Cohen the c**t spouting more lies!!

[niallers]

Steven Cohen, co-host of the World Soccer Daily radio show, has been at it again.

 

While the rest of the world last week was paying tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Tragedy, Cohen was complaining on his U.S. radio show that Liverpool fans failed to take responsibility for Hillsborough as well as claiming that if 6,000-8,000 ticketless fans had not shown up, the Hillsborough Disaster would never have happened.

 

The problem is, he’s wrong. Dead wrong.

 

Steven Cohen’s Statements About the Hillsborough Disaster

So what did Cohen say that was so wrong? Here are three statements that Cohen made about the Hillsborough Disaster on his Monday, April 13, 2009 episode of World Soccer Daily (note, you can listen to the entire audio clip at the bottom of this post):

 

 

“People showing up without ticket, hell bent in getting into somewhere where they shouldn’t be going because they don’t have tickets, is the root cause of [the Hillsborough Disaster].”

 

“I’m yet to read anybody write in this weekend’s Sunday papers in England, where they’re all doing big commemorations about the 96, and why we should never forget and how it’s changed the game, nobody discusses the 6-8,000 who showed up without tickets and my argument has always been, if those people don’t show up, this never happens.”

 

“[Hillsborough] is a stadium that week-in week-out, Sheffield Wednesday used without incident.”

 

World Soccer Daily Playing With Fire

Hosted by Steven Cohen and Kenny Hassan, the Los Angeles-based show is broadcast nationwide each weekday on Sirius Satellite Radio and also available as a daily podcast, which is one of the top 10 most popular sports podcasts on iTunes.

 

Without a doubt, Cohen is the voice of soccer in America. Since the launch of his network in May 2002, Cohen has succeeded in growing World Soccer Daily into the must-listen show about soccer in the United States. Coupled with his weekly co-host slot on Fox Soccer Channel’s Fox Football Fone-In show, 46-year-old Cohen has built a sizeable following, many of whom are impressionable fans who are relatively new to the sport and hang on his every word.

 

That’s fine when it’s fun and games, but when Cohen (a Chelsea supporter) spews out misinformation about the Hillsborough Disaster, it’s dangerous. One, because his beliefs about Hillsborough are completely wrong. And two, because by making his beliefs public, he’s giving many newbie soccer fans false information and thereby spreading the wrong information about the cause of the disaster. With such a large audience on radio and television, he has a responsibility to educate listeners on what really happened on April 15, 1989.

 

The Facts About The Hillsborough Tragedy

To dispel his myths, here are the facts:

 

“The immediate cause of the gross overcrowding and hence the disaster was the failure, when gate C was opened, to cut off access to the central pens which were already overfull,” — The Interim Taylor Report, paragraph 265.

“Planning apart, however, it should have been clear in the control room where there was a view of the pens and of the crowd at the turnstiles that the tunnel had to be closed. If orders had been given to that effect when gate C was opened, the fans could have been directed to the empty areas of the wings and this disaster could still have been avoided. Failure to give that order was a blunder of the first magnitude,” — The Interim Taylor Report, paragraph 231.

“I have already found that there was not an abnormally large number of fans without tickets on this occasion. With one or two exceptions, the police witnesses themselves did not subscribe to the ‘conspiracy’ theory (of a large number

of late-arriving ticketless supporters). I am satisfied that the large concentration at Leppings Lane from 2.30 pm to 2.50 pm did not arrive as a result of any concerted plan. There were, I accept, small groups without tickets who were willing to exploit any adventitious chance of getting into the ground. They, together with the minority who had drunk too much, certainly aggravated the problem faced by the police. But that main problem was simply one of large numbers packed into the small area outside the turnstiles,” The Interim Taylor Report, paragraph 208.

“The police witnesses who most impressed me did not consider the number of ticketless fans to be inordinately large. This accords with two other sources of evidence,” The Interim Taylor Report, paragraph 200.

“Sheffield Wednesday FC’s own admission count system showed the terrace did not exceed its 10,100 capacity (for the Leppings Lane end). As part of their analysis, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) counted the number of [Liverpool] supporters entering the ground, including those through the turnstiles, through Gate C and even those who climbed over the turnstiles. They gave three admission figures based on their analysis. Their first figure was 9,267, their ‘best estimate’ was 9,734, and their third figure was a ‘maximum estimate’ of 10,124. The HSE report stated it was unlikely that the terrace exceeded 10,124 and that total admissions were approximately equal to the designated capacity of 10,100 people. Taylor surmised there was no substance to the allegation that ticketless fans caused the Disaster,” The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context And Consequences, page 17. Also watch video evidence of the fans walking through the turnstiles and walking into the tunnel.

The Taylor Report exonerated the Liverpool fans of any culpability. “The main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control,” The Interim Taylor Report, paragraph 278.

Leppings Lane stand was deemed unsuitable in 1981 after 38 Spurs fans suffered crush related injuries. Sheffield Wednesday never carried out the work required. In addition to the 1981 incident, crushes also occurred at Hillsborough in 1987 and 1988. In fact Liverpool played Nottingham Forest in the same stage of the tournament one year prior at the same ground where Liverpool fans were crushed. Liverpool filed an official complaint prior to the 1989 FA-Cup semi final to air their concerns about safety.

Cohen was absolutely wrong on his April 13th show regarding the statements he made about the Hillsborough Tragedy. There were not, as he claimed, 6,000-8,000 ticketless fans. Cohen was emphatically wrong when he claimed that Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium was used week-in week-out without incident. And the reason none of the English newspapers last Sunday discussed the “6-8,000 who showed up without tickets” is because they didn’t exist. The vast majority of English journalists and pundits know better because they’ve taken time to study the facts rather than to believe the lies told by The Sun and the South Yorkshire Police.

 

Sure, there were a very small minority of ticketless fans at the ground. And sure, some of the supporters were drunken (as at any football game or sporting event), but the fact of the matter is that Cohen is living in the 80s with the inaccurate statements he’s spewing out.

 

The Liverpool supporters were a victim of a combination of mistakes by the South Yorkshire Police (for failing to notice that the central pen was overcrowded while the pens to the left and right had room for more spectators, as well as not directing the Liverpool fans who came through the turnstiles away from the central pen), Sheffield Wednesday Football Club (Leppings Lane was ill-suited to admit the 10,100 fans, had too few turnstiles and the club failed to fix those and other issues between 1981-1989 even though they were well aware of them) and the Football Association (for deciding to play the semi-final match at Hillsborough despite previous crushing incidents).

 

Cohen’s History of Blaming Liverpool Fans For Hillsborough

Cohen’s comments last week aren’t the first time he’s created controversy on American airwaves regarding Hillsborough. On December 5, 2006, he appeared on the Fox Football Fone-In TV show on the U.S. network Fox Soccer Channel and claimed that Liverpool fans were responsible for Hillsborough. He then apologized on the December 12 episode of Fox Football Fone-In, but the damage was clearly already done.

 

In April, 2007, he again blamed the Liverpool fans for causing the Hillsborough Disaster, this time on his radio show.

 

He may have apologized on Fox Football Fone-In December 12, 2006, but his views haven’t changed one iota — rendering his 2006 apology virtually meaningless.

 

Comparisons to Kelvin MacKenzie

Cohen’s misinformed views about what caused the Hillsborough Disaster are similar in context to those of Kelvin MacKenzie.

 

On April 19, 1989, MacKenzie, the former editor of The Sun newspaper published a sensationalized account of what happened at Hillsborough. MacKenzie’s newspaper that day alleged that ticketless and drunken Liverpool F.C. fans were responsible for the disaster, having supposedly tried to fight their way into the stadium by rushing the turnstiles and attacking policemen outside the ground.

 

It’s taken 20 years of education in the United Kingdom to try to get the public to understand what was the real cause of the Hillsborough Disaster.

 

Then in November 2006, just days before Cohen said basically the same thing, MacKenzie again claimed that drunken Liverpool fans caused the disaster.

 

“I’m still reading the same old stuff about who’s responsible. And it’s the police, it’s the stadium, it’s whatever,” said Cohen in the April 13 radio episode. Cohen then inferred that the Liverpool fans don’t take responsibility for their own actions regarding the events that led up to the Hillsborough Tragedy. Despite his December, 2006 apology, he obviously hasn’t changed his controversial beliefs and he continues to appear on the Fox Football Fone-In show week-in week out.

 

It’s fitting that on the April 13 episode of the Fox show, it was co-host Nick Webster who paid tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster in a pre-recorded segment at the end of the show. Cohen wasn’t included.

 

Conclusion

Twenty years after the Hillsborough Disaster, we’re still hearing the same old lies about what happened on that fateful day. It’s time for people to educate themselves about what really happened and stand up against those who fabricate misinformation. For our current generation and future generations, we owe it to them and the 96 who died to tell the real truth of what transpired in Sheffield on April 15, 1989.

 

To learn more about what really happened at the Hillsborough Disaster, read the Interim Taylor Report, and visit the Hillsborough Football Disaster and Hillsborough Justice Campaign websites.

[niallers]

didnt see the other thread , my apologies.

[SpeedyG]

He used to have a show on FSC and he trotted out this same shit. It's a pretty said reflection on the media that they'll put this shit out there knowing it's bollocks just to get attention.

[niallers]

Well in fairness the guy who wrote the article seems to have done a good job in pointing out cohen's obvious cuntishness and sets the record straight in regard to his lies. I only hope people start seeing this guy for the prick and shit stirrer he really is across the pond and he gets the bullet.

[SpeedyG]

Well in fairness the guy who wrote the article seems to have done a good job in pointing out cohen's obvious cuntishness and sets the record straight in regard to his lies. I only hope people start seeing this guy for the prick and shit stirrer he really is across the pond and he gets the bullet.

 

That's the problem, he IS football over here.

[John101]

That's the problem, he IS football over here.

 

Tom hicks should go on the show dressed as a cowboy and set him straight

[Rex Banner]

Does anyone call him out on his shit? He's on a phone in show is he not?

[Lucky Pierre]

I used to download the podcast until he started sputing his bile about a month ago about the fans wanting the world to stand still on the 15th (when all we wanted was to play on the 14th instead), and I had it out with him over email, and he just started going on and on about Heysel and Munich. He is a twat of the biggest order. I haven't read the full first post, but the thing that most got me about that, is that Sheff Weds used it every week because they were used to it. They knew where to go. The three previous times that it was used for cup games in the 80s there was trouble.

[Section_31]

Cultural question, but would the American media be less likely to accept the idea of the police being at fault for something, and more likely to embrace a 'Brit hooligan' notion instead?

 

It always seems to me that the US media laps that shit up.

[Rustyjeffears]

I sent an email to the show:

 

Dear WSD,

 

 

 

I'm probably joining the many people in voiceing my horror at the latest comments by S Cohen with regards to the Hillsborough disaster.

 

 

 

Once again he has irresponsibly aired his own personal views on an event, views which go against the independent inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor after disaster.

 

 

 

In citing that, “People showing up without ticket, hell bent in getting into somewhere where they shouldn’t be going because they don’t have tickets, is the root cause of [the Hillsborough Disaster]" he has blatently diregarded the findings in the inquiry that clearly state:

 

 

 

“The immediate cause of the gross overcrowding and hence the disaster was the failure, when gate C was opened, to cut off access to the central pens which were already overfull,”

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

“The police witnesses who most impressed me did not consider the number of ticketless fans to be inordinately large. This accords with two other sources of evidence,”

 

 

 

As a leading pundit in the USA in regards to soccer, his opinions are held by many to be the truth. In being allowed to broadcast his accusations which are nothing more than his own opinion based on no fact, he is causing unneccesary upset to the families of those affected by the tragedy.

 

 

 

If his hasn't got the self control and common sense to keep his flawed views on a delicate subject to himself, then it is the responsibility of the host broadcaster to take measures to censure such wild accusations. What saddens me the most is that this is not the first time he has made outlandish remarks about Hillsborough, and after apologising the first time, it appears now that his views are no different and the apology was nothing more then a facade.

[SpeedyG]

I sent an email to the show:

 

Dear WSD,

 

 

 

I'm probably joining the many people in voiceing my horror at the latest comments by S Cohen with regards to the Hillsborough disaster.

 

 

 

Once again he has irresponsibly aired his own personal views on an event, views which go against the independent inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor after disaster.

 

 

 

In citing that, “People showing up without ticket, hell bent in getting into somewhere where they shouldn’t be going because they don’t have tickets, is the root cause of [the Hillsborough Disaster]" he has blatently diregarded the findings in the inquiry that clearly state:

 

 

 

“The immediate cause of the gross overcrowding and hence the disaster was the failure, when gate C was opened, to cut off access to the central pens which were already overfull,”

 

 

 

and

 

 

 

“The police witnesses who most impressed me did not consider the number of ticketless fans to be inordinately large. This accords with two other sources of evidence,”

 

 

 

As a leading pundit in the USA in regards to soccer, his opinions are held by many to be the truth. In being allowed to broadcast his accusations which are nothing more than his own opinion based on no fact, he is causing unneccesary upset to the families of those affected by the tragedy.

 

 

 

If his hasn't got the self control and common sense to keep his flawed views on a delicate subject to himself, then it is the responsibility of the host broadcaster to take measures to censure such wild accusations. What saddens me the most is that this is not the first time he has made outlandish remarks about Hillsborough, and after apologising the first time, it appears now that his views are no different and the apology was nothing more then a facade.

 

You'd be better off sending it to Hicks or Gillett their desire to be seen as the good guys might make them actually do something and they have more resources than we do.

[Lucky Pierre]

I just sent a nasty Email to Cohen himself.

[gkmacca]

How many times has this creep been forced to apologise? He does this kind of thing time after time, and after each occasion he does a meek apology and then carries on regardless. He's utterly dishonest and shouldn't be employed by any broadcaster amywhere.

[andymc]

can I have that email address please?

[theghost]

Cultural question, but would the American media be less likely to accept the idea of the police being at fault for something, and more likely to embrace a 'Brit hooligan' notion instead?

 

It always seems to me that the US media laps that shit up.

 

No, but the vast majority are uneducated and will take what he says as gospel, because he has an accent most of us don't recognize. He's a fucking cunt of the highest order, a Murdoch-sized cunt, which is funny because that's who signs Cohen's paycheck, the little fuck.

[Rustyjeffears]

I sent it to

 

wsd@worldsoccerdaily.com

[ottawa_lfc]

Couple of things. People who write to him should avoid insults - it only perpetrates the uneducated, out-of-control scouser image that twat wants to cultivate. He's like a holocaust denier--has his own specious contrary opinions on something the world has accepted a long time ago.

 

And second, this is really something the club should be taking up... if the club launches a lawsuit against him for defamation, it will shut him up, guaranteed.

[theghost]

Actually Mark now that I think about it, it's definitely possible especially because of what I said (or tried to say) - people take this man's word as gospel because he's speaking from a position of relative authority. FSC is the most accessible channel having to do with footie anywhere in the US (for most of us anyway), and as the only real opinion show on air, a lot of people, especially newer and un(der)educated fans will take what he says at face value.

[Liverpool lad]

I agree that insulting and offensive language in your replies gives these cowardly writers a fallback. Who was that writer the other week with the 'I see dead people' article? He used the hate filled replies to his advantage.

 

What annoys me the most is that people take onboard the views of people deemed to be in authority, and it further perpetuates the myth of drunken ticketless fans being the cause of the disaster.

[SpeedyG]

thicks@hicksholdings.com

 

Get Hicks on the case. His PR people monitor this account.

[Lupin]

thicks@hicksholdings.com

 

Get Hicks on the case. His PR people monitor this account.

 

I've just done that - now lets see what happens.

[23_Carra_Gold]

I've just done that - now lets see what happens.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for a positive outcome.

[Lupin]

I wouldn't hold my breath for a positive outcome.

 

I'm not - but look at it this way - this would be his best, most salable asset he's protecting.

[23_Carra_Gold]

:telloff: Grow up.

 

Excellent use of the 'tell off' smilie there. That suggestion was extremely tongue in cheek.

[INTORRESTING]

if he gets hold of this thread he will lay into us again. These things need to be clean and professional, why give morons ammunition. It happened with the guy from the Times and will happen again if Cohen reads some of the suggestions in this thread