27-04-2016, 01:46
This is the correct verdict, of that I have no doubt. I have read numerous books about this and obviously have intimate knowledge of that end of the ground and the way the police handled this whole event was wrong from the planning through to the execution of that plan!! I still have seen no explanation from SYP why they changed the operating procedures for this game from the ones used a year earlier with the same two teams being involved!! The most glaring change was the removal of the cordon they put up on Leppings Lane way before you got to the ground where you had to show a ticket to get anywhere near the turnstiles, this had worked perfectly the year before but was abandoned in 1989. I assume it was Duckenfield who made that decision after he was put in charge of the game late in the whole process.
As regards the fans, they were never going to be blamed for any of this at these inquests because of the all the crap that has been spouted over the years about the role the fans played in this tragedy. The cover up by the police, government and media made sure that the campaign they had of solely blaming the fans to cover up their own failings ensured that even though the fans were one of the many minor causes of this disaster no jury was ever going to say it!!
Madsteve said on our board earlier that in reality the culture of football and the fans over the previous 20 years was the root cause of this tragedy. Without the constant hooligan element, without the pitch invasions, fighting with police, Heysel, Luton, Birmingham incidents then the pens and fences would not have been there in the first place. A similar crush happened on the same terrace in the 1981 semi final between Spurs and Wolves, not as serious for sure but any serious injury was averted because the fans were able to spill onto the perimeter track because there were no fences to stop them from doing so. No fences or pens on 15th April 1989 would have almost certainly prevented 96 innocent fans from dying, the whole of football in the 20 years prior to that day needs to some degree hang their head in shame at what those actions caused.
Having said that there is no doubt that had the police performed to the standard we expect then this disaster was completely avoidable and therefore I think the main verdict they arrived at was correct. Seems a little harsh to aim it at one person but he was in that position to make the key decision and he got just about every one of them tragically wrong!!
As regards the fans, they were never going to be blamed for any of this at these inquests because of the all the crap that has been spouted over the years about the role the fans played in this tragedy. The cover up by the police, government and media made sure that the campaign they had of solely blaming the fans to cover up their own failings ensured that even though the fans were one of the many minor causes of this disaster no jury was ever going to say it!!
Madsteve said on our board earlier that in reality the culture of football and the fans over the previous 20 years was the root cause of this tragedy. Without the constant hooligan element, without the pitch invasions, fighting with police, Heysel, Luton, Birmingham incidents then the pens and fences would not have been there in the first place. A similar crush happened on the same terrace in the 1981 semi final between Spurs and Wolves, not as serious for sure but any serious injury was averted because the fans were able to spill onto the perimeter track because there were no fences to stop them from doing so. No fences or pens on 15th April 1989 would have almost certainly prevented 96 innocent fans from dying, the whole of football in the 20 years prior to that day needs to some degree hang their head in shame at what those actions caused.
Having said that there is no doubt that had the police performed to the standard we expect then this disaster was completely avoidable and therefore I think the main verdict they arrived at was correct. Seems a little harsh to aim it at one person but he was in that position to make the key decision and he got just about every one of them tragically wrong!!