Liverpool will act over new year hate tweets

The post prompted a flood of offensive replies, many referencing Hitler and calling for Jews to be gassed.

A few hours later the tweet was removed by the club, along with the replies, and replaced with a post stating that the club "believes in the practice of religious freedom - we seek a world in which we can send good wishes to supporters without hateful responses.

A Liverpool spokesperson said: "Due to a number of offensive comments that were attached to a tweet on the official LFC twitter account, the tweet and comments have since been removed from the account."

Leaders of the city's Jewish community called on the club to revoke season tickets of the tweeters and attacked it for issuing a "bland" call for racial harmony rather than a condemnation of the racists.

In a letter to the club, the Merseyside Jewish Representative Council said it had "a moral duty to condemn such attacks in unequivocal terms". Failure to do so would "brand LFC as a club that does not deal with racists appropriately".

The council has also complained to Merseyside police, who confirmed they were investigating.