Page 105 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

footage later in the pub and one horrible image sticks with me. An elderly man was walking away from the burning stand across the pitch but the back of his coat was aflame and I suppose he was so shocked that he had blanked this out so that he was walking quite slowly and not trying to take his coat off. It turned out that the very old wooden stand had been condemned and was due to be replaced at the end of that season. Also the area underneath the seats hadn’t been cleaned for months and a large amount of very combustible rubbish had built up despite this being pointed out on several occasions. The turnstile gates were locked and no stewards were around to open them while many fire-extinguishers had been removed to prevent vandalism. Basically it was a disaster waiting to happen and if the correct measures had been implemented beforehand, it wouldn’t have happened. The initial enquiry decided that it was a case of death by misadventure but following subsequent appeals the conclusion was reached that the club and the local council were at fault. My main feeling was that in the Bradford case at least the safety of football supporters hadn’t been important to those running the football show. New regulations were subsequently enforced to prevent a similar tragedy occurring again.
Shortly afterwards, on Wednesday 29th May, Liverpool were playing Juventus in the European Cup Final and, as I just mentioned, I didn’t have a TV so I went to a nearby pub just off Westbourne Grove to watch it and have a few pints. It was a Wednesday night and I thought the pub would be quite
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