Do we have a problem with Sheffield Wednesday fans and their club?

[Morse]

A neighbour is a Wednesday fan and is going to the promotion final at Wembley this weekend.
He is very sympathetic to what happened and is very glad that at long last, justice has prevailed for some.

He did say something odd though...he thinks that Liverpool fans have a massive problem with SW fans and their club. He suggests that there will be bad blood (coming from our side) next year if they come up.
I was surprised at this and we discussed this over a pint last night.
(I believe that there was an issue with an out of date safety certificate etc...perhaps this is what he means).

He says that there are 96 white seats at the front of the Leppings Lane stand that never get used but he is sad that the stand hasn't been knocked down...no money.

He also says that their decline was pretty much soon after the disaster and it is an indication of their grief/guilt over the whole day.

We agreed that the fault lies squarely on the police and politicians of the time...but he still has a worry that we take issue with them.

Thoughts please?

[Lee909]

Never heard of issues with the fans. I think the ownership were a problem not the club or fans though.

[Scooby Dudek]

The club ownership are the problem. If I remember correctly, their refused to put a memorial for the 96 at the ground for many years, for fear of being blamed. 

Even now I would imagine they will happily point towards the police and try and wipe their hands of any blame, just like the F.A.

 

The people of Sheffield that day were amazing and helpful. Queues of people outside of houses so they could phone home (pre mobile phone days) and giving food and drink to fans. 

[Paulie Dangerously]

If they come up the away will be interesting, the ire directed at the police will be large.  IIRC didn't they stop our fans taking flowers in the last time they were up?

[Trumo]

I used to live in Sheffield and I didn't notice any antagonism from Wednesday towards Liverpool, and I can't think of any issues vice versa. As pointed out, any problem Liverpool have towards Wednesday is regarding the club's ownership at the time. The two clubs haven't actually played each other since 1999 which might well make memories hazy.

[deiseach]

I'll be rooting for Wednesday on Monday (see what I did there? Oh, never mind). Quite apart from dread at the thought of Big Fat Head getting yet another life as a top-flight manager, Wednesday are a club that were a top-flight fixture in my youth. Makes me all nostalgic, so it does. 

 

However . . . 

 

You won't have to go very far to find examples of their fans who view the Hillsborough disaster as something that is a burden and resent Liverpool for it, which in turn is the kind of attitude that is like a red rag to a bull for Liverpool fans. Daniel Gordon, the producer of the Hillsborough documentary that so moved us all while nailing the bastards who perpetrated the disaster, was motivated in part by an attitude common among his fellow Sheffield Wednesday fans that it wasn't part of their history, that it was 'the Liverpool fans disaster'.

 

I think everything will be fine between Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday fans. The inquest has completely changed the paradigm. The potential for the wrong thing to be said at an awkward time, the kind of "yeah, but really, the fans" kind of comment is still there though.

[manwiththestick]

I had a soft spot for Wednesday in the early nineties when I was a kid, they seemed to have half the England squad in their team; Woods, Walker, Waddle, David Hirst (if it wasn't for injuries he'd have been great) and not to forget Carlton Palmer.

[Soleilrouge]

Wednesday clearly better than Monday

[aws]

I seem to remember that the Yorkshire Post was as bad as the rag in its coverage at the time and a lot of Wednesday fans would doubtless have taken the lead from their local paper in their attitude to the disaster and their wish to absolve their club of any blame. But I can't remember any trouble at the games before their relegation.

[deiseach]

I seem to remember that the Yorkshire Post was as bad as the rag in its coverage at the time and a lot of Wednesday fans would doubtless have taken the lead from their local paper in their attitude to the disaster and their wish to absolve their club of any blame. But I can't remember any trouble at the games before their relegation.

 

That would be the Yorkshire Post that still considers Bernard Ingham to be worthy of a column.

[Tony Moanero]

Sheffield Star wasn't it?

[RobbieOR]

I'll be rooting for Wednesday on Monday (see what I did there? Oh, never mind). Quite apart from dread at the thought of Big Fat Head getting yet another life as a top-flight manager, Wednesday are a club that were a top-flight fixture in my youth. Makes me all nostalgic, so it does. 

 

However . . . 

 

You won't have to go very far to find examples of their fans who view the Hillsborough disaster as something that is a burden and resent Liverpool for it, which in turn is the kind of attitude that is like a red rag to a bull for Liverpool fans. Daniel Gordon, the producer of the Hillsborough documentary that so moved us all while nailing the bastards who perpetrated the disaster, was motivated in part by an attitude common among his fellow Sheffield Wednesday fans that it wasn't part of their history, that it was 'the Liverpool fans disaster'.

 

I think everything will be fine between Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday fans. The inquest has completely changed the paradigm. The potential for the wrong thing to be said at an awkward time, the kind of "yeah, but really, the fans" kind of comment is still there though.

 

You won't be rooting for them on Monday. The final is tomorrow.

 

They can fuck off though.

[G Richards]

I've no problem with Sheffield Wednesday fans whatsoever. I hope they come up and do well I.e. Stay up. I remember the days when they had a half decent team. It's a good sized city with good people and I hope they get a seat at the top table.

 

The hierarchy at their club was at fault with the stadium safety certificate, but that was also the FA too. And then predominantly, as has been well covered, the police were at fault.

 

The people of Sheffield are friendly and warm. Hillsborough was our tragedy, first and foremost, as we lost 96 of our fellow fans. But it was also their tragedy, obviously in a much lesser way, given the association with the name of their ground and their city and so on. After that it was a tragedy for the whole of football, as it could have been anyone; then finally it was a tragedy for the country, as the injustice carried a stench that lingered for far too many years.

 

I hope they get promoted and we have a couple of games against them, home and away, that help to reset the relationship. If there's any fences that need to be mended for anyone, hopefully it happens when we play them.

[deiseach]

You won't be rooting for them on Monday. The final is tomorrow.

 

They can fuck off though.

 

Ah, I have the playoffs finals dates the wrong way round. And it the Richest Game In The World™ and all. Shame on me.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

On a few Facebook pages like Match of the Day etc, I've noticed a fair few Wednesday fans who view the Hillsborough justice campaign as being an attack on their football club and they have reacted by trotting out disproved allegations and bile.

 

They can fuck off. Hope they lose.

[mattyq]

I lived in Sheffield for 5 years in the late 80s and early 90s and the vast majority of them were great. There were one or 2 twats bet they were mainly tache Utd t'blades fans.

Obviously they're Yorkie tache inbreds and some of the younger ones seem to have taken it as a personal insult to their club and city but mainly they're cool and I wish them well

[Harry Squatter]

I have seen the odd one or two comments on certain websites about Hillsborough but they are few and far between. The main cunts are Mancs and Chelsea fans. The people I know who were there have nothing but praise for the people of Sheffield with their help and support on the day.

 

It all depends on whether any private prosecutions fuck the club up in the future with regards suing the club for having no safety certificate but the FA and local council will be part of that too.

[xerxes]

I don't think there is any particular issue with Sheffield Wednesday, club or fans.

 

It is  odd that of the dozens of grounds and stands which were subsequently redeveloped, that the Leppings Lane End was not one of them.

 

The toxic cocktail that was Hillsborough has the FA, Sheff Wed,  the local licensing authority, and the League in its ingredients, amongst others, in addition to the well documented SYP failures.It is the nature of disasters, everything going wrong at the same time.

 

I don't think there is much desire for a long retribution list .

[Ne Moe Imya]

For me personally Sheffield Wednesday as a club are pretty far down the list of those responsible for what happened at their stadium.  And I can't see how anyone could even have their fans on that list at all.

 

No problems with them from me, but I don't really know any of their fans so maybe that will change?  Rather doubt it, though.  I'm happy to see them come up if they do it.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Morse's neighbour smokes too much weed.

[Anubis]

Well, that's been resolved.

[xerxes]

Championship- we're having a laugh...

[jimmycase]

Personally, I wouldnt step foot in Hillsborough ever again.

 

I seem to remember loads of wednesday fans blaming us for the disaster in the aftermath but there again, so did virtually every other cunt and his wife.

[Mook]

No problem with their support, why would anyone have?

 

The club can stay down for good though, shower of bastards, happy to take the coin while their non-safety certificated stadium was playing host to the semi final. Them and the FA both getting off scot free at the moment is not fucking good enough.

[Harry Squatter]

The whole stand should have been razed to the ground. The fact that the same tunnel is there that so many walked through to their death is baffling.