Liverpool F.c.

[BangrakBob]

With due respect and not to take away from the current discussion.

Surpised at Sterling being called up for Ukraine match tomorrow night. Does anyone else think this to make sure this puts Jamaica out of the picture?

[rijit]

With due respect and not to take away from the current discussion.

Surpised at Sterling being called up for Ukraine match tomorrow night. Does anyone else think this to make sure this puts Jamaica out of the picture?

It does but i don't think it has any bearing on the call up. I'm pleased that Sterlings been called up, if he's good enuf he's old enuf. only positives can come of calling him up. I was genuinely hoping they weren't going to do a Steve McManaman and wait and wait what, 3 seasons after his debut b 4 they call him up. for me England really missed out there.

[smokie36]

Of more significance is the fact that the Scum newspaper, with Murdoch's tacit approval and McKenzie's despicable editorship, were doing this sensationalist crap for reporting that long ago and it's taken a few recent embarrassments to the establishment to actually ask why.

I wish a bunch of friendly scousers would come across either of them and give them the leathering they deserve. Now *that* would give satisfaction to the families, even if closure is probably unattainable.

the families want all those who lied to admit that they lied and say sorry. that'll do for a start. they need to be told why only one ambulance was allowed in and why others were not and who made up the lie that fans were fighting which was why further emergency medical staff couldn't enter the ground. why the ground had no safety certificate, why the gates were locked, why the police were ordered to line up on the halfway line instead of helping people who were dying. then we'll start on the slander and the smears after the criminal negligence. who orchestrated the cover-up and briefed the press - yes you bernard ingham - what duckenfield's full role and blame was, why police statements and evidence were changed and by whom, whose decision it was to force the cut-off time of 3.15pm when people were still dying. what inevitably thatcher's role in the cover-up was, how much the then prime minister knew and authorised.

it isn't too much to ask now this. that's what will give the families closure and allow them to grieve properly.

The secret documents being released on Wednesday should go some way to giving a fuller picture we can only hope.

Fault ultimately lies with the Tory government of the '80s and their blinkered and one dimensional view of the game. That and a disregard and contemptuous approach following the tragedy.

Such behaviour to me is unforgivable, I know you share my sentiments Stevie and I wait for the day mate.

[sharecropper]

With due respect and not to take away from the current discussion.

Surpised at Sterling being called up for Ukraine match tomorrow night. Does anyone else think this to make sure this puts Jamaica out of the picture?

Definitely a timely tactical call up, I think, to ensure he is always available for England.

Not that he isn't good enough. He's looked lively in the limited games he's played for Liverpool, but my concern would be he is very slight and may pick up an injury if kicked all over the place by beefy Eastern Europeans.

[StevieH]

it's ok, don't worry, roy has already stated that he's nowhere near good enough for the team yet and shouldn't expect to get anywhere near the pitch.

he can't even speak english, hodgson. for such a supposedly educated man and a man of languages he's actually incapable of expressing himself correctly in his mother tongue.

[StevieH]

this is interesting. andy burnham's stuck his neck out a bit here, let's hope he's right.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hillsborough-revelations-will-be-more-shocking-than-people-1318289

"The truth will have its own power": Hillsborough revelations will be more shocking than people realise, says Andy Burnham

Labour MP believes senior authority figures will have “questions to answer” following the release of the 400,000 documents

Revelations contained in the Hillsborough files disclosed tomorrow will be “more shocking than people are expecting”, an MP has warned.

Andy Burnham was instrumental in setting up the independent panel which has spent the past two years probing previously unseen papers on the 1989 football disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans died.

And the Labour politician indicated his belief that senior authority figures will have “questions to answer” following the release of the 400,000 documents.

Mr Burnham will visit Liverpool tomorrow to attend a vigil expected to attract thousands outside the city’s St George’s Hall.

The MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester is keen to analyse the contents of the files before making any bold statements, but tellingly he warned: “There will be many ­individuals with questions to answer on Wednesday into Thursday night.

“But the truth will have its own power.

“I know enough about Hillsborough to know a national apology from the Prime Minister is justified. I hope Mr Cameron responds in the right way.

“I get the feeling the disclosure will be more shocking than many people realise.

“The closer we get, I’m confident the full truth will be told. That is an enormous thing.”

At the inquest hearings in 1991, coroner Dr Stefan Popper imposed a hugely controversial 3.15pm cut-off point.

He decided all Liverpool fans had died by this point and said he would not consider any evidence relating to events after that time.

That meant there was no scrutiny into the lack of response from the emergency services after the crushes and into the long lines of ambulances that remained parked up outside Hillsborough, far away from the dying fans.

Dr Popper’s time cut-off point has been widely discredited by families, in particular Anne Williams who has amassed evidence her son Kevin, 15, was alive until 4pm.

Police officers also told paramedics that supporters were fighting and barred their way, a statement which has been disproved in subsequent analysis of the tragedy.

Mr Burnham added: “After the disclosure, my thinking will turn to a new inquest as the sheer cruelty of the 3.15pm cut-off point, when the coroner ruled that all Liverpool fans had died by this time, can’t be allowed to stand.

“I, like the families, cannot accept a verdict of accidental death.

“Any football supporter who visited Hillsborough would have said it was an unsafe football ground.

“The country will be shocked to learn how the stadium did not have a valid safety certificate.”

Mr Burnham, an Everton fan, is confident no redaction or editing of key documents will have taken place, one of the main fears of some of the families of the victims.

He added: “I think we will see everything and it will be comprehensive. Steps have been taken and orders passed through Parliament to ensure full disclosure takes place.

“When this process started, we promised the truth and I feel that in my heart we have done that.”

[wellred]

I want that Shi.thouse McKenzie to apologise too. How the BBC still employ him is beyond me.

[carmine]

I want that Shi.thouse McKenzie to apologise too. How the BBC still employ him is beyond me.

The BBC also think Alan Shearer has some interesting punditry to listen to and pay him very well for it. Fathom that out! As for McKenzie, he is a thoroughly vile disgusting individual and a perfect fit for a NewsCorp tabloid.

That aside, the sooner everything is bought out into the open for full accountability the better. Hopefully then the families of the victims can begin to move on with their lives. Its just shocking beyond belief that its taken this long.

[rijit]

Unbelievable, in this age of where accountability is a precedence its taken 30? years for the 'truth' to come out on,argubly, the most shocking human tragedy in recent English history. Shame on our policiticans and police force. Iet's hope some finality will be brought to the families soon.

But tbh 'm not sure any things changed , for example At Exeter last season, through a series of poor decisions, when leeds visited st james prk, we came within a hairs width of a crowd tragedy, after the game, the club, the police and all parties closed doors, just shut up shop and acted as if nothing happened , and tbh it was EXTREMELY EXTREMELY lucky that nothing didn't.

[StevieH]

I want that Shi.thouse McKenzie to apologise too. How the BBC still employ him is beyond me.

i'm not normally one for inhumane punishments or revenge but i want more than an apology out of that vile bastard. i want him to get an excruciatingly painful terminal illness which keeps him alive in complete agony for the next twenty years. then he'll have some tiny inkling of what the families of the hillsborough victims have gone through in the two decades since he knowingly invented and ran that bullshit headline and article.

[StevieH]

liverpool fans. and anyone else reading this who has ever been to a football match really. read this.

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/09/new-report-will-accuse-police-of-orchestrating-hillsborough-cover-up/

[StevieH]

more stuff worth reading: http://marksimonfrankland.blogspot.co.uk/

[StevieH]

great stuff from brian reade in the mirror on hillsborough as well. heartbreaking too.

Hillsborough: Brian Reade on the day that changed football forever

How English football became a golden magnet for billionaire owners and millionaire players from every corner of the earth... at the cost of 96 lives

http://www.mirror.co...n-reade-1318730

English football is different today.

The stadiums are home to middle-class families watching pre-match entertainment from comfortable seats and corporate clients sipping chilled wine over three-course meals in plush boxes. Potent symbols of the most lucrative brand in global sporting history.

Twenty years ago our grounds didn't smell of wealth and fine cuisine but resentment, from fans fenced into crumbling terraces by law- makers who viewed them as an unruly mob.

Their potential for tribal violence, not their consumer rights, were uppermost in politicians' minds. Crowd control, not crowd safety, the guiding principles of police charged with keeping them in check.

In those decrepit sheds, many of which had changed little since the Victorians built them, a tragedy was waiting to happen.

It came on April 15, 1989, during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, when police lost control, opened an exit gate and allowed thousands of fans to enter, and stream unguided, into crowded pens. They then ignored the desperate pleas from those who were perishing behind 10ft high, spiked metal. It was Britain's worst sporting disaster and it changed football forever.

An inquiry would demand all pitch-side fences were ripped out, seats put in and fans treated as human beings.

English football became a golden magnet for billionaire owners, millionaire players and satellite customers, drawn from every corner of the earth. But at what cost? Ninety-six people - half of whom were 21 or younger - lost their lives at Hillsborough, more than 750 were physically injured, numerous suicides have been laid at its door, and thousands still bear the mental scars.

The families fought long and hard for justice for their loved ones, but despite Lord Justice Taylor laying the blame squarely at the door of the police, not one person has lost a day's pay or a day's liberty. Two decades on the wounds are still raw. But on Wednesday September 12, after years of trying, families of the dead will finally get to see confidential government and police documents which they believe will show how the blame was shifted from panicked policing and flawed stadium design to innocent supporters.

Here is English football' s most harrowing and shameful story told by Brian Reade, the Mirror man who was there on the day and with the families throughout their elusive struggle for justice.

The morning could not have been more perfect. A cobalt blue sky, blood orange sun and a warm air filled with birdsong and blossom. Spring's optimism flooded Liverpudlian hearts.

It was the second year running we'd been drawn to play Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough and those of us in that red procession which snaked along the M62 to Sheffield had few worries about reaching Wembley again.

But different kinds of doubts were creeping in. Major roadworks, an accident and persistent police checks were causing delays, and fears spread that the kick-off might be missed.

On reaching Hillsborough those fears were realised. At 2.30pm, Leppings Lane, the entry point for all Liverpool fans, was human gridlock.

No police or stewards were on hand to filter the thousands of fans into queues.

The only visible authority was half-adozen forlorn figures in blue on horseback and a few on the ground, screaming at the swaying crowd to back away from the turnstiles. For the second year running, and despite protests, Liverpool were given 4,000 fewer tickets and the smaller end of the ground - despite having a much bigger following than Forest.

Geographically it made the police job of getting fans in and out of Sheffield easier.

Ensuring safety is how they termed it. It meant all 24,000 Liverpool ticket-holders, whether in Leppings Lane or the West and North stands, had to pass through 23 turnstiles, most so old they constantly jammed.

At the much newer Kop end Forest had 60 modern turnstiles. As the ground erupted with expectation at the entry of the teams, outside in Leppings Lane, there was pandemonium.

Fans, angry at the lack of movement and organisation, berated the police, some of whom were screaming into their radios for assistance. Many of us moved away from the turnstiles and looked on from a distance, convinced the kick-off would be put back while they sorted out the chaos.

Instead, at 2.52pm a huge blue exit gate opened and 2,000 of us poured in.

At the back of the Leppings Lane terrace, stewards who were supposed to be dispersing the supporters evenly into five pens had vanished. Consequently the bulk of fans ignored the lesser populated pens at the sides of the terrace and headed into the two central ones behind the goal, already over-crowded. Those at the front became packed tighter and tighter. The game was now under way and fans at the back, ignorant of the crush, concentrated on trying to get a view of the pitch.

They weren't to know that ahead of them on this shallow-sloping concrete there was panic, fear, hyper-ventilating, fainting, hair drenched in sweat and vomit matting on the metal fencing.

And death. Survivors speak of faces pushed against them that were wide-eyed and blue, of their bodies going numb and limp, and their minds suffering neardeath experiences. Eddie Spearritt, whose 14-year-old son Adam died in the crush, lost consciousness. He said: "They've said it was a surge but it wasn't. It was a slow, constant build-up of pressure, like a vice getting tighter and tighter until you couldn't breathe."

Fans screamed at passing police to open the perimeter gates but they walked on by. Some who tried to climb over the fence were battered back down. Others crawled on all fours above heads towards the back of the terrace and were hoisted to safety by fans in the stand above.

Despite the obvious density of the crowd, the screams, and the pain etched on the faces of the suffering - and despite CCTV cameras feeding these images back to the police control room - the perimeter gates remained locked.

When one was temporarily forced open by fans and a few spilled on to the pitch, the police thinking became clear.

Reinforcements moved in with dogs. They believed what they were seeing behind the cages was not innocents trapped in a killing field, but hooligans orchestrating a pitch invasion.

Goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, a couple of yards from the unfolding disaster, was one of the first to raise the alarm.

He said: "There were people with their faces pinned against the fence saying to me, 'Bruce, can you help me. We can't breathe'. So I asked a policewoman to open the gate and she said, 'We have to wait for our boss to give the word'."

By 3.04pm, when Liverpool striker Peter Beardsley crashed a shot against the bar causing a surge, many of the 96 had already lost their lives.

Some died standing up, of traumatic asphyxia. Others were crushed or trampled when a crash barrier gave way.

At 3.06pm after the police reinforcements had signalled the severity of the problem, the referee led both teams off.

The perimeter gates were opened and hundreds of seriously injured fans spilled on to the grass and collapsed, desperate for ambulances, stretchers and oxygen that never arrived.

The penalty area looked like a battlefield.

Between the bodies, casualties staggered around, dazed, confused, weeping.

Apart from a handful of St John Ambulancemen, the only medical aid for the dying came from fellow fans.

They tried resuscitation and tore down advertising hoardings to ferry victims the length of the pitch to what quickly became a makeshift mortuary. Some policemen joined in. Others berated fans for ripping down the hoardings to make stretchers.

Dozens more police were drafted on to the pitch, not to help casualties but to form a wall across the half- way line to prevent rival fans getting at each other.

Clearly back in the control room the carnage was still being put down to hooliganism.

Half an hour after the players had left the pitch a solitary ambulance made its way slowly towards the Leppings Lane end. That even one made it was a minor miracle.

Tony Edwards, the only professional ambulanceman to reach the Leppings Lane end, recalled what happened outside the ground. He said: " A policeman came to my window and said, ' You can't go on the pitch, they 're still fighting'."

He went on nonetheless, but his job was made impossible by the scale of the casualties.

The memory of bodies being piled on to his ambulance, of people pleading with him to take their friends and loved ones, of the anarchy that made his job impossible, haunts him to this day.

But what haunts him most is the knowledge that he was the only paramedic trying to help. He said: "There were 42 ambulances, including mine, waiting outside the stadium. That means 80- odd trained staff could have been inside the ground. They weren't allowed in because they were told there was fighting.

" But there was no fighting. The survivors were deciding who was the priority, who we should deal with. The police weren't. We weren't . Can you imagine a rail accident where all the ambulances wait on the embankment while survivors bring the casualties up?"

Of the 94 who died that day ( 14-year-old Lee Nicol died four days later and 18-year-old Tony Bland had his life support machine turned off in March 1993) only 14 made it to hospital.

Trevor Hicks was one of the few who got a loved one into Tony Edwards' ambulance. He was trying to resuscitate his 19- year- old daughter Sarah when he spotted her 15- year- old sister Victoria being placed into the ambulance.

Trevor tried to push Sarah in alongside her but the bodies were piled high and he had to lay her back on the pitch.

He said: " The ambulance started to move away. I saw the door close and I had to make a decision in that split-second. I thought 'the fella with Sarah knows what he's doing, I'll leave her with him and another ambulance will be along in a minute'."

Another one never came and both of his girls died. Trevor, now 63, added: "In the ambulance, I was sucking the vomit from Vicky's throat. I couldn't get rid of that taste for six months.

"A psychiatrist said I was either trying to hang on to the last contact with my daughters or it was guilt - I was punishing myself for not saving them.

"The hurt I suffered that day was so extreme I can't be hurt any more."

Outside the ground as we devastated fans made our way home grief turned to rage when word spread that we were being blamed for the disaster.

The FA's Chief Executive Graham Kelly, told the media that the policeman in charge, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, had accused us of kicking down an exit gate and flooding the terraces.

Duckenfield, in charge of his first big football match had given the order to open the gate without ensuring the thousands who entered Leppings Lane would be funnelled into the outside pens.

He had seen the over- crowding and suffering on the terraces on CCTV cameras with zoom facilities and done nothing. And when asked for an explanation he mouthed something he believed outsiders would buy.

A hooligan mob had stormed the stadium and killed their own.

It was a lie which would travel all the way around the world before it was corrected.

A calculated slur that would never go away.

Uefa president Jacques Georges picked up on Duckenfield's words and laid the blame squarely on the Liverpool fans.

He said: "They were beasts waiting to charge into the arena." When Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher turned up at Hillsborough on the Sunday, she expressed her sympathy but little else.

However, her closest aide, Yorkshireman Sir Bernard Ingham, was blaming a "tanked-up mob".

This was the line now being peddled by South Yorkshire Police as the enormity of their culpability hit home.

Before a single corpse had been buried the second Hillsborough tragedy was under way. The cover- up.

A Sheffield news agency and Tory MP Irvine Patnick, were fed lies by an unnamed Police Federation official and soon a fantasy tale, copper- bottomed by officialdom, was in the public domain.

Hordes of Liverpool hooligans had turned up drunk and ticketless and caused mayhem outside the ground leaving police with no option but to open the gate.

As brave emergency service workers battled to save lives, the yobs abused them in the vilest of manner and stole from the dead.

The Establishment was putting a classic smear on the fans to duck the blame for almost 100 deaths and so low did the public hold football followers back then, it swallowed it.

One man in particular, Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, made a terrible miscalculation.

Under the headline THE TRUTH he cleared the front page to tell the world: "Some fans picked pockets of victims. Some fans urinated on the brave cops. Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life."

The words that accompanied it claimed that " drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and " police officers, firemen and ambulance crews were punched, kicked and urinated upon".

One anonymous copper was even quoted as saying that a dead girl had been abused, while fans " were openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead".

With Merseyside still trying to come to terms with the enormity of the tragedy and families making arrangements for burying their dead, it felt like a knife being forced deeper and deeper.

Scousers, regardless of their football leanings, were apoplectic. To accuse them of killing their own was bad enough but to state as fact that they picked the pockets of the dying was a call to arms.

Overnight thousands of copies of The Sun were destroyed. There were public burnings.

Delivery men refused to touch it, shopkeepers refused to stock it. The boycott is still observed by the vast majority of Merseysiders to this day.

In 20 years, not one witness has come forward to back up any of those allegations. Not one image has been unearthed from thousands of photographs and hours of film to vindicate the slurs.

That's because they were outright lies.

Behind the scenes police were attempting to harden up the case of the drunken, ticketless mob.

Fans, including myself, were interviewed by West Midlands CID, who were charged with finding out the causes of the disaster.

But the main thrust of their questions was how much people had drunk before the game and whether anyone travelling with them did so without a ticket. Bereaved parents told how, when they arrived in Sheffield on the night of April 15, their dead children were being treated as suspects in a criminal investigation.

All were asked how much their loved ones had had to drink.

It later turned out every corpse had been tested for alcohol content, with small amounts or nothing found in all of them.

But why had it suddenly become a crime to have a drink before a sporting event or turn up ticketless in the hope of buying one off a tout? Were they implying you'd never see that at Wimbledon, Twickenham or a Rod Stewart concert? Of course many fans had been drinking before the game and some turned up without tickets.

It had happened every year at FA Cup semi-finals. Why suddenly, at this particular game, did police decide that doing either made you a potential murderer? Amid the slurs and questions, Liverpool was trying to come to terms with its grief. The day after the disaster people drifted towards Anfield seeking a focal point for their mourning.

The club's chief executive Peter Robinson opened the ground and the Kop and its goalmouth, became a shrine to the dead.

Within days, a third of the pitch would be blanketed with flowers, scarves of all colours from followers of different clubs and heart-felt messages of support from around the world.

The players became social workers, sometimes attending half-a-dozen funerals a day. Striker John Aldridge said: " It hit me very, very hard. To the point where I couldn't cope.

"It weakened me physically, emotionally and mentally. The thought of training never entered my head. I remember trying to go jogging but I couldn't run. There was a time when I wondered if I would ever muster the strength to play. I was learning about what was relevant in life."

He did go back to playing though, and three weeks later, scored twice against Nottingham Forest to knock them out of the re-scheduled semi-final .

Liverpool went on to win the FA Cup in an emotional final against neighbours Everton. But many believe the fact that the competition wasn't abandoned that year was yet another insult to the dead.

As spring turned to summer there was little to extinguish the pain and anger among Liverpudlians. Until August 4, when the late Lord Justice Taylor published his interim report into the disaster and finally the truth was heard.

And it was the complete opposite of the lies being peddled by certain people in Yorkshire and Wapping.

He ruled that drunkenness, late arrivals and fans turning up without tickets were red herrings. That there was no evidence of any kind of hooliganism and that fans were not to blame for the crush. He even described their role in trying to save the dying as " magnificent".

Instead, Lord Taylor laid the blame squarely at the door of the police.

He highlighted their planning failure which allowed " dangerous congestion at the turnstiles" and ruled that "the immediate cause of the disaster was gross overcrowding, namely the failure, when the exit gate was opened, to cut off access to the central pens which were already overfull.

"They were overfull because no safe maximum capacities had been laid down, no attempt was made to control entry to individual pens numerically and there was no effective visual monitoring of crowd density."

He hit out at the police's "sluggish reaction and response when the crush occurred" and claimed that the total number of fans who entered the Leppings Lane terrace " did not exceed the capacity of the standing area".

So much for the thousands of ticketless fans theory.

And he lambasted Chief Supt Duckenfield who he said "froze" after ordering the exit gate to be opened.

"A blunder of the first magnitude," he called it.

Taylor's report not only vindicated the fans but gave hope to the bereaved families that they would receive justice. That the people into whose care they had entrusted their loved ones would face up to their responsibilities for allowing a wholly avoidable disaster to happen. But their hope was shortlived.

The inquests, held before a Sheffield jury, and a coroner who was in the pay of Sheffield Council ( themselves culpable for not issuing Hillsborough with a valid safety certificate) delivered verdicts of accidental death. The coroner had imposed a 3.15pm cut- off time, claiming that every victim would have been brain- dead by then and ruling out any evidence relating to events after it.

It automatically hauled the emergency services off the hook, making it that much harder to prove there had been criminal neglect. The DPP threw out all charges against the police on grounds of insufficient evidence. No senior officer was prosecuted and a disciplinary case against Duckenfield was stopped when he took early retirement at 46 on medical grounds, with a full pension.

No legal, moral or financial compensation came the families' way. The majority receiving little more than funeral expenses.

In contrast, 14 police officers who were " traumatised" by what they saw that day picked up £ 1.2million.

Astonishingly, their claims for compensation were based on the insurers accepting that their superiors had been negligent.

However, there was a momentum gathering behind the belief that a major miscarriage of justice had taken place. Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern was commissioned by Granada TV to tell the families' stories in a two- hour drama- documentary.

Researchers unearthed new evidence which undermined the police case, crucially that the CCTV camera trained on the Leppings Lane end, which they said had not been in operation, was working.

The ground engineer swore an affidavit to that effect which proved South Yorkshire Police had been lying when they told the inquest they couldn't see the extent of the crush from the control box.

This could not have been challenged at the inquests because, mysteriously, the CCTV tapes from the day were " stolen" and never found.

On December 5 1996, Hillsborough was back on the front pages of a national newspaper. This time The Mirror splashed with a headline THE REAL TRUTH urging every reader to watch McGovern's drama.

The Mirror's phone lines were swamped with angry readers demanding justice - 25,695 adding their names to the paper's petition calling on the Attorney General to launch a new inquiry. Within weeks of Labour winning power in 1997 Home Secretary Jack Straw appointed Lord Justice Stuart-Smith to scrutinize the new evidence to see if it merited a fresh public inquiry.

Once again the families believed justice would soon be delivered. But within minutes of meeting Stuart- Smith they knew they were walking into the latest brick wall.

When there was a delay at the start of proceedings, due to the absence of some family members, Stuart- Smith turned to Phil Hammond, who lost his son Philip in the disaster, and said: "Are they like the Liverpool fans, turning up at the last minute?"

The Lord Justice cross- examined nobody and studied the evidence in private. And despite discovering that 183 police statements had been edited to remove criticism of senior police management, he ruled there was not enough evidence to merit a fresh inquiry..

By now the families were running short of stamina and options but still they fought on.

They took out private prosecutions against Duckenfield and his deputy on the day, Supt Bernard Murray, who went on trial at Leeds crown court in July 2000 charged with manslaughter and wilful neglect of duty.

But once again justice eluded them. Murray was cleared of all charges and when the jury failed to reach a verdict on Duckenfield the judge halted the trial, cleared him, and ruled there could be no retrial.

This was their last collective shot at justice. It ended with eight armed police officers escorting the families out of the court building. Presumably in case they caused trouble.

Eleven years after their loved ones lost their lives for being viewed as a problem they ended their legal fight in the exact same way. But they'd battled their hearts out for some vague notion of justice. For the belief that when you bring children into this world, the facts on the birth certificate are accurate.

And when they leave, the least you can do for them is put the true facts on their death certificate.

Jimmy McGovern said: "All the families ever wanted was for someone to put their hands up and be accountable for the deaths of their loved ones.

"But no one has said sorry. Now that runs contrary to basic human instincts. If we bump into each other, we both say 'Sorry'. It's a basic human response.

"But not in tragedies of this scale. They can't say sorry. It implies liability. That's why the families kept on fighting."

And those of us who walked through that opened Leppings Lane gate and have felt guilty ever since for coming home alive owe them.

For seeking truth in the face of vicious lies and prejudice. For fighting for the memory of people whose only crime was being naive enough to turn up at, supposedly, one of the country's finest football grounds in the belief that their safety was paramount in the eyes of those charged with their care.

If you are a football fan you should remember them when you look around today's affluent, cage-free, well-stewarded, all-seater stadiums.

You should remember the agony they went through in the first Hillsborough Disaster and the suffering their families went through in the second one.

And you should never forget that for English football's bright tomorrow they gave their todays.

[StevieH]

first leaks from the inquiry report are genuinely staggering. unbelievable.

survivors and bodies of dead had blood samples taken without consent. tested for alcohol. if no alcohol present, names checked against criminal records database.

also rumoured at this time that SYP leaked lies to MP irving patnick who presented info to press. SYP strategy was to tell their side of the story.

Police federation leaked to irvine Patnick who in turn leaked to press with Kelvin MacKenzie acting as conduit.

The Police federation brief was to lay blame at drunk, ticketless fans.

Coroner questioned need for ANY post mortems as presumption was that all died of same cause. – this is absolutely illegal.

[Chicog]

With due respect and not to take away from the current discussion.

Surpised at Sterling being called up for Ukraine match tomorrow night. Does anyone else think this to make sure this puts Jamaica out of the picture?

It does but i don't think it has any bearing on the call up. I'm pleased that Sterlings been called up, if he's good enuf he's old enuf. only positives can come of calling him up. I was genuinely hoping they weren't going to do a Steve McManaman and wait and wait what, 3 seasons after his debut b 4 they call him up. for me England really missed out there.

I wouldn't be so keen on seeing your youngsters called up. We're still waiting to get Wilshere back after playing for England.

I'm hoping Oxtail-Chambermaid puts in a few more crap England performances and gets dropped, so he can continue his proper education under Wenger and play for England when he's a polished product.

[Chicog]

The subject is live on Parliament TV right now. Both leaders apologising.

Link

BREAKING: Hillsborough cover-up finally exposed 23 years after disaster which claimed 96 lives

- Cameron says he is 'profoundly sorry'

- He says the state 'failed' to protect victims

- PM says wait for truth is 'indefensible'

- Report found 'huge failures of leadership' and errors by emergency services

12 September 2012

David Cameron said he was “profoundly sorry” to relatives of the 96 victims of the Hillsborough tragedy today as a landmark report found the authorities guilty of failing to protect the living and of denigrating the dead.

The Prime Minister spoke on behalf of the whole nation as he gave an apology in the House of Commons for the “double injustice” suffered by the families after 23 years of grief and bewilderment.

“It is right for me as Prime Minister to make a proper apology to the families of the 96 for all they have suffered over the past 23 years,” said Mr Cameron. “Indeed the new evidence that we are presenting today makes clear that those families have suffered a double injustice.

“The injustice of the appalling events, the failure of the State to protect their loved ones, and the indefensible wait to get to the truth.

“And the injustice of the denigration of the deceased that they were somehow at fault for their own deaths.

“On behalf of the Government and indeed of our country, I am profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long.”

Today’s report by the independent Hillsborough panel, chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool, came after years of campaigning for the truth of what happened at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in April 1989 and in the shocking blame-game afterwards.

It found huge failures of leadership and that mistakes were made by police and the ambulance service.

Afterwards, there were briefings to the media that cast blame on the victims in an attempt to cover up the real failings of those in charge.

More than 100 police statements were changed to remove damning admissions of the failure of the police leadership to co-ordinate rescue efforts in the chaos and confusion.

Moreover, the first major report by Lord Justice Taylor was not shown piles of documents that would have led him to the full truth years ago.

The findings opened the door to fresh inquests into the deaths which were written off as “accidental” — a verdict strongly disputed by the families.

Margaret Aspinall, 65, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, whose son James died in the disaster, said: “This is what the families and the fans have been fighting for 23 years. Without the truth you cannot grieve and where there is deceit, you get no justice.”

Today’s Commons statement came on a day of high emotion as families were finally shown a report that ripped open old and bitter wounds. Mr Cameron told MPs that the facts were needed “not just for the families but for Liverpool and for our country as a whole”.

He went on: “It was wrong that the families had to wait for so long and fight so hard just to get to the truth. And it was wrong that the police changed the record of what happened and tried to blame the fans.”

Attorney General Dominic Grieve is now considering whether to apply to the High Court for new inquests into how the 96 Liverpool supporters died. He said: “In the interests of justice, and mindful of what has been endured by so many people since 1989, I will do this as quickly as I can. However the process will inevitably take some time.”

At 8am today at Liverpool Cathedral the families were handed 400,000 pages of previously undisclosed papers from the police, Government, ambulance service, Sheffield City Council and the South Yorkshire coroner. They contained harrowing details of how the tragedy unfolded.

Liverpool Walton Labour MP Steve Rotheram said: “The campaign for truth has been concluded. Now justice must prevail.”

[StevieH]

it's happened. it's finally fuc_king happened, after 23 years of campaigning and fighting, it's finally happened. liverpool supporters were not to blame for the hillsborough disaster. the prime minister apologises. the families can begin the grieving process. i have been in bits for the past two hours here. overwhelmed.

today the truth. from tomorrow, we begin the process of justice. YNWA. JFT96.

[StevieH]

59 out of 96 could have survived. you utter fuc_king bastards.

[cardholder]

I apologise to all Liverpool supporters for actually believing that the press may have been right in blaming you for contributing to some of the deaths.

This whole tragedy could have been avoided. Whilst some of the information now coming out may be harrowing (#10428 is a classic example) I hope that information/facts/apologies finally help you to fulfill your grieving for the 96 lost souls.

The fact that I watched to whole episode unfurl (from the opposite end of the ground) in total ignorance of the facts beggars belief. The fact that I allowed the ensuing press reports, and daytime chat shows, to influence my negative thinking will remain a source of acute embarrassment and shame.

Now.....finally.... RIP the 96

[Chicog]

This happened on my birthday, in the days when the hotel pub we used to drink in had a Reuters terminal on which we would check the scores. I remember the shock as the horror unfolded. I've stood on the North bank in 60,000 crowds and never had a problem, so it really hit home.

The bastards that lied, every single one of them, should be hauled before the courts to face the music, and every single Policeman involved in altering statements should do jail time, including the ones that ordered it.

Do I expect it to happen? No.

[MrRed]

Link to the report and summary report also to Cameron's

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/2012/09/12/read-the-hillsborough-independent-panel-report-in-full-plus-the-original-taylor-report-100252-31821081/

[StevieH]

I apologise to all Liverpool supporters for actually believing that the press may have been right in blaming you for contributing to some of the deaths.

This whole tragedy could have been avoided. Whilst some of the information now coming out may be harrowing (#10428 is a classic example) I hope that information/facts/apologies finally help you to fulfill your grieving for the 96 lost souls.

The fact that I watched to whole episode unfurl (from the opposite end of the ground) in total ignorance of the facts beggars belief. The fact that I allowed the ensuing press reports, and daytime chat shows, to influence my negative thinking will remain a source of acute embarrassment and shame.

Now.....finally.... RIP the 96

fair play mate. you just bought the line like most did. what a day for the families. RIP96, JFT96.

[theblether]

Like many here, I am a lifelong Liverpool supporter, and today I don't know what to say. What we are witnessing in Parliament will change the UK forever..........

RIP the 96, and on bended knee I thank the families for never giving up.

[BangrakBob]

live stream free from Liverpool Cathederal on LFC TV

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/video/lfctv-live-stream

[KhaoNiaw]

A day of complete respect for the battle that the families have been through to get to this point. Some of the news today has been devastating - the lives that could have been saved. But it goes beyond that terrible day for the lessons that were never learned and fans of all clubs should understand how it could have been them:

[StevieH]

RIP the 96, and on bended knee I thank the families for never giving up.

i don't have the words to express what i feel about those people. they're incredible.

[katana]

A day of complete respect for the battle that the families have been through to get to this point. Some of the news today has been devastating - the lives that could have been saved. But it goes beyond that terrible day for the lessons that were never learned and fans of all clubs should understand how it could have been them:

Wow, didn't realise the same thing happened 8 years earlier at the same ground and they did nothing to rectify the danger.

The awful irony in that video is the big advertising hoarding on the stands @1.32 for 'Gridweld welded mesh fencing Wigan 44071'...

[Mossfinn]

A quite incredible day!

I never believed what 'that paper', said and to this day, whenever I see someone I know reading it, I always ask them why.

But even with my cynicism, I never thought that the extent of this culpable tragedy ran so deep.

Great respect to the organisations, families and fans that fought for 23 years against the organised establishment, I never thought I would see this day.

Justice to the 96

Rest in Peace

[Mossfinn]

59 out of 96 could have survived.

Steve

This bit I don't understand, I know they stated that all life was extinguished by 3.15, a palpable lie, but have they stated that the medical services just stopped helping those in need? If so, that day just gets worse.

4. Dozens of the 96 victims could have been saved

The original coroner's inquest was wrong to suggest that beyond 3.15pm there were no actions that could have changed the fate of the 96 victims. Cameron announced that the independent panel found that "28 did not have obstruction of blood circulation and 31 had evidence of heart and lungs continuing to function after the crush." Individuals in those groups could have had potentially reversible asphyxia beyond 3.15pm

From the New Statesmen

[smokie36]

Yes quite incredible. We have seen the truth, I hope now there is justice served as well.

The greater hope is the families of the 96 are now able to find peace. They have certainly proven their strength.

RIP to the 96.