The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 108 The Belated Truth

"It was very difficult to find and make public the truth of the tragedy, but the families of the dead and injured and the fans who persevered did not give up. After more than 20 years of efforts, they finally pushed the government to present the truth to the world and bring the criminals to justice."

--Inscription

The Hillsborough disaster shocked the whole of England, and what happened next was shocking.

The Sheffield police, who were responsible for the safety of the scene, quickly published the first investigation report afterwards, blaming the Liverpool fans for the tragedy. The "drunken" and "irrational" Liverpool football hooligans and out-of-control fans caused the disaster, and the police will track down and prosecute the relevant criminals.

The English media generally accepted this statement at the beginning. The BBC directly published the full text of the police's statement accusing the fans of losing control. Later, The Sun devoted an entire page to the theme "THE TRUTH" and published a bunch of articles with gimmicks such as revelations, pointing the finger at those Liverpool fans.

The Sun pointed out the "three major sins" of Liverpool fans: first, fans looted the victims, second, fans urinated on the police and the dead, and third, fans beat the police. In this way, Liverpool fans were portrayed as devils and were criticized and blamed for a while.

The report of The Sun aroused the indignation of Liverpool Club and fans. They immediately burned the newspapers of The Sun, attacked the office of The Sun in Liverpool, and clashed with the staff of The Sun. Liverpool local newspapers quickly published a series of articles criticizing The Sun for fraud and trampling on the moral bottom line of the news media. More media intervened in this incident. The BBC, The Times, The Guardian and others conducted more investigations and reported in detail the process and details of the tragedy. The families of the victims of the tragedy specially established the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC) and directly sued The Sun newspaper to seek justice for the dead fans. Under pressure, The Sun admitted that all the reports were untrue, but still refused to apologize.

It was not until July 2004, 7 that The Sun published an apology statement: "We have made the most terrible mistake since our founding. We apologize to the families of all the victims and to the Liverpool fans."

Liverpool FC will never accept the apology of The Sun. They issued a public statement, once again accusing The Sun of being inhumane. Many Liverpool fans have always refused to be interviewed by The Sun, and will never buy or read the newspaper, let alone place any advertisements in it.

Aside from the media noise, the British government quickly intervened. The then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rushed to the scene to direct the rescue and aftermath, and then announced an investigation and handling of the accident. Two days later, Chief Justice Peter Taylor accepted the appointment of the British Home Secretary and began the investigation. Taylor's team finally issued two investigation reports. The first was the "Interim Report" released in August of that year. The main content of the report was the process of the tragedy that day and the preliminary determination of responsibility. The second report was officially released a year later. The report made suggestions on football safety issues throughout the UK. This is the famous "Taylor Report". This report promoted the English government's management of football matches. Top league clubs were required to immediately carry out stadium rectification and maintenance, cancel standing tickets, and convert seats into full seats. Major stadiums were required to immediately remove the deadly barbed wire and instead send more people to prevent fans from rushing into the venue.

The Taylor Report clearly pointed the finger at the police department for the investigation responsibility. Lord Justice Taylor pointed out that although Hillsborough was once known as "one of the best stadiums in the UK", the stadium entrances and exits were poorly set up and managed, the diversion facilities and wire fences in the stands posed hidden dangers, and the wire fences between the stands and the stadium were even more dangerous. These were all the responsibilities of the stadium managers.

The Taylor report also pointed out that some Liverpool fans had committed serious illegal acts. Fans without tickets rushed into the stadium and caused chaos. Some fans damaged the stadium facilities because they lost control of their emotions. Some fans also hurt others in the chaos. But Justice Taylor emphasized that the fans' actions were not the cause of the tragedy, but only the catalyst that made things worse.

South Yorkshire Police strongly opposed the Taylor Report, insisting that the tragedy was caused by football hooligans, and that fans who entered the stadium without tickets or with fake tickets were the trigger of the disaster. Although the police had a responsibility to maintain safety and there were errors of delay, they should not be held responsible for the deaths.

South Yorkshire Police even believed that "the tragedy was a premeditated crime committed by some fans." They also launched a case investigation report and disclosed the evidence at the scene to prove that "the main responsibility for the tragedy was that the fans were too crazy and the crowd lost their composure, which eventually led to the tragedy."

The families of the victims did not agree with the police report. They all believed that the tragedy was a man-made disaster and that the management and police department failed to do their job. The fans' negligence was not the direct cause, and they absolutely could not accept the dirty water thrown on the families.

On March 1991, 3, the English government issued an investigative ruling: the tragedy was an accident and no one was legally responsible for the victims. This ruling caused an uproar. The muddy approach not only made it impossible for many victims to seek justice, but also their families did not even receive compensation. The police were not only not held responsible, but were actually rewarded.

The families of the victims vowed to overturn this absurd conclusion. A protracted appeal effort began. From Thatcher, Major, Blair, Cameron to Theresa May, they continued to ask the government to conduct an in-depth investigation. After five British governments, they did not give up their efforts. The families of the victims finally took the case to the House of Lords, constantly collecting and disclosing various evidences.

During this long period of time, many families of the victims have suffered a lot. The investigation of the Hillsborough disaster has become a scar that is difficult for English society to get around. Every year, people die by suicide. This is the most tragic questioning and accusation against the English government, society and judicial system.

By August 2011, the British people launched the largest collective petition since the tragedy, and Parliament finally agreed to restart the investigation.

On September 2012, 9, then British Prime Minister Cameron made a public speech to formally apologize to the 12 Liverpool fans and their families who died. The final conclusion was that the tragedy occurred first because of the safety issues at Hillsborough Stadium. "Based on the clues obtained from a thorough investigation, it can be determined that the safety measures at Hillsborough Stadium at the time were 'completely substandard', and there were early signs of this tragedy." The government finally denied the police's determination of responsibility and disagreed with blaming the responsibility on Liverpool fans' alcoholism. "The claim that this tragedy is linked to the alcoholism of Liverpool fans is completely untenable. The alcohol consumption at the stadium was negligible, and no chaos caused by alcoholism was found in the stands where the accident occurred or in other stands. There is no evidence that the dead fans had alcoholism problems, nor is there any evidence that the chaos was caused by alcoholic fans making trouble."

The investigation report made a preliminary judgment on the cause of death of 96 fans and asked the English authorities to conduct a further thorough investigation. "Not all fans died in accidents. 28 of them did not die from blood circulation disorders. There is conclusive evidence that 31 people died from being trampled, and more than 10 people died from suffocation."

The investigation report pointed out that "the police's disregard for safety and confusion in security management caused further chaos among the crowd. In the chaos, the police failed to carry out effective control in time, and failed to evacuate in time after excessive gatherings occurred, which led to the tragedy. The government and the police lacked emergency plans and were completely unable to properly handle similar incidents. The rescue work after the tragedy was also very imperfect. The security and evacuation work at the stadium was very poor, and almost no safe and effective escape routes were provided. Afterwards, the South Yorkshire Police Department also tried to shift the blame, which is intolerable."

Cameron expressed his apology, "As the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I need to apologize here to the fans who died in this tragedy and their families. In addition to the pain of losing their loved ones, they have also suffered a lot of unfair accusations in the past 23 years."

23 years after the Hillsborough tragedy, the families of the victims and Liverpool Football Club finally saw the dawn of redress. At the same time, the various evidences exposed were shocking. The police not only failed to do their job, but also tampered with 164 investigation documents and changed 116 oral materials of the police. Testimonies that were unfavorable to the police were deleted or modified. Under the pressure of in-depth and comprehensive investigation, many police officers and personnel who handled the incident on the scene finally made key testimonies and confessions, revealing more facts and truth.

Werner, then chairman of Liverpool, said: "Today, on behalf of myself and all members of the club, I commemorate everyone who was hurt in this tragedy. Let us remember them and pray for them. Now the world finally knows what happened in Hillsborough and what the truth is. We will continue to remember that terrible day, these deceased fans and their families."

Truth belatedly comes, and justice comes even later. It was not until April 2016 that a jury of the British High Court ruled that the cause of the accident was the serious dereliction of duty of the South Yorkshire Police, and 4 fans were "unlawfully killed". The then police commander Duckenfield was charged with manslaughter of the 96 victims and negligent injury to the injured. Norman Beddison of South Yorkshire was charged with perjury, Graham McReal, then secretary of Sheffield Wednesday, was prosecuted for manslaughter, Donald Denton, head of the South Yorkshire Police, Peter Metcalfe, a police lawyer, and Alan Foster, head of the patrol police, were prosecuted for obstruction of justice.

All this has happened 27 years ago.

After the Hillsborough disaster, the FA immediately announced that the semi-final was cancelled. Three weeks later, the interrupted game was resumed at Old Trafford. Before the game, the Red Devils Club and Ferguson expressed their condolences and sympathy to Liverpool. Liverpool won the game 3-1 and entered the final. Liverpool then faced Everton in the final. The FA Cup final held at Wembley Stadium was also full of sorrow. Everton even hung a banner on the field to express their condolences to their city rivals. Dalglish led the team to win the championship in the end and brought the championship back to Anfield to comfort the fans who died.

When Liverpool challenged Everton in the league, Everton used a huge red and blue scarf to decorate the stadium with a simple and solemn slogan: "We are all Liverpool people. You will never walk alone."

The Red Devils and Ferguson immediately expressed their condolences and support to the Liverpool FC. Ferguson called on all Red Devils fans to maintain proper etiquette in the face of the tragedy and called on fans to help within their ability. After the final results of the British government's investigation were announced, the match between the Red Devils and Liverpool was held 11 days later. Before the game, Ferguson pleaded with the Red Devils fans who were going to the game, "The two clubs have suffered a lot because of football. As a club, we should not ridicule other people's disasters. At this moment of revealing the truth, we should empathize with the families of the fans who died and were injured."

Ferguson said: "I am very grateful to the Red Devils fans who will be watching the game at Anfield. They have given the team a lot of help and made the team stronger. The Red Devils are the best in the Premier League and famous all over the world. The support of the fans is the key to our progress. Our battle with Liverpool is to make the team stronger, not to mock the tragedy of death. Our conscience prompts the Red Devils to be determined to commemorate the dead together with Liverpool Football Club and pay high tribute to those who have been fighting for justice."

Dalglish said, "After the Hillsborough disaster, Ferguson called me to express his condolences as soon as possible. He was one of the first people to say that he would do his best to help. Although the competition between the Red Devils and Liverpool is very fierce, it will not prevent him from lending a helping hand. In fact, he also keeps his word."

This world-renowned game was ultimately played out in a very exciting and fierce atmosphere, but fans of both sides rarely stood on the same side and expressed their condolences and sympathy to the dead and injured.