Powerful and moving article by Daniel Taylor in last Sunday's Observer. If the authorities had been warned of the dangers of Leppings Lane by fans who knew that it was a potential death trap and had chosen to ignore what they were told, blood is on their hands too. One is forced to the terrible conclusion that a tragedy like Hillsborough had to happen for any action to be taken, especially when nothing meaningful was done after the Bradford fire four years earlier. You cannot also help thinking that those of us who frequented the terraces up to 1989 are, in a sense, lucky to be still alive to tell the tale.
Taylor's story of his friend Martin Fletcher is heart-rending. To lose, at the age of 12, his 11-year-old brother, his father, uncle and grandfather in the Bradford fire. To be at Hillsborough on April 15th 1989. And still to attend football matches. Sometimes you wonder whether the game deserves such loyalty from its followers.
