Liverpool bus damaged on journey back from Etihad Stadium today

[mattcity5]

@paulchapo

110% agree with every word.

 

[paulchapo]

@paulchapo

110% agree with every word.

Cheers. I lost my train of thought and ended up writing a bit of a limited recap of events around that era and on the day. It's 34 years ago now and some youngsters might not know how it was, unless they've watched any of the documentaries or write ups.

 

[mattcity5]

Cheers. I lost my train of thought and ended up writing a bit of a limited recap of events around that era and on the day. It's 34 years ago now and some youngsters might not know how it was, unless they've watched any of the documentaries or write ups.

Absolutely agree. Football fans, with Liverpool being some of both the highest profile and the worst behaved, were seen as guilty without trial whenever anything happened. Now they've swung it around so far that they aren't allowed to be found guilty of anything in the eyes of the media.

 

[blueyorkie]

It's not explicitly mentioning it, and I suspect many singing it don't explicitly link it to Hillsborough, but the important thing is it can be or be seen to be linked to it. which is why it's better not to sing it.

But I also suspect many are appalled by the hypocrisy of that fanbase, who have shown no respect for the victims of Munich, or Harold Shipman, no respect for the safety of players and fans in coaches and no respect for the Queen.

Also the way they've shrilly gone about this, in an outraged and entitled way instead of approaching it in a more measured, mature way, by engaging with fan groups as peers, makes it hard to have any sympathy with them.

When the song is belted out I’ve never once thought it was about Hillsborough, it’s just their general state of mind & their assumption that they are special and that normal decent behaviour is not required from them. Despite them having refs on a string they think they are not favoured!

 

[Eccles Blue]

As I said before I don't understand why more northerners don't boo it. Personally I don't have any respect for the royal family so don't have an issue with anyone booing it

As a born and bred Northerner reasonably slightly to the left (enough left for my Dad to almost disown me! That’s a sort of joke by the way as he was proud of me standing up for my beliefs even though he voted Conservative in the GE but Labour in the LE! Go figure)
Anyway I digress… I would never boo our National Anthem as I have respect for my country and the NA to me represents my country. The tune/song is not necessarily one I would choose as a NATIONAL anthem I would prefer something relating to England but I didn’t choose it. :-) However I would never disrespect my country by booing it. I think/hope I have more integrity than the people who boo. As others have said why is it only the red shirted people from the end of the East Lancs and not Evertonians?





I do however boo the Anthem played before the European games but I am not disrespecting a country just a corrupt organisation. By the same token as our NA I would not boo the Russian anthem because it represents the people of that country not the Putin man. Sorry that last sentence should probably be in the Politics forum but I was anticipating someone asking that question. As you’ve probably gathered my mind does go off at different angles!! Digression they call it, old age I call it. *lol*

 

[I'm Blue]

More lies from the Liverpool FC mouthpiece, the Daily Mirror.

No mention of the murderers chant?
Don’t want to be shining a light on that do they

 

[Eccles Blue]

I stayed on after the game and in the South stand we carried on singing the Johnny Stones song and he was waving his arm along in time to the chant.

*Tongue in cheek time, I don’t want to offend anyone*

Now you are just trying to upset me you know that don’t you?? You just want to make me jealous or make me cry!

If I get back before the end of the season (fingers & toes crossed) I am going to be slightly rude and push my way to the other end of my row, near where the players tunnel is and shout his name very loudly and hope he hears and gives me his shirt!!!


(I know that won’t happen, they only give them to the little kids and I don’t really think I could get away with posing as a child!!!) :-)

 

[Eccles Blue]

The eighties were a pretty grim time for the country and football. Strikes, riots, lots of unemployment and poverty. Against this depressing backdrop football violence was unsurprisingly at its peak, played in crumbling not fit for purpose stadiums. In quick succession we had the Bradford fire and the Heysel disaster, swiftly followed by the European ban on English clubs. Thatcher and her government declared war on football fans. Four years later, with not much changed, Hillsborough happened, again unsurprisingly.

Such was the contempt football fans were held in at that time, Liverpool fans in particular after Heysel, it was easy for the government, police and media to put all the blame onto them. Nobody questioned it, except of course for the fans who were there, but who would believe them? For people who didn't go to games all football fans were thugs and deserved everything they got. Match going fans knew differently but they were all tarred with the same brush and nobody wanted to hear their side of things. That's why it was so easy to cover up and lie about what happened. It was still a time that the authority and police were held in high regard and their word rarely questioned. The Sun, the most popular newspaper of the day, did a real hatchet job on the fans at Hillsborough. That as good as collaborated the police version of events.

One thing I admire the scousers for is their tenacity and sheer bloody mindedness to fight to the bitter end in a cause they believe in. Anybody who knew the political landscape back then knows what a huge almost impossible task they faced. That's why it took so long.

Analysing it now Liverpool fans weren't to blame, but also, aside from the disgraceful lies and cover ups after the event, the police were, like the Liverpool fans, victims of the times and circumstances as well. Thousands of fans turning up late and being crushed outside led to the police commander making the fatal decision to open the gates. In truth he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. I have no doubt if he hadn't people would have died outside too. Were there fans without tickets who seized their chance to rush in? Almost inevitably, but we'll never know for sure. What we do know is Hillsborough and in particular the Leppings Lane terrace was not fit for purpose and it's design of small pens and the fences, faced with a sudden surge of people, led to tragedy. One thing that sadly hit home how bad things were regarding hooliganism and the police's reaction to football fans was the perimeter police on the day. They could see people were being crushed, screaming in distress right in front of their eyes but they refused to open the gates in the fences. Even worse anybody trying to climb over the fences to escape were being beaten back with batons.

I have got lost in a bit of a tangent here and lost my train of thought but these things had to be said. Liverpool fans back then were cunts, well a lot of them and they aren't a lot better now. Make no mistake though that day at Hillsborough would have happened to any other set of football fans, including ours. It was a perfect storm years in the making and that day it broke with devastating consequences.

Thirty four years later do i think they use it to their advantage to gloss over their own many episodes of thuggish behaviour? Yes sadly I do. Even more sadly, given that they have been involved in two of the worst disasters in football, they appear to have learnt very little from them. After our club and fans showing total respect, on i think the 25th anniversary of the disaster, they repaid that respect by stoning on of our coaches and attacking our fans. If they want the continued empathy and respect of other football fans for Hillsborough they really have to address their own behaviour as well. They can't have it all their own way, no matter what the media say.

Absolutely brilliant summing up there @paulchapo.
I remember people looking down on me when I had the temerity to dare defend the majority of football fans. From all teams not just ours.

 

[paulchapo]

Absolutely brilliant summing up there @paulchapo.
I remember people looking down on me when I had the temerity to dare defend the majority of football fans. From all teams not just ours.

Thanks. A lot of the time we were treated worse than criminals at games. Provoked, pushed, corralled, spoken to like crap and roughed up. That was by the police before any trouble happened lol.

 

[Eccles Blue]

To be fair they only wished I got hit by a car or bus, and it was for having the outrageous opinion that if we want opposition clubs to condemn our bus getting attacked we should also do it when theirs is attacked, so I probably deserved it.

I’m sorry @domalino but wishing harm on anyone is not right and you didn’t deserve it.
There’s banter, such as my death stare, and there’s actually wishing a person real hurt and the latter is wrong. IMHO