Hillsborough inquest: Kenny Dalglish defends Liverpool fans

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/19/hillsborough-inquest-kenny-dalglish-liverpool-fans

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Kenny Dalglish, the manager of Liverpool football club when 96 supporters were killed at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, has defended the reputation of the club’s fans at the inquests into the deaths.

Dalglish said that apart from the Heysel disaster, where a wall collapsed during the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus, following violent skirmishes between some fans four years before Hillsborough, Liverpool supporters had been “highly respected and revered”.

In sometimes fractious courtroom exchanges John Beggs QC, representing Chief superintendent David Duckenfield of South Yorkshire police who was in command at Hillsborough, repeatedly asked Dalglish about hooliganism, putting to him that a “cohort” of Liverpool fans were “prone to violence” and would “bunk in” to matches without tickets.

Beggs was told by the coroner, Lord Justice Goldring, to restrict his questions to what Dalglish did and saw on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, after Beggs raised issues about footballsupporters’ misbehaviour through the 1970s and 1980s, at the 1985 Heysel disaster, and at the 1986 and 1989 FA Cup finals.

Beggs pointed to Dalglish’s own2010 autobiography, My Liverpool Home, in which Dalglish stated that large numbers of fans were “bunking in” to the 1986 FA Cup final against Everton, and 110,000 people were at that match despite the Wembley stadium capacity of 98,000.

Beggs also referred to Dalglish’s comment about Heysel, where Liverpool played Juventus in the 1985 European Cup final, that fences between the clubs’ fans were “chicken wire,” not strong enough to keep “passionate” supporters apart. Beggs suggested that meant: “The flimsiness of the chicken wire that didn’t keep your Liverpool supporters from attacking the supporters of Juventus, leading to the deaths of 39 people.”

Goldring interjected before Dalglish answered, telling Beggs: “That’s the end of your questioning.”

Beggs then asked Dalglish for his view about whether, if Liverpool supporters turned up at Hillsborough late and a substantial number had drunk too much, he was “prepared to accept” that “contributed to the disaster”.

“That is not a proper question,” Goldring told Beggs.

Questioned by Rajiv Menon QC, representing 75 families whose relatives were killed at Hillsborough, Dalglish said that except for Heysel “Liverpool football fans were highly respected and revered. I think they were well known for the support they gave their team.”

He said it was normal for football supporters to have a couple of drinks before a football match which is a social event, and that the law of averages meant there had to be some who might drink too much. Menon also pointed to Dalglish’s book, in which he said South Yorkshire police could not produce proof of mass drunkenness at Hillsborough because that was “fabricated.” Goldring stopped Dalglish responding to that question.

Dalglish said that on the day of the disaster, he had not seen what was happening to the Liverpool supporters in the Leppings Lane terrace before the match was stopped at 3:06pm, and it was “mayhem” after that. He was asked to make an announcement asking fans to keep calm, having been told people were dead, not due to fighting or hooliganism, and he urged fans to cooperate with police and first-aid efforts.

Dalglish told the court he only went on to the pitch once because his son, Paul, was at the match as a Liverpool fan, and he was concerned that he was okay. “Fortunately, he was,” Dalglish said.

The inquests resume on 5 January, after a Christmas break.