Bradford City Fire

[Cellarite]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

Jesus wept! I was talking with my Dad about this only two weeks ago. Like many on here I suppose, he said he'd never gone from such a high (after we beat Charlton 5-1) to such a low so quickly as he got back to his car near Maine Road and switched the radio on.

 

[Vienna_70]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

I know a couple of people that were there and had family and friends die in the fire. It's an incredibly sensitive subject amongst Bradford fans and I'm sure some wouldn't want those feelings of grief to be raised again. I do think it is very interesting to read though and certainly doesn't sound right.

I have friends who were there that day, too, and they still find it very difficult to talk about.

As the article says, there are too many coincidences and a fuller investigation should be held. I hope they get to the bottom of this and the victims finally have the answers they deserve.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

That's a pretty serious and stunning allegation. It's always been the received wisdom that Hillsborough was negligence whereas Bradford was just an unlucky accident.

Now it turns out that Bradford may have been a lot worse.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

A very very interesting article. I too was at Maine Road that day watching us beat Charlton and only heard afterwards. Looking back it does appear the enquiry was done and dusted quickly and came to a simple and straightforward ( and wholly believable ) conclusion

May I be so bold as to suggest the media obsession with Hillsborough ( wholly justified especially with the conclusions we now have ) also meant that the Bradford fire has been out of the limelight and left to fade away. BCFC aren't as big a club as LFC and don't have the press clout so now the campaigning press have rightly got a proper investigation into Hillsborough I hope the swing behind the Bradford fire with a campaign to get another enquiry into these events now?

 

[everythingchangesbutblue]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

Blows the mind that article. Enough there for a new look into i would have thought. Horrible horrible tragedy that seems all but forgotten these days. Poor souls.

 

[stony]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

fuckin hell.

That was my exact reaction.

 

[Dubai Blue]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

Astonishing stuff. What an absolute bastard if true.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

Never heard this before. But lived in Bradford for many years.
Worked in City Centre and would often hear fire engines racing to the scene
of a fire. The lads in the office would joke, there goes another insurance job.
Apparently it was rife, especially the old mill buildings.

 

[cibaman]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

You wouldn't arrange to torch the stand in the middle of a game when you were going to be sat in it. Why add a mass murder charge to one of arson? You would arrange for it to catch fire a couple of hours after the game, put it down to cig dropped during the game which had smouldered for a while.

Perhaps there should have been greater scrutiny about the causes of the fire, the culpability of Hegginbotham and the authorities. But this is the wrong story.

 

[M18CTID]

Re: Was the Bradford fire deliberate?

You wouldn't arrange to torch the stand in the middle of a game when you were going to be sat in it. Why add a mass murder charge to one of arson? You would arrange for it to catch fire a couple of hours after the game, put it down to cig dropped during the game which had smouldered for a while.

Perhaps there should have been greater scrutiny about the causes of the fire, the culpability of Hegginbotham and the authorities. But this is the wrong story.

I have to say that I agree with this. I have every sympathy for the author of the book and the family members he lost and that in itself has probably led to him searching for answers down the years but when you take some time to consider this, there are so many reasons why these allegations are wide of the mark. I had a look at a Bradford City forum to gauge their take and almost to a man/woman they're calling it as bollocks and are upset that the author would choose to bring this book out on the eve of the 30th anniversary. They're saying that it was no secret that Heginbotham was a bit of a rogue but to think he would go from torching unoccupied business premises to setting fire to football grounds full of people for the sake of an insurance pay-off really is stretching it. Investigators found no evidence of an accelerant, and the steel for the new stand had already been delivered in time for work to start the Monday after the Lincoln game.

As an aside, I see that our old friend Tony Attwood from Untold Arsenal has succeeded in pissing off a load of Bradford fans by posting an article relating to this on his website with a headline stating not that it might've been arson but that it WAS arson. The bloke is a fucking clown.