A few very good comments in this thread, but some people are showing themselves up to be gullible and media-led at best (ie continuing to believe the much-perpetuated myth about the cause even now this has been completely discredited) and downright nasty at worst. Respect to the campaigners who never gave up, glad the truth has finally come out.
Thats the very first thing the Officer is charge should have done. 2nd would be to open the fence gates to let people onto the pitch and ease the crushing. 3rd would be to cancel the game. No wonder there was a cover up. It took me 4 years to get him to go to a football match again and he was mad on football back then. His anger towards the Police almost got him arrested ""and he called it Police Murder to an officer"". From what he told me of the events forms my own opinion and ive also seen the tv pictures which back up alot of what i was told. Nothing has changed my views. How anyone can call this manslaughter beggars belief. My mate watched people die as Policemen stood on the other side of the fench watching. I refer you back to the comments of Liverpool GK Bruce Grobbalaar who was in that goal. Spot on. Yes it was alot different back then to now but still beggars belief about what went on that day and the decisions made. Yes i agree to a point. But IMO both were responsible for murder. The report says that 41 may have been saved if actions had been different. In my eyes its murder as manslaughter is the soft option. The report has now removed any and all blame from Liverpool fans. It was an easy option to blame the scoucers. Utter Rubbish. That Policeman is a disgrace and the facts have now confirmed. Stealing wallets indeed. 3 good posts. It really does amaze me that anyone can offer support to the police. But even worse are all those who were bullied into changing statements. Dont they have any moral fibre ? You really cannot make this up. Spot On.!!! To this day i still blame the Police. They allowed a game toi take place in a ground that was not worthy and certainly not prepared for it. Why O Why that middle tunnel entrance was kept open was the first of many wrong decisions. The match commander must have had his head up his arse that day. imo.
The police in my eyes have always been at fault for allowing too many in. For those that are old enough and were at the game boxing day 1965 against Millwall, BP was packed to the rafters, and I was in the north stand, and never felt so uncomfortable, as we were packed in like Sardines, with no room to move. It was so packed that they had to allowed people onto the side of the pitch, who were at the front and being squashed. If there has been a fence around the ground, then a similar thing could have happened.
Correct and spot on John. A pre-curser to Hillsborough in 1989 was Hillsborough 1981 in a semi between Wolves and Spurs Just to prove how clueless SYP were back then. For those who are blind to it all watch this then www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtzHVe2mENO or just type into you tube 1981 Hillsborough Spurs Wolves
I am glad that the family's of the 96 can now move on from all this in the best possible way. Yea the police made some very bad decision on that fatal day, and trying to cover it all up was wrong. But the one fact I have always wanted to know was, how many tickets did Liverpool sell, how many was they allocated and most importantly how many Liverpool fans turned up on the day. If it turns out that thousands more Liverpool fans where there that didn't have allocated tickets, they can not be blame less, as if they hadn't of turned up in the hope of getting a ticket. There is a good chance this would not have happened. There where a lot of wrongs that day but to try and pin it all on individual people is wrong as well. It was a major disaster and all we can hope is that major lessons have been learnt from all this. My opinions and they may not be liked but they are my opinion.
Nobody is denying the policie's culpability in this tragedy but the people doing the pushing surely have to accept some responsibility? To deny their responsibility is just ridiculous.
To a small point you are correct. But the Police should have had the middle shut before the main gates were opened thus meaning that fans had to use the 2 sides wells to enter the stand. The 1981 Spurs Wolves semi was even worse to a point but the big factor was that fence gates were opened up and fans spilled onto the edge of the pitch.
That is something i remember very well, a couple of my mates were Spurs fans and were there that day, the fact of the matter is the then Government(Thatchers mob) gambled with the lives of every football fan for years. Here is an example of more greed and gambling with peoples lives which i was witness too, everyone called us animals and scum(and still do) but at the end of the day when people were scaling the fence to escape the ensueing crush the Police were battering us to keep us in, tempers boiled over (understandably) and the fans frustrations was unforgiving to the Police who had attempted to kill many of us. Yes many people were drunk that night, but in a good way to begin with after all we were a little third division side in the quarter final of the FA Cup and we fancied our chances. [video=youtube;wQTLzg3puCg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTLzg3puCg[/video]
I have never seen a PL match in Hull. I live very far away and follow the Tigers through the radio. You are disrespectful and should be held accountable for it.
I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the odd pop at another poster is acceptable if you feel strongly enough about something, but you seem to have managed to **** off the vast majority of posters on here and over a very emotive subject. Not a great move for someone with just 30 posts, particularly when so many of them are on this thread. I sound like a moderator again don't I? Sorry.
Yes i also remember this mess. At least fans managed to get out of the stands and avoid crushing. What followed was out of order and put a few more nails into footballs coffin back then.
And you don't think someone should go to prison for this ? Statements where changed, which is perverting the course of justice for starters, which in case you didn't realise this, is a criminal offence. Up to 41 of the fans might,just might, be alive today if the police had allowed the ambulances into the ground. That to me is criminal negligence. The families will have every right to claim they haven't had justice if someone doesn't go to jail for this.
I never said nor implied that people shouldn't go to jail, perverting the course of justice and causing the disaster through negligence are two different charges, the families shouldn't settle for anything less than the later. That post was made before the document was available to the public (it least I wasn't able to access it), hence the 'they may end up getting both' statement. In light of the report, they now have someone/an organisation to blame and justice will be when those people are charged for their actions.
No it is not your opinion, it can not be your opinion because YOU where not there, YOU didn't see it. It is the opinion of a police officer that was there, but then as proven by the latest report can we believe that opinion. That report put a big doubt in my mind.
