No one intended to kill football fans at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest 27 years ago. In 1989 British football stadiums were inherently unsafe, many of us felt in danger at the regular crushing entering and leaving grounds.
Crowd management was considered a control issue, not a safety one. In England, fences penned spectators in to prevent pitch invasions.
Hillsborough had staged many FA Cup semi-finals, including one the previous year between the same two clubs, so no proper thought or planning went into the game. During the 80s measures to control the crowd increased, while Sheffield Wednesday, who played home games at the ground, seldom came near the stadium’s capacity. The mean the stadium was unprepared for anything out of the ordinary, and the police were completely unprepared.
Access gates were open to relieve pressure on turnstiles which were inadequate to deal with a crowd of that size – a common, but dangerous, occurrence at the time.
Control measures were such that what was once a terrace area open from one side to another had been sectioned off. Once you were in one pen the only route out was to leave the terrace via the long tunnel underneath the Leppings Lane stand that fans used to enter the terrace. The two pens at the wide end of the terrace were under-filled, while the central two were crushed.
No one entering a tunnel knew if there was crushing ahead and there was no way to segregate fans off into available pens. Anyone attempting to exit through the tunnel would have been met by a large crowd of people trying to go the opposite way.
The system was stupidly crazy by design. Any Health and Safety attention would have deemed the terrace unsafe the moment the tall fences went up to prevent overspill onto the pitch area. It was a fatal incident waiting to happen.
Once the incident was underway South Yorkshire Police failed the victims spectacularly. Officers were watching the fatal crush from yards away but were unwilling to raise the alarm. They ignored terrified pleas from fans. After evidence of fatalities first arose, they turned ambulances away, delaying treatment to casualties for a crucial period.
When the incident was over the police invoked a smear campaign against the victims. Lies were told. Newspapers bought into the conspiracy, among others. The bereaved were left on their own to defend the memory of their lost ones as inquiries bathed all in whitewash.
There will be an understandable demand for prosecutions now, but for those who died 27 years ago, and many of their loved ones, it’s all too late. I hope the survivors gain some small comfort from today’s inquest verdict of unlawful killing. The torture they went through listening to the official lies must have been unbearable.
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The ole Celtic midfield
Commons.
Brown.
Bitton.
Rogic.
Johansen.
Armstrong.
McGregor
Christie.
Allan.
Henderson.
Thomson.
Ajer.
Roberts.
Mackay-Steven.
Forrest.
It’s a testament to the doggedness (indefatigability?) of the relatives and families of the 96 that they never gave up and emerged successful after their 27 year struggle for justice for the deceased. I hope they will finally receive closure on the trauma that they have endured and that they will live to see all the guilty parties brought to justice.
I watched an excellent documentary on Hillsborough about two years ago and I was astonished at some of the revelations.
The SY Police held a closed door meeting on the Mobday morning and outlined strategy to blame the Liverpool supporters for drunkenness and late arrivals. Everyone was to be on message and no one was to deviate from the narrative. Careers were made on the back of this. Some middle ranking coppers rose to lofty positions because of their enthusiasm in promoting the lie.
Witness statements were tampered with. Paragraphs were added to the end of lots of written statements without the knowledge of the people who had given them in order to exonerate police officers’ handling of certain situations throughout the day. There was also a disputed about the presence of an ambulance on the pitch and the time that it arrived with many fans disputing the police version of when the ambulance arrived.
Outside the turnstiles at the 85 cup final sticks in my memory. Things got pretty scary that day.
Winning Captains
Celtic managers have been dealing with the MSM for years. If further assistance is required, I see this as a PR role and nothing to do with football, or a so called director of football.
The situation with referees is that they aren’t very good, shall we say! Do we need to pay a director of football to enlighten our new manager of this? What will that achieve?!
Player recruitment – if Davie Hay can spot a player/bargain(and we know he did a great job in the late 90s in Central Europe such as the 3 amigos) then great but that, ultimately, is the remit of the scouting department. If the current scouts are under performing, replace them. Don’t defer responsibility. The head of scouting is your man.
Development squad manager – arrange time to sit down with the first team manager and discuss players, playing style. Don;t over complicate the issue.
If a potential director of football is just to be a jack of all trades, that is how you end up with ridiculous attempts to justify their existence with ideas/schemes like transfer committees.
I am all for a role for Davie Hay at the club btw. I hope the ambassadorial role goes well and agree he has more to offer in a consultancy capacity but I
ITALIABHOY on 26TH APRIL 2016 4:21 PM
I wish Phil would stop banging on about…
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An increasing irrelevance, IMHO
Delaneys Dunky
And. . If. I. .don’t find. The Next Whisky Bar?
Beatbhoy
I tell you we must die. Sometime! :)
Winning Captains
Celtic managers have been dealing with the MSM for years. If further assistance is required, I see this as a PR role and nothing to do with football, or a so called director of football.
The situation with referees is that they aren’t very good, shall we say! Do we need to pay a director of football to enlighten our new manager of this? What will that achieve?!
Player recruitment – if Davie Hay can spot a player/bargain(and we know he did a great job in the late 90s in Central Europe such as the 3 amigos) then great but that, ultimately, is the remit of the scouting department. If the current scouts are under performing, replace them. Don’t defer responsibility. The head of scouting is your man. Accountability, not over complication.
Development squad manager – arrange time to sit down with the first team manager and discuss players, playing style. Don;t over complicate the issue.
If a potential director of football is just to be a jack of all trades, that is how you end up with ridiculous attempts to justify their existence with ideas/schemes like transfer committees.
I am all for a role for Davie Hay at the club btw. I hope the ambassadorial role goes well and agree he has more to offer in a consultancy capacity but the over complication of the football side off the field irks me – all of the functions mentioned should be performed already – there is no need for it and a high profile director of football would most likely command a big wage which could be put to better use on first team recruitment, development team recruitment, expanding our scouting range etc etc.
If you get the right football manager in its amazing how everything else clicks into place. There is no need to appoint an intermediary and indeed some potential candidates for the job would be put off by a director of football.
Maybe you are right that Ronny could have done with more help – its too late for that now.
An experienced football manager is what we need, someone who can stamp their authority on the full operation – no go betweens.
HH
double post, unfinished the first time…apologies!
We will not get MON and RK and so ……..
DOF: Gordon Strachan
Manager: Roy Keane
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/roy-keane-joined-celtic-spite-4414463#KVWgiA1bVOhdvMEE.97
Nah, not one of my best ideas !
Winning Captains-what’s your take on Paul McStay ‘crowd funding ‘,to get his autobiography published? Doesn’t look very good IMO HH
!!BADA BING!! on 26TH APRIL 2016 5:39 PM
Winning Captains-what’s your take on Paul McStay ‘crowd funding ‘,to get his autobiography published? Doesn’t look very good IMO HH
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I’ve checked it a few time and will donate for a signed copy but I don’t think it will hit its target.
I’ve not really seen any advertising of his kickstarter so don’t know if many know about it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maestrosports/the-maestro-paul-mcstay-autobiography
If I was a foreign manager like Ronny, I would have a thick file of research on the environment in Scotland as to the media, “refereeing standards and general local mentality before I even set foot in Paradise.
On the basis of this my first telephone calls on walking into Paradise would be to Davie Hay, Gordon Stachan et al to establish an unofficial ongoing pipeline of advice and support on the back of their love and success at the Club.
Simples.
The Huddle-thanks for reply,it looks like he wants punters to find something that he could benefit financially from,if it gets enough money? HH
I thought links to the daily retard would have been shown the red card on here by now :-)
WC I’ll take your DOF and raise you an NE.
I can’t begin to begin to understand why we do not have a person with knowledge of the core aspect of the business in A NE position advising the board.
My two worst experiences of crushing. Dundee Utd 1985 cup final when the floodgates literally opened. Was down the front against the riot fencing. Dundee centenary league winning match. Was at the back of the jungle when Andy Walker scored and force of the crowd took me onto the pitch.
Stayed at the Shankly Hotel in Liverpool 2 weeks ago and admired the 96 candle display in tribute to the Hillsborough victims. Got a lot of affinity with the scousers, who are much like us.
Lessons from South Yorkshire Police for others in leadership positions. Adopting a hear no evil, see no evil response to clear and overwhelming public feeling isn’t sustainable. Just saying.
!!BADA BING!! on 26TH APRIL 2016 5:52 PM
The Huddle-thanks for reply,it looks like he wants punters to find something that he could benefit financially from,if it gets enough money? HH
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Kickstarters is a legit way of funding products these days.
Basically my donation isn’t charged to me unless the funding hits its 100k AUD. The 100k would be used to pay for the book to be written then printed and shipped.
!!Bada Bing!!
I spoke to Paul this morning before he heads back home. The project hasn’t been represented fairly. It is the norm in the sector Paul works in at the moment but looks a little unusual in the context of football and book publishing.
It will all work out, one way or another.
Reading back, I lost count of the crushes I was involved in. It’s actually a miracle nothing serious ever happened at CP or Hampden. The scariest for me were Nottingham, crushed into a brick wall next to the turnstile and finding strength from somewhere to push back, and Brockville 71 where the sway forward had me pinned to a steel barrier. For a moment I thought I was getting halved in two, but I’ll never forget the feeling of relief when the crush stopped at that very point. Another six inches I was dead. Anyway under the barrier and onto the pitch.
I was in a jam packed Liverpool kop 77 but they seemed to have it down to an art form. Simon to the jungle but bigger, with more movement. You constantly move about like riding a wave, maybe 20 yards away from where you started then back beside your mates. Very strange.
BBC News concentrating on the failings on the day of the disaster, the narrative has been set. The real story today isn’t the fateful days events but what happened on the subsequent days to stop the real story from emerging. Today should be about who was responsible for it to take 27yrs for the truth to emerge.
SIN CITY BHOY on 26TH APRIL 2016 5:58 PM
I thought links to the daily retard would have been shown the red card on here by now :-)
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Mea culpa, mea Maxima culpa.
:-(
The Long Wait is Over
After the Hearts semi final in the centenary year I was on a steep down staircase full of bodies
For reasons I didn’t know then don’t know there was a massive surge from behind just as people in slowed down.
I must have gone down what felt like about twenty steps without, and I’m not exaggerating, my feet touching a single step. Had one single person gone over there would have almost certainly been fatalities.
Genuinely terrifying moment, and not the only one.
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I had the same experience at that game.. it seemed like I went down 3 flights of stairs without my feet touching the ground, arms pinned to my side. It only lasted for a few seconds, can’t begin to imagine the horror of Hillsborough
Winning Captains-The Huddle-thanks ,a wee bit uncomfortable with what he is doing HH
Scum
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/26/how-the-suns-truth-about-hillsborough-unravelled
The casual use of the abusive term retard is what should be shown ‘the red card’…
TBM
!! Bada Bing!!
He is a very humble guy. His intentions are honourable on this.
Don’t think results have helped the project but he doesn’t deserve some of the stick he’s had to take on this on social media.
It is, as I said, standard practice in that technology sector. No big deal.
Paul McStay gave his all for us. He is still living with his injury too.
I wish some posters would stop using the word ‘retard’ on here.
HH!!
No harm to Davy hay ,but the mans to old sorry
Heartbreaking read from the Guardian
Heartbreaking and sickening at the same time.
Winning Captains-no bigger fan of Paul than me,never heard of Crowd funding for personal gain. HH
the casual want to have a red card shown for the use of perfectly reasonable words should be shown the red card then
Paul McStay is a Celtic Legend. played his entire career with the Club making over 500 appearances. We will not see his like again. Nothing at all sinister in the way the book is being sold, I wish him every success.
is retarded better for future reference ?
winning captains on 26th April 2016 6:34 pm
He is a very humble guy. His intentions are honourable on this.
Don’t think results have helped the project but he doesn’t deserve some of the stick he’s had to take on this on social media.
It is, as I said, standard practice in that technology sector. No big deal.
Paul McStay gave his all for us. He is still living with his injury too.
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I don’t do social media, what stick has McStay received and why would he get some for using crowd funding?
Surely crowd funding is just cutting out the middleman (publisher) when it comes to releasing a book.
Bada, I may be mistaken but I assume they are trying to ensure that the book is not a loss maker. If they are guaranteed enough to cover the costs the project will go ahead. If they are not then they can reconsider position but no potential punter will be out of pocket.
Corkcelt-so punters pay for a book to be printed,which an individual will benefit financially from? Sorry,as I said,doesn’t sit well with me. Paul was on Clyde last night and said he had a couple of offers previously,to do a book in the conventional way. He could have also went through CQN Books HH
The scandal of Orgreave happened some 5 years before Hillsborough.One Police Force was on duty at both events .The cover up of the truth relating to both events is very similar..Shameful —