Fury at Liverpool FC World Cup flag attack

The fans are very concerned about the club's future

Football fans have reacted angrily after a steward slashed up one of their "Save Liverpool FC" banners during the World Cup.

The supporters are displaying banners at every match with "Save Liverpool FC - Get Hicks and Gillett Out".

Nadeem Khan, 29, was at the Germany v Australia game with his wife and three-year-old daughter when a Fifa official accused him of being a hooligan.

The Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) said it was investigating.

A Fifa spokesman was not available for comment and the club would not comment.

Mr Khan, a member of the South African Liverpool Supporters Club, had displayed the banner, alongside a number of other banners from fans, on the second level of Durban Stadium just after kick-off on Sunday.

Save Liverpool FC is an internet-based campaign, which has thousands of members of members on social networking websites Facebook and Twitter.

Many want to oust the American owners after the club spiralled into £350m of debt.

'Educate people'

Half-way through the first half, Mr Khan said he glanced up to see three stewards removing his banner and as he approached them he claimed he was asked to follow them to the security office in the ground.

"I could not believe it," he said. "All the other banners had been left there.

"When I got into the office, they began to lecture me about football hooliganism and went through my mobile phone.

"I am not a hooligan, I was merely trying to show my support to the save Liverpool campaign, my young daughter and my wife were petrified.

"He cut my banner up with a Stanley blade and told me they would keep their eye on me. They've noted down my ticket numbers too.

"I was made to feel like a criminal."

Despite this, many other fans are still trying to show their banners at the matches, in a bid to tell people about Liverpool FC's financial difficulties.

The club is currently up for sale for £800m and the board is working with the owners and the Royal Bank of Scotland to find a suitable buyer.

Alan Cooper, from the Save Liverpool Campaign, co-ordinated the banner coverage over in South Africa.

"We want to educate people about what is going on at the club.

"Usually we would be worrying about which players our manager is buying.

"That is far from our minds - we don't even have a manager, the club is struggling with debt and we are worried for the future."