Hillsborough

I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush. i wouldnt want to waste any tar that could be saved for Duckenfield. I will never forget the smug look on his face when a couple of months later when he had 'retired' on health grounds, a reporter caught up with him in the car park at his golf club. He just walked on refusing to answer questions.
 
Bar the Bull said:
I still think it is a bit unfair to tar all the police with the same brush (some of them were surely following orders and unaware of what happened). But I recognise the fact that I am possibly talking through my hat.
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How many coppers pitch side would it have taken to have opened the gates? I don't buy this following orders tosh, it's common sense.
 
The officers involved in any of the above actions should have been identified and prosecuted for manslaughter. Then i would ensure that they would serve their long sentences in Walton jail. A kicking a day for the full sentence

Absolute scum who deserve to have their lives ruined.
 
There were gates at the front of the pens but they were locked. I seem to remember that it had been agreed they would not be locked for safety reasons but someone obviously thought better. who would have had those keys or were they where is anyones guess but you would think they would have had the presence of mind to get pitchside with them.
 
the gate issue is obviously the key issue..how could people not open them in those circumstances?

to me it just shows the low opinion that the police had for football fans..which they then displayed towards the miners...just heads to crack

it is this attitude that runs through all what happened at hillsborough..football fans were just scum to the police
 
EC1 said:
to me it just shows the low opinion that the police had for football fans..which they then displayed towards the miners...just heads to crack

it is this attitude that runs through all what happened at hillsborough..football fans were just scum to the police
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At the time, the government was in the process of introducing the Football Spectators Act, which would have required supporters to produce ID cards to attend football matches.

Says it all really.
 
trackside528 said:
At the time, the government was in the process of introducing the Football Spectators Act, which would have required supporters to produce ID cards to attend football matches.

Says it all really.
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indeed

I can remember Thatcher coming in and giving the police large pay rises...she knew she was going to need them on her side..i think they thought at that time they could get away with anything they did..hence all the statement altering afterwards..they did get away with it as well..for a long time anyway

happy days for working class people in those days:(

to be fair though..even today when they have video evidence..as in the case of Ian Tomlinson who died when pushed to the ground ..they get off not guilty
 
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EC1 said:
...to me it just shows the low opinion that the police had for football fans..which they then displayed towards the miners...just heads to crack

it is this attitude that runs through all what happened at hillsborough..football fans were just scum to the police
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I suspect they had an even lower opinion of Liverpool people
 
Liverpool fans were not generally viewed as "trouble" in the 80s' (compared with my lot, Leeds, west ham etc etc). I don't think that had anything to do with it

I travelled around a bit with chelsea at that time and knew people who did a lot more than me. What you found was that it varied a lot from force to force

the met were fine. Always calm and controlled. Liverpool bill were chatty and ok. West midlands were bastards and known for sticking anything on anyone. Worse were Sunderland whos police were convicted of assault against Chelsea fans (and i know they went for the scarves too)
 
So the IPCC say that should 'Sir' Norman Bettison still be a serving member of the force, he would have a case to answer for gross misconduct.

www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/2/8602359/ipcc-report-on-bettison


Seeing as he only quit in October 2012, you have to imagine either he was told in advance exactly what the findings would be, and that he would face criminal proceedings, or he has an extremely good lawyer who managed to save his miserable arse.
 
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Unbelievable that anyone who saw any of the footage on the day could possibly think that nothing could be done after 3:15pm.
 
They will all still get away with it in the end. Too much time gone by, and will all be hidden behind different excuses.
 
Agreed...nothing will ever happen to those responsible. And IMHO should anything similar happen again, God forbid, then the "Establishment" would act in exactly the same way. Even today I bet those responsible for that tragedy and for the cover up still think they were right...after all, what are we but "mad, swivel-eyed loons"...
 
It was a disgrace from top to bottom but scrutiny will be tighter these days. It comes down to a very basic small but significant fact

If the crowd had had mobile phones and cameras on that day, do you think it could have been covered up in the way it was?
 
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