Hillsborough - BBC 2 - Sunday 8th - 21:00

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

You could see at the time that Popper was almost revelling in it, the power and the publicity. I hope others get their comeuppance before they die. I truely do.

[deiseach]

In the court of public opinion you have to be inclined to assume the worst of any member of SYP, unless proven otherwise. Only in the last week did we have a retired copper called Andy Frith, who was pictured helping on the day of the disaster, rejecting the 'rotten to the core' suggestion in a Facebook post (since deleted) and pushing the blame upwards. Amidst all the expressions of revulsion at his bosses, he claimed that he had confiscated "a huge haul of trays of lager and beer cans". All well and good - except he had told the officers investigating as part of the cover-up that he "did not see any Liverpool fans during our patrol. They were approaching the ground from the opposite direction"! As one lad put it on Twitter, "So SYP Andy Frith waited 27 years to lie about Liverpool Supporters?  This cunt's got the script all wrong!"

 

Rotten to the core is about right.

[sybian]

As I have said for a number of years the cunt who should be nailed for for all thats happened is Graham Kelly, at the time of Hillsborough he was the CEO of the FA, and that is the body who appoints where the Semi's are played,to play a match of this importance at a ground with a history of crowd problems is nothing short of criminal but this shit stain appears to be teflon coated, I always wondered if all the misinformation that happened afterwards stemmed from his national radio broadcast 20 minuets after the game was abandoned  that blamed "drunken Liverpool fans for causing all the trouble", I personally don't think that the importance of playing a Semi final at that ground has been given enough gravity , after all this was the catalyst that brought everything together. 

[deiseach]

As I have said for a number of years the cunt who should be nailed for for all thats happened is Graham Kelly, at the time of Hillsborough he was the CEO of the FA, and that is the body who appoints where the Semi's are played,to play a match of this importance at a ground with a history of crowd problems is nothing short of criminal but this shit stain appears to be teflon coated, I always wondered if all the misinformation that happened afterwards stemmed from his national radio broadcast 20 minuets after the game was abandoned  that blamed "drunken Liverpool fans for causing all the trouble", I personally don't think that the importance of playing a Semi final at that ground has been given enough gravity , after all this was the catalyst that brought everything together. 

 

Hillsborough inquest: Why the FA's weasel words on Hillsborough are inadequate for the 96

 

The FA have escaped lightly - the 96 deserved better from the 'guardians of the game'

 

Ian Herbert @ianherbs Wednesday 27 April 2016

 

The Liverpool chief executive and company secretary Peter Robinson displayed a shrewd and understated wisdom in the years he presided over the club’s extraordinary success, from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness, like many around the club at that time, knew him by his initials ‘PBR’ and the formality of that moniker reflected what he stood for.

 

It is in that context that his telephone call to Steve Clark, the Competitions Secretary of the Football Association, on Monday March 20 1989 should be viewed. Robinson had seen on breakfast television that morning that Liverpool had drawn Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final for a second successive year and took the precaution of telephoning Clark to urge him not to stage the tie at Hillsborough. Nothing intemperate or partisan in the request: just Robinson, in his usual business-like way, reminding Clark that Hillsborough had been an entirely inadequate stadium for the 1988 game because of the way the ticket arrangements fell. An ‘89 tie, just like ’88, would probably mean Forest being allocated 4,500 more tickets than Liverpool, whose quota would be inadequate, despite their average attendance being 17,500 higher. Though Robinson did not include it in his entreaty, there had subsequently been crushing for some of his club’s fans in 1988. [i'm sure I read somewhere recently that Hillsborough had more seats than Old Trafford, allowing the FA to charge a higher markup. d]

 

Robinson checked the availability of the vastly more suitable - albeit marginally less equidistant - Old Trafford, too, though to no avail. Clark called him later that morning to say of his FA superiors that “the Committee had selected Hillsborough” and that “the police would not agree to the allocation being altered” either. History would repeat itself, with the crushing in central pens 3 and 4 of 1988, returning to wreak such devastation.

 

What is most striking about the vast body of evidence gathered about the Hillsborough Disaster is that the English game’s governing body has, from the immediate aftermath of the disaster until this very day, never acknowledged the fact that it made a disastrously bad call by failing to heed Robinson’s pleas about the inadequacy of Sheffield Wednesday’s ground.

 

Read the former FA chief executive Graham Kelly’s initial draft report about the disaster, written two days afterwards, and you will find no sign within its six pages that he was looking to investigate how the venue, which did not even have a safety certificate, had been chosen. Nor that he was willing to examine why Robinson’s request had been so rapidly dismissed. (It is difficult to imagine that he would not have reminded the FA man of it, in the ensuing 48 hours before he sat down to write.)

 

Kelly’s report revealed the FA’s immediate and overwhelming preoccupation after Hillsborough: covering its own backside. It tells of Kelly’s first observation that afternoon: a dreadful misinterpretation of events, we know now. “My attention was drawn to fans scaling the perimeter fence before the near miss,” he says – a reference to Peter Beardsley hitting the cross bar in the game’s early minutes.

 

It lets slip the need for everyone to get their story straight. By the evening of the day of the disaster, Kelly found himself called to a meeting of Sheffield Wednesday’s directors and club secretary, Graham Mackrell. He felt that “in view of the continuing media presence, their and our interests would be best served by them leaving the ground so that one could not be picked off as against the other in making conflicting statements.” More choreography.

 

It reveals Kelly gave immediate instructions for the insurance cover of the FA for such instances to be reviewed. He agreed “at the earliest opportunity” to put two legal counsel on a retainer. His greatest sense of urgency evidently related to a decision being reached on the re-scheduled semi-final before Liverpool forced the pace, leaving the FA with “egg on our face.” Mr Kelly could not be reached on Wednesday.

 

A willingness to at least investigate might have led him to ask why there had been no planning meeting to discuss the tie in 1989, as there had been in 1988, when Robinson had also raised his concerns about the ticketing. It was for the FA to check the safety and the suitability of the stadium selected for its own semi-final.

 

A curiosity might also have turned up correspondence to the FA from a supporter who attended the earlier semi-final. Published within the 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel (HIP) report, the letter was sent to the governing body immediately after the 1988 Hillsborough tie, which Liverpool won 2-1. "The whole area was packed solid to the point where it was impossible to move and where I, and others around me, felt considerable concern for personal safety," the supporter wrote. "As a result of the crush an umbrella I was holding in my hand was snapped in half against the crush barrier in front of me... My concern over safety was such - at times it was impossible to breathe - that at half-time... I managed to extricate myself from the terrace, having taken the view that my personal safety was more important than watching the second half."

 

The letter was sent to the then Minister of Sport, Colin Moynihan, and to the FA. It was incorrectly addressed to the Ministry so did not arrive. The FA did not reply and when asked about the letter after the disaster could not locate it.

 

The Football Association did not cover itself in glory where the events of that day are concerned, yet amid this week’s justifiable reckoning for South Yorkshire police and David Duckenfield, it has escaped incredibly lightly. And all we have received from the so-called guardians of the game so far are two expressions of regret that Hillsborough actually happened: not exactly a sentiment of spectacular originality. The first of these, issued in September 2012 after the HIP report, was followed by then FA chairman David Bernstein releasing his own statement, in which he personally offered “a full and unreserved apology” but none such for the organisation. In a second, issued yesterday, the FA “reaffirms its deep sorrow and regret that these tragic events, which occurred at one of its own fixtures, led to the loss of life.” Weasel words, which signify and acknowledge nothing. The survivors, their families, and football at large deserve infinitely better.

[magicrat]

Guardians of the game my arse. Guardians of their coffers, Greedy fucking cunts 

[Rico1304]

In the court of public opinion you have to be inclined to assume the worst of any member of SYP, unless proven otherwise. Only in the last week did we have a retired copper called Andy Frith, who was pictured helping on the day of the disaster, rejecting the 'rotten to the core' suggestion in a Facebook post (since deleted) and pushing the blame upwards. Amidst all the expressions of revulsion at his bosses, he claimed that he had confiscated "a huge haul of trays of lager and beer cans". All well and good - except he had told the officers investigating as part of the cover-up that he "did not see any Liverpool fans during our patrol. They were approaching the ground from the opposite direction"! As one lad put it on Twitter, "So SYP Andy Frith waited 27 years to lie about Liverpool Supporters? This cunt's got the script all wrong!"

 

Rotten to the core is about right.

Thanks for highlighting this, that cunt Frith's comments appeared a lot on my FB.

[Frank Dacey]

How many people did SYP arrest for being drunk and disorderly at Hillsborough. They had a vested interest in doing so, yet, as far as I know, the answer is none, so they're hoist by their own petard.

[Beno]

Am I mistaken or was there an alcohol ban within 2/3 miles of the ground. I remember having to jump on bus to find a pub open,and all shops couldn't sell alcohol before kick off.

[Scooby Dudek]

As each day passes I become angrier. As others have said The Truth was out before the end of 1989, yet the families were put through 27 years of hell, just because people cared more about protecting themselves and fuck all about justice. An as added bonus they were able to attack football fans and the people of Liverpool. 

 

Anyone in a position of influence who made negative comments after the release of the Taylor report should be dragged out, made to publicly apologise and asked to explain why, despite Taylor, did they repeat the lies. Cunts

 

Straw and Blair should be ashamed of themselves, self serving as always. 

[Philbert]

Middup and Scraton - both ends of the evolutionary scale. One an arrogant, unintelligent and deeply unpleasant specimen, and one a clearly passionate and caring human being who has selflessly devoted himself to helping right a monstrous injustice. Mr Scraton is an inspiration whose actions should be told and retold, and used as an example in our schools of how to behave as an upstanding citizen with moral fibre and character.

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

 

 

[suzy]

I've just got round to watching this - very moving and powerful and -yes - Phil Scraton - what a great man.

 

I still can't get over the way the families had to trawl through all those pictures of the dead - disgusting!

[Reckoner]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-36259647

[Captain Turdseye]

As I have said for a number of years the cunt who should be nailed for for all thats happened is Graham Kelly, at the time of Hillsborough he was the CEO of the FA, and that is the body who appoints where the Semi's are played,to play a match of this importance at a ground with a history of crowd problems is nothing short of criminal but this shit stain appears to be teflon coated, I always wondered if all the misinformation that happened afterwards stemmed from his national radio broadcast 20 minuets after the game was abandoned  that blamed "drunken Liverpool fans for causing all the trouble", I personally don't think that the importance of playing a Semi final at that ground has been given enough gravity , after all this was the catalyst that brought everything together. 

 

 

Lifetime Fan posted something like this on the Members Forum last week and a quick search brings up him posting it years ago. Shocking if true and it needs investigating.

 

 

I've posted this a few times and no one has ever responded. The initial Taylor report made no reference to all seater stadia whatsoever.

 

When those corrupt cunts at the FA, Sir Bert Millichip and Graham kelly read the initial report they both 'suggested' to Lord Chief Justice Taylor that maybe stadiums should be all seater only.

 

This is the same Sir Bert Millichip and Graham Kelly who held a vast number of shares in a failing plastics company that was about to go into administration. Following the release of the Taylor report suprise so-fucking-prise this plastics company was awarded the contract to supply and fit Wembley with all their plastic seats. They then went on to supply and fit the seats for over 80% of stadia in the top two divisions.

 

As a result of this, the two 'honourable gentlemen' at the top of the FA earned nearly a million pound each in blood money.

 

Fucking cunts. And bollocks to the alledgedly shite, I'd be fucking made up if someone wanted to challenge this.

 

[halewood pete]

I've just got round to watching this - very moving and powerful and -yes - Phil Scraton - what a great man.

 

I still can't get over the way the families had to trawl through all those pictures of the dead - disgusting!

Just got round to watching it myself and agree 100% with this.

When that fella from the police federation was spouting his shite I felt like putting my foot through the telly.

The strength and dignity shown by the families I found humbling.