Panorama: Hillsborough – How They Buried The Truth

I defy anyone to watch the Panorama programme Hillsborough and not get emotional.  It shows a litany of mistakes, lies and ultimately a cover-up which caused pain, distress, heartache and anger for families, friends and supporters.  That the authorities would wilfully confiscate BBC taped coverage shot from eight cameras shows a vindictive and nasty set of human beings who were in charge on the day, led the investigation and the Government of the day and future administration's who stymied any progress by pointing  an accusing finger towards Liverpool fans.

This was the era of football hooliganism and following Heysel, it was easy for the authorities as I have said previously, to use stereotypes through the newspapers led by The Sun, and wilfully block any attempts to get justice for the 96 and their families.

The pain of those who attended the match is still so raw primarily because of the ineptitude of those in charge.  Fans, policemen and ambulance men spoke of the incompetence and the indecision from those on the ground,  but ultimately the decision makers who inescapably showed they were unprofessional and incapable of making decision under pressure and have since hid behind the cloak of seniority and knighthoods in a bid to not face up to their responsibilities.

Anne Williams lost her son Kevin on that fateful day, campaigned tirelessly for justice and for stain to be removed from accusatory fingers of the establishment.

Anne who died recently after a courageous fight against cancer,  was a driving force behind the campaign, and described by Kevin Robinson the former chair of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign,  said she was "an absolutely fantastic lady in every way."

Anne Williams the 24th Hillsborough 24th memorial service

It's Anne and Kevin and the 95 victims and their families that the fight goes on to completely clear their names and bring the real villains that day to task through disciplinary proceedings or criminal convictions.  It's criminal that these people have only felt the heat of public pressure after the release of the report and in line with the vindication of the decisions finally being quashed when these people tell the truth about what really happened that day, and they'll only do that through the wealth of evidence being amassed against them,  they should be relieved of positions they still hold and awards public awards like knighthoods and keys to the city.

One of the unashamed is Sir Norman Bettison, the antithesis to decorum as Anne Williams is heavenly to the same adjective, managed to go under the radar for years until he was named in the Independent  Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) by West Yorkshire Police Authority that he supplied misleading information, in other words he was economical with the truth.  He was still at it last last September when he said that the our fans’ behaviour at Hillsborough made made policing “harder that it needed to be”.

This is not the behaviour we expect of a person of authority, let alone a senior policeman and as such he should relieved of us any awards specifically his knighthood.  His knighthood, awarded for policing and in this regard since the tragedy he has failed abysmally.  A couple of the key indicators for a policeman are:
 

• conducting initial investigations, gathering evidence, taking statements and complying with relevant legal requirements;
• gathering, recording and analysing intelligence to achieve community safety and crime reduction objectives and providing crime prevention advice;

One can safely say that Sir Norman Bettison has failed especially in trying to, as the e-petition, relates, in his “alleged attempt to influence the decision-making process of West Yorkshire in the days following the publication of the IPCC report”, therefore his resignation from his post as chief constable of West Yorkshire Police last October and the removal of his honorary fellowship by the John Moores University, should be only the starters.

The inspirational chairwoman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Mary Aspinall, said, “It’s great to know that John Moores University has done the right thing.

“Let’s hope now that the next step is the removal of his knighthood.”

The published IPPC report said that Bettison, if he was still on the force, would have “a case to answer for gross misconduct.  That’s why it’s important that we support the move to remove his Knighthood and to this end people should sign the e-petition.


YNWA

Borini or Carroll?

Blog follower Livi posed a question to us last week.  Borini or Carroll?

Well Andy Carroll’s career at Liverpool, looks to be over with reportedly just the ‘big mans’ agreement needed to sign off his move to West Ham.

Taking on board Brendan Rodgers comments following his recent chat with Carroll it does seems the former Newcastle striker will leave for the East London club.

Carroll scores the winner in the 2012 FA Cup Semi-Final

The Liverpool manager said, “It was just a general conversation in terms of the experience of getting out and playing.  He enjoyed that apart from the injury.  At the start of the whole thing was about getting games because he wasn’t going to be a starter here.  We will  talk again with him and the club to see how it all evolves.  It’s one one of those situations where it will probably be resolved a lot quicker than that for both parties.”

We need to add to the striking ranks and whether it’s the return of Carroll or bringing in a striker to replace him the decision has to be taken soon.

Rodgers finished by saying, “It’s a difficult one.  I spoke to him and we had a good chat.  The boy is a talent.  It’s just something we need to assess between now and the end of the window.  In terms of the money, that’s something out of my control.  But he’s a talent so we assess the whole situation.  The objective at the beginning of the season was for him to go out and play.  He’s gone away to think of what we spoke about and we will talk again through the weeks.”

Decision time for Carroll

Does that sound like the door has been firmly close on Carroll?  The talk of assessing the whole situation... does that include Fabio Borini’s future too?

It begs the question whether Rodgers wants similar type players all over the pitch or is he open to the flexibility of having a player like Carroll in his ranks?  Flexibility in approach lends itself to being able to adapt to different circumstances.  Even Barcelona, found it difficult to match the intensity and ferocity intertwined with the technical expertise of the German’s and other teams, not possessing the physicality or the stature to combat the different threats even in La Liga which is strange to say as they easily won La Liga, but teams were more combative and structured against them this year and at times they struggled to overcome the challenge.

We need an approach in the transfer market to close the gap with the big four and we may already have a player in Carroll to increase the depth in quality of the squad, but if we do let him go and Borini is seeing as the third striker Rodgers will still needs another option and whether that is by courage of his convictions to go into the transfer market and bring in a quality striker or pitch the likes of Michael Ngoo or Adam Morgan into the fore which would be more in line with the diktat espoused by the Fenway Sports Group.

Borini returned in determined fashioned towards the end of the season producing some impressive cameos and I have for a while suspected we may not as yet seen the skills which have propelled him to the Italian full-squad and why the Italians rate the ex-Bologna striker so highly.

If it were up to me it would be Carroll as he offers a different threat to  any player in the squad and I believe will only improve as he gets stronger and more powerful and as his technique improves with experience his threat levels will rise exponentially. 

Fabio Borini scores his first Anfield goal

Carra's final farewell Liverpool 1 QPR 0

By David Douglas

After 16 years and his 737th and final appearance for our club Jamie Carragher finally said goodbye to our club this afternoon.

The JC23 emblem being held up from the Kop once Jamie Carragher ran out was a fitting tribute to a great servant to our club.

His leadership influence on the team was underestimated towards the end of his career but his determination to fight back and win his place back in the team halfway through the season typifies his never say die character.

The fact that this was his last game and a celebration of his achievements would not have phased Carragher his whole ethos on football is to win the game and ask questions later, he would have been more disappointed that we didn't treat the game as anything but a testimonial.

There was a real sense of out with the old, in with the new as we gave a full debut to our young winger Jordan Ibe and he grasped the opportunity with both hands causing QPR all sorts of problems with his pace and trickery.

To sum this up Ibe set up the only goal of the game for our little magician Coutinho to score from just outside the area after 23 minutes - how ironic on a significant day for number 23 !!!

Coutinho to add to his repertoire on the day also nearly scored direct from a corner and had another effort blocked by Shaun Derry.

Carragher tried to do a re-enactment of Maradona's "hand of god" goal vs England by attempting to punch in a cross.

He then tried again with a second effort from a rehearsed short free kick set up by Downing.

Carra had a third and ultimately final effort to score a farewell goal from a half volley from 25 yards which he ht sweeter than he had ever hit a football in his life, the shot beat Robert Green convincingly but unluckily hit the post but stayed out.

The rest of the game petered out with us again not taking our chances to win a game more convincingly but we ended the season with a comfortable 1-0 win.

The two things that Jamie Carragher would have been happy about was the clean sheet at the end of the game and the deserved standing ovation he received when he was subbed for the last time 5 minutes from time and on his final lap of honour as a LFC player.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher (Coates 85), Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Downing, Lucas, Henderson, Ibe (Borini 64), Coutinho (Suso 74), Sturridge.

Subs Not Used: Brad Jones, Assaidi, Coady, Wisdom.

Booked: Henderson.

Goal: Coutinho 23.

QPR: Green, Harriman, Onuoha, Hill, Traore, Park (Hoilett 80), Derry, Mbia, Remy (Granero 46), Zamora (Mackie 72), Townsend.

Subs Not Used: Murphy, Da Silva, Ehmer, Bothroyd.

Booked: Hill, Derry, Townsend.

Att: 44,792

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).

MAN OF THE MATCH: Who else but Jamie Carragher !!!!

Fantastic servant for our club who will be missed but will never ever walk alone.

Thanks Carra, we salute you! YNWA

Stunning Sturridge Produces Virtuoso Performance

Liverpool stormed out of the blocks looking lively with fringe players playing for their futures backed by the away crowds, numbers swelled as it always is in the capital from the huge London support.  Sturridge again in the absence of Suarez led the line, with Shelvey coming in for jnjured captain finally succumbing to his shoulder problem and with the end of the season nigh Coates and Wisdom came in for Agger and Enrique with Rodgers experimenting with three at the back.

Coutinho in his free role ran the show in the opening 20 minutes, his long range drive parried away by Schwarzer, with the Fulham midfield chasing shadows.  Sturridge put through by Carragher in the inside left channel screwed his shot wide of the mark, Berbatov also shanked a shot wide.

The settling down period after the initial flurry, saw the intensity drop and the vibrancy disappear until Damian Duff worked an opening for a cross for Reither down the Fulham right, who in turn superbly crossed for Berbatov, standing embarrassingly alone to nod in after 32 minutes.

Minutes later Daniel Sturridge ran in behind Aaron Hughes on the end of Wisdom's long ball, flicked the ball back over Hughes entering the area, squared him up, before turning him inside out and clinically dispatching a right-footed finish.  It was the finish of a craftsman.

For all the controlled possession, the goal came from a long punt up field and a piece of impudence from the gifted striker showing up the lack of cutting edge in the first half, but why there is no substitute for a potent striker.

The defensive problems in trying to contain Duff and Reither down the Fulham right led Rodgers into replacing Wisdom with Enrique, forgoing the sweeper system and moving back to the conventional 4-4-2.
Daniel Sturridge started the second-half like a man possessed with a couple of sparkling runs. The second of which, he turn past his marker and then ghosted past three defenders before, being shepherded away from goal.   Another run by Johnson from the right saw him surge into the Fulham area before rounding Hangleland, his cut back just failing to reach Shelvey.

In quick succession we could've easily had decisions go against us.  First, Johnson’s over the top tackle might have seen him collect red instead of yellow and a handball claim against Lucas on another day could very well have been given a penalty.

Two minutes later Sturridge gave Liverpool the lead, as Coutinho's deflected shot fell in his path, the young striker arched his body to the right to place the ball coolly into the far corner of the net.

Daniel Sturridge takes the acclaim

Sturridge working his proverbial socks off, then robbed Hangleland and saw his shot well saved by Schwarzer.   The striker now on fire, stormed into the Fulham half, leaving all behind him, bearing down on goal with the intent again of curling the ball inside the far corner, but saw his shot well saved,  when a simple roll across to either Countinho or Shelvey would've seen off Fulham.

The miss almost proved costly, but for Pepe Reina pulling off a stunning save from Aaron Hughes header.

Liverpool were slicing through Fulham at will and Borini on for Shelvey sliced past two defenders cutting in from left, to see his stunning effort smack against the post.

Fortunately, Sturridge atoned for his miscalculation,  fastening on to a stunning Phillipe Coutinho pass before deftly chipping the ball over Schwarzer to give Liverpool a well-deserved win and his sixth goal in his last four games.

Kop-post Man of the Match:  Daniel Sturridge – Led the line with enthusiasm and vigour and direct in everything his did.  While, the stunning Coutinho had arguably equal claims for man of the match, it was Sturridge brilliant first goal which brought us level at a time when we appeared for all our possession as in the West Ham and Everton games that we would again struggle to create clear openings.

As the manager stated he can be greedy, but one feels that he is on a mission to prove himself a worthy striker and that will dissipate over time, in terms of passing to his team mates once he feels more secure with his place in the team.  With Suarez out he will get a continued run in the side at the start of next season, thus he can look onwards and upwards.

* Sturridge has reached 10 Premier League goals quicker (13 games) than any other Liverpool player beating Fowler and Torres (18) and had now scored 11 goals in fifteen games.

Critical Eye:  A soft goal given away with Berbatov standing alone in the box to head the ball home in between two defenders, Carragher and Johnson.  We need to cut that frailty out of our play next season and the need for a strong firm defence is obvious in Brendan Rodgers second season, which will obviously be more critiqued that his first season at Anfield.

Good to see Connor Coady getting on for a few minutes towards the end and the highly rated centre-half Lloyd Jones getting on the bench.

Manager’s comments:  “Daniel was outstanding.  He scored three goals and he could have had maybe six.”

"If he keeps improving, keeps training well, then I think he will have an outstanding couple of years for us.

"He's not perfect. He should have squared one when he was through. But he was looking for his hat-trick, he's a goal scorer, and to be greedy you've got to be good. He's an outstanding player."

Team:  25 Reina, 2 Johnson, 16 Coates, 23 Carragher, 47 Wisdom (Jose Enrique – 46 mins), 10 Coutinho (Coady – 88 mins), 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 21 Lucas, 33 Shelvey (Borini – 77 min), Sturridge

Subsitutes: 1 Jones, 3 Jose Enrique, 35 Coady, 51 Jones, 11 Assaidi, 29 Borini, 30 Jones

Referee: Mark Halsey

Attendance: 25,640

Liverpool 0 Everton 0

The 220th Merseyside Derby ended as a damp squib with the realisation,  not that we didn't already know,  that these two giants are now relegated to also-rans behind Manchester and London.

Steven Gerrard towered over the game like a colossus showing his full  range of passing all the facets of his game which for a decade has made him the pre-eminent all round player in the country.  He was  everywhere, tackling back, driving the midfield and surging forward as of yesteryear.

For the future, Coutinho was equally exciting.  We know he possesses devastating vision, especially seeking out his frontmen, but he showed Everton's 'dog's of war' midfield that he was up for the fight, bouncing of tackles and shimmying away almost ghost like away from tackles.  He doesn't flinch, often hitting the ground and bouncing back like a rubber ball showing a robustness which players with silky skills are not normally renowned for.

One of his mesmeric through balls found Sturridge who in trying to round the keeper found his route blocked by Tim Howard. Sturridge has many talents,  but one feels he sometimes tries to score the perfect goal when he could just prod the ball home or lay the ball off to one of his colleagues running off him as he failed to do a couple of times in the game.  But all in all, he's been a potent force since his £12million signing.

Jamie Carragher greeted by David Moyes

The clear cut chances were ours, Steven Gerrard coming close twice.  In the first-half he had a goal bound shot superbly blocked by Jagielka and his power-house run was cleverly picked out by Sturridge in the second-half, having rounded the keeper, his shot was easily picked off by the covering Distin.

It was probably one of the most toothless derbies in terms of passion for a long while, with Everton content with a draw and Liverpool missing Suarez cutting edge.  That being said, Everton will feel they peeved at having Distin's goal wiped out for Anichebe's foul on Reina.  Foul or not the referee's whistle sounded long before the ball hit the back of the net.

Liverpool had the more clear cut openings, but couldn't quite hit the target when it mattered.

Kop-Post Man of the match:  Steven Gerrard - At his imperious best, showing the full range of his passing, short and long and kept the Everton midfield quiet with his attacking verve and thunderous tackling.   Unlucky not to have had at least one goal and was Liverpool's most potent goal threat.   Once again,  showed what big shoes he'll leave when he finally vacates the Liverpool midfield.

Critical eye:  In a game which needed a flash of inspiration, Stewart Downing was not going to be that man.  He flatters to deceive to often, running up blind alleys and for a player so renowned for his crossing he very rarely threatens with his crossing or tears his opposing full-back apart.   For me, although he undoubtedly improved in the second half of the season, one feels he has been an overwhelming disappointment.  I am minded by an old quote when thinking about Downing "if you lick the lollipop of mediocrity once, you're stuck for ever."  I would be surprised to see him as a regular starter next season.

With the outside possibility of Europa qualification through the league still a possibility it was disappointing to see Skrtel come on and not use his aerial threat upfront as a plan b option or not replacing Downing with the tricky and pacey Assaidi or even in using Shelvey.  Losing to Everton is bad at anytime, but to my way of thinking the aim should've been to win and with a better goal difference, there's always the possibility of putting some pressure on them rather than taking the easy option in the last ten minutes.   Disappointing!

Memorable moment:  The Kop holding up cards which said thanks to their neighbours for the support over Hillsborough and the families of the 96 and Jamie Carragher's final appearance in a Merseyside Derby.

Team: 25 Reina, 2 Johnson, 3 Jose Enrique,  5 Agger, 23 Carragher, 8 Gerrard, 10 Coutinho, 14 Henderson (Borini -66 mins), 19 Downing (Skrtel - 79 min), 21 Lucas, 15 Sturridge

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 16 Coates,  37 Skrtel,  33 Shelvey, 11 Assaidi, 29 Borini,  30 Suso

Ref: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 44, 991