it is a really long read, and very difficult in places but it is a very good explainer

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not just of what happened on the day, but what happened in the build up on that day and long after

Duckenfield "turned up to command the semi-final, he admitted, knowing very little about Hillsborough?s safety history: about the crushes at the 1981 and 1988 semi-finals, or that the approach to the Leppings Lane end was a ?natural geographical bottleneck? to which Mole (the man he had recently replaced) had carefully managed supporters? entry.
Duckenfield admitted he had not familiarised himself in any detail with the ground?s layout or capacities of its different sections. He did not know the seven turnstiles, through which 10,100 Liverpool supporters with standing tickets had to be funnelled to gain access to the Leppings Lane terrace, opened opposite a large tunnel leading straight to the central pens, three and four. He did not even know that the police were responsible for monitoring overcrowding, nor that the police had a tactic, named after a superintendent, John Freeman, of closing the tunnel when the central pens were full, and directing supporters to the sides. He admitted his focus before the match had been on dealing with misbehaviour, and he had not considered the need to protect people from overcrowding or crushing."

Posted By: Ralf Scrampton, Apr 26, 22:44:00