The Liverpool Echo and its sister title the Daily Post have hit out at The Sun’s “hollow apology” over its coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough football tragedy.

The criticism comes after the national tabloid expressed regret for its reports in 1989 which accused Liverpool fans of stealing from and urinating on the 96 dead and also being responsible for the disaster.

But the Daily Post said the Sun’s apology was not motivated “by any long-overdue remorse but by the adverse reaction in Liverpool to Wayne Rooney signing a £250,000 deal to sell his story to the newspaper”.

The decision by the Everton footballer to sign up with The Sun has sparked controversy on Merseyside where many people still boycott the paper for its articles 15 years ago.

And The Sun has accused the Trinity Mirror titles of whipping up bad feelings against Rooney in the wake of the tabloid’s deal with the England star in a bid to make a commercial gain.

But responding in the Echo’s comment column, editor Mark Dickinson said that all the newspaper had done was report on the facts of the deal and carry a number of letters from readers expressing their views on the matter.

Mark wrote: “Even by its usual shabby standards, The Sun newspaper has excelled itself.

“Fifteen years ago, it told deliberate lies to sell newspapers. Today, it has published a hypocritical apology – to sell newspapers.”

And speaking on behalf of both papers, Mark told Holdthefrontpage that it appeared The Sun was trying to get a foothold back in Merseyside.

He said: “Having signed Wayne Rooney they signed one of Liverpool’s sons.

“We picked up a vibe that people were very upset about it. Clearly people were stunned, if not amazed, that Rooney had signed for The Sun.

“We’ve had letters but haven’t carried anything extreme. Then the Sun ran a ridiculous front page saying lay off our Wayne.

“We had to respond as the Post and Echo were named and attacked by The Sun. They accused us of taking a Daily Mirror stance, which is complete balderdash. We couldn’t stand by and let them trample all over the people who suffered in the disaster.

“It was a cynical publicity stunt and it looks like a massive own goal by the Sun. There’s probably a whole new generation now not buying The Sun in Liverpool.”

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