.
“I knew we had so many months of preparation, we were so prepared. The players invested so much. So when the first whistle blew, I thought ‘let’s go, let’s go for the win’.”
On the fans: “For me we are working everyday, there’s incredible work being done, but when we step on the pitch and see you guys it makes everything real. Thanks so much.”
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The Arsenal players are being introduce one-by-one on to the stage, some are wearing shades despite the overcast weather, they can probably be forgiven for being a bit bleary eyed.
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The final at Estádio José Alvalade was a Renée Slegers masterpiece and showed how good Arsenal can be on their day. Those days have come in Europe this season but, as Jonathan Liew writes, Slegers needs backing with more strength in depth to compete with Chelsea:
Gunnersaurus is out warming up the crowd but as we wait for the players to come onstage you can get a glimpse into the post-match celebrations with Tom Garry’s piece from Lisbon:
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The celebrations are due to start in around five minutes outside the Emirates.
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If you’re an Arsenal, Crystal Palace or Liverpool fan do get in touch. Drop a comment below the line or send me an email via the address linked above.
Preamble
Where else would you rather be on a bank holiday Monday? It’s ‘get-your-trophy-out day’ in north London, south London and Liverpool. Tottenham and Newcastle have set a high bar for raucous partying so we will see if Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Liverpool can reach those levels (spoiler alert: I think they will). We start just off the Holloway Road as the Gunners, fresh off the plane and a Jess Glynne concert, celebrate their Women’s Champions League title at Armoury Square. Barry Glendenning and Niall McVeigh will be along a bit later as Crystal Palace show off the FA Cup from 1pm, before Liverpool’s Premier League trophy parade gets underway at 2.30pm.
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