Hillsborough

[ChesterDave]

Have the club responded, where did the story come from?

The story yesterday was infuriating - the police officer apologising for 'misleading' the inquest.

Misleading by making a absolutely false statement. Not just false but one that could not possibly have been true.

[Phil]

Kenny is up today

[Yozza]

He really is a ****ing muppet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30740207

Ched Evans: Gordon Taylor sorry for Hillsborough comparison

Gordon Taylor has apologised after comparing the Hillsborough tragedy to the Ched Evans rape case.

"The last thing I intended to do was to upset anybody connected to the Hillsborough case," the Professional Footballers' Association chief said.

Taylor, who made his original comments in an interview with the BBC on Thursday, added: "Ched Evans is a totally different case, but he has the same belief of his innocence."

After years of fighting by the families of those who died, new inquests into the deaths began last year and are continuing in Warrington.

Taylor drew comparisons between the Hillsborough tragedy and the Evans case when he told BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday that the footballer "would not be the first person or persons to have been found guilty and maintained their innocence and then been proved right".

Taylor added: "If we are talking about things in football, we know what happened, what was alleged to have happened at Hillsborough.

"It's now unravelling and we are finding it was very different to how it was portrayed at the time, indeed by the police at the time."

Phil Scraton, a Hillsborough expert and adviser to the bereaved families, called Taylor's comments "crass, insensitive and inappropriate".

Author of the Hillsborough Families Support Group submission to the Home Secretary in 2009 that called for a full review of the case, he also demanded that Taylor apologise.

"This is a really difficult time for the families and survivors," added Scraton in an interview with Radio 4's Today programme. "They are having to go to court every single day and sit through the longest inquests in British legal history.

"We all know how sensitive this is and in that context for somebody in his position to make such an error of judgement is of profound concern."

During Friday's apology on BBC Radio Merseyside, Taylor said he had "long been a supporter" of the Hillsborough families.

He apologised if his comments had given the wrong impression, adding: "I know the people involved and I will be very happy to ring them and let them know that."
Taylor also insisted he had no plans to step down from the position he has held at the PFA for more than 30 years.

[Pablo]

I can't stand him and it was a really, really stupid comparison to make, but I don't think he meant any ill will by it. Am I wrong?

[Alex]

I think it was a stupid ill informed comment from a man who is clearly part of history in regards to progressive modern football. I dont think he meant ill with his comments, but I do think he is an idiot who doesnt realise what he is saying.

[dom9]

I can't stand him and it was a really, really stupid comparison to make, but I don't think he meant any ill will by it. Am I wrong?

I think it was a stupid ill informed comment from a man who is clearly part of history in regards to progressive modern football. I dont think he meant ill with his comments, but I do think he is an idiot who doesnt realise what he is saying.

Me too.

[rodo]

Roy evans son has quit his job as they got into a partnership with the rag

[Yozza]

Hillsborough inquests: Police told to 'blame fans'

Police officers were told to put the blame for Hillsborough on "drunken, ticketless Liverpool supporters", the inquests into the disaster have heard.

Ex-inspector Clive Davis told the jury he recalled a briefing given by Ch Supt Terry Wain two days after the 15 April 1989 tragedy in Sheffield.

Mr Davis said he was told by his boss to attend the meeting as it was a good chance to get noticed "career-wise".

Two of Mr Davis' superiors dispute his account of the meeting, jurors heard.

Mr Davis said he worked as an inspector in South Yorkshire Police's research and development unit in 1989 and shared an office with his superior Ch Insp Norman Bettison.

The jury heard Mr Davis went into work on the Monday after the disaster and Ch Insp Bettison told him about the briefing due to be held later that morning.

'Discarded beer cans'

Mr Davis said Ch Insp Bettison had told him it was "the biggest thing to happen in South Yorkshire Police" and it would benefit them "to be a part of what was going to happen in the wake of it".

He told the hearing Ch Supt Wain opened the briefing, held on the fifth floor of South Yorkshire Police headquarters in Sheffield.

Mr Davis said: "His words were, and I can almost remember them verbatim, that 'we were going to put the blame for this disaster where it belongs: on the drunken, ticketless Liverpool fans'.''

Mr Davis worked in South Yorkshire Police's research and development unit at the time of the disaster

He recalled Mr Wain told the meeting officers should drive along the M62 to look for discarded beer or alcohol cans.

They were also told to speak to people living near Hillsborough and owners of local licensed premises to "look at the behaviour of Liverpool supporters", Mr Davis said.
'Early conclusion'

Mr Davis said: "This was a very high-level briefing. It was, if you like, a lead-off, a start-off... I suppose it would be like a call to arms almost."

He told the hearing Ch Supt Wain had "clearly" been "given a job to do" and his orders would only have come from the chief constable .

Mr Davis continued: "It was all still very much emerging, but to me, it seemed very early to come to such a decisive, definitive conclusion.

At the time in question, he said, the force's understanding of exactly what had happened was "embryonic".

He added: "It seemed early to me to have come to that conclusion, but this appeared to be the conclusion that people had reached."

No minutes from the meeting have been found.

Jonathan Hough QC, who asks questions on behalf of the coroner, told the jury "no other officer" has given an account of the meeting.

Mr Davis first spoke publicly about the meeting in September 2012.

When asked why he did not raise it during the rest of his career with the force, he told the inquest: "I had no confidence, I think, that it would be properly received and properly dealt with."

He added: "My experience of South Yorkshire Police is people that raise issues and problems become the problem."

Mr Davis said it was a meeting he reflected on "almost on a daily basis".

Chris Daw QC, who represents Ch Supt Wain, said records showed his client had "nothing to do with the Hillsborough inquiry" until a week after the briefing was said to have taken place.

He suggested to Mr Davis the meeting did not happen and he was telling "barefaced lies".
Mr Davis replied: "I understand the suggestion, but I refute it."

The inquests, into the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans killed after crushing at the FA Cup semi-final tie, continues.

[Shaggy]

Duckenfield in the dock right now.

[wiw]

What do we reckon? Will he lie through his teeth or tell the truth

[baitman]

he must stick to the 'official' truth as the police and others offered up.

hopefully by the end of this he will break down and humbly ask for forgiveness for his mistakes.
gross mismanagement, corruption, possible corporate manslaughter.

[Red_Polo]

What do we reckon? Will he lie through his teeth or tell the truth

He'll continue to lie I suspect, as he's ultimately lied to himself for so long he hardly knows the truth.

[dom9]

As ever, follow David Conn on twitter.

So far he has admitted that he was the wrong man for the job with nowhere near enough experience.

[Chazza]

[ame]https://twitter.com/david_conn/status/575270810144874497[/ame]

[baitman]

Hillsborough Inquests: To Ch Supt Duckenfield: Did you think about whether overcrowding risk in 'pens?' "I gave no thought to it either way"