Richard ''Hairy Hands'' Keys has walked himself into it this time. On his talksport show with Andy Gray.He came up with this whopper.Its in relation to Rome 1984 and Heysel 1985. ''Liverpool fans were looking for revenge the next time they played an Italian team''. Richard Keys suggested the ugly riot that left 39 Juventus fans dead was part of a payback for beatings Liverpool fans took from Roma fans. Now that is disgraceful.You would think he would learn to keep his mouth shut over his misdemeanour that got him into hot water with Sky.
Can't believe he's come out and said something like that on live TV - some people just have no sense or decency whatsover. Is he trying to make himself unemployable. Although I should say that I have heard the theory that the violence (not the deaths) at Heysel was at least in part due to a minority of the Liverpool fans looking for revenge after their treatment at the hands of the Roma supporters in 1984. And I've actually heard it from Liverpool fans - one fan said as such in his opinion on the 25th anniversary celebrations: "Juve’s so called ultras were at the wrong end of the stadium, the safe end. So when the Liverpool fans started to break through the chicken wire fence the Italians occupying the “neutral” Z sector fled as they realised that they were facing a mob intent on violence (revenge for what happened in Rome). Tragically in the ensuing chaos 39 innocent people lost their lives crushed against a wall as people rushed to avoid the violence." http://forums.liverpoolfc.tv/showthread.php?t=91143 Still, the fact that some people may think that doesn't make it right for someone to bring it up on a public programme, particularly with no evidence or grounds.
Swarbs. I agree completely. And it was on Talksport and the guest on the programme was Bruce Grobbelaar,who was as you know the Liverpool keeper that night and he was left stunned and shocked at those comments.I think you maybe right that a minority may have been angry about their treatment in rome the previous year as they were treated incredibly badly.But Keys is making out it was pre-meditated at Heysel,I don't think anyone set about to hurt anyone.The deaths was horrific. I'm not saying this,and I'm only using this as an example of some of the hurtful things that idiots like Richard Keys say. How would you feel if some idiot tried to make out that the munich air disaster was caused by Man United directors as part of an insurance scam.?Its disgraceful and hurtful as the comment that Keys made.I reckon you would be angry and would have every right to be.
Absolutely agree. I think in Keys' defence he wasn't actually stating that the deaths were due to revenge, only that some of the Liverpool fans wanted to have a fight. But he should have known better that to make blase comments on such a sensitive subject and yes, if he made similar comments about Munich I would be pissed off too. In fact, there's a fairly good parallel with Munich. It's acknowledged amongst quite a lot of supporters that our club's profile benefitted the Munich disaster, if not actively then at least passively, as a way of boosting our levels of support and encouraging fans to follow us. The club didn't go out of its way to publicise the disaster, but prior to the crash we were just a club like any other. It's only after the crash that we started getting so many fans from outside Manchester, and being so well known around the world, and was arguably the basis for our success in 1968 and our popularity right through to the present day. We didn't encourage it, but we were happy to benefit from it. But if some presenter turns around and says "United are such a big and successful club because they exploited the publicity of the Munich disaster" they'd be strung up by our fans. Because, as with Heysel, the issue is much more sensitive than to be the subject of throwaway remarks.
Exactly.As I said a comment like that would be hurtful to the families of the deceased ex players and their surviving team-mates. However you said Man United gained popularity after the crash and benefitted from the notice it gave them until the present day.Again there isn't anything wrong with that.Liverpool benefitted from the success of the Beatles in the early 1960s when they were newly promoted.Okay so did Everton.This gave them popularity outside of Liverpool.Music and football walked hand in hand. Finally,if someone did make a comment like you said in your final piece,they would deserve to be strung up.
