Heysel disaster leaves ‘indelible stain’ on city

The mayor of the Liverpool City Region has spoken of the importance of remembering the causes of the Heysel stadium disaster 40 years on.

Steve Rotheram was at the match on 29 May 1985 when 39 people died before the European Cup Final in Brussels.

A group of Liverpool fans at Heysel Stadium had charged towards a section housing mostly Juventus supporters, resulting in the collapse of a wall.

Mr Rotheram, who was in another part of the stadium at the time, said “for our city it’s an indelible stain.”

All English clubs were banned from European competitions for five years after the disaster, which alongside those who died saw 600 people injured when the wall collapsed on them.

The blame for Heysel was initially laid entirely on Liverpool fans, and 14 were later found guilty of manslaughter and jailed.

An investigation did find some culpability lay with the Belgian authorities, and the crumbling state of Heysel Stadium.

Liverpool FC have sent a delegation to Turin for a memorial service, which the mayor welcomed.

Mr Rotheram said: “I think it’s really important for the club and the people of our city to be represented at the memorial service.

“And for everyone to remember how the event that caused the loss of life was allowed to develop by really poor policing, and a terrible stadium, and lots of problems with organisation.

“But also the part that Liverpool fans played in that, and the fact that some of those people were later jailed for the part they played in that.”

A new memorial plaque was unveiled by Liverpool FC in recent days, the location of which has not yet been announced.

It will replace the existing memorial plaque in the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand.

Jonathan Bamber, Liverpool’s chief legal and external affairs officer, said the club “wanted to take the opportunity to provide something more meaningful”.

“It’s always a difficult topic for us as a football club but it’s also something that we don’t want to shy away from,” he said.

“Hopefully it’s a fitting and lasting tribute to those who lost their lives.”

Mark Platt, museum curator and club historian, was initially planning to travel to the game with his father but he ended up watching it on the television instead.

“It was a nightmare. I was only 12 years of age at the time,” he said.

“You couldn’t really believe what was happening. You couldn’t comprehend what you were seeing.”

He added the tragedy was “one of the darkest nights in the club’s history” but said “40 years on, we’ve never forgotten Heysel”.

Mr Platt said the new memorial, which will feature two scarves knotted together, would be “more visible”.

Keith Watson, who designed the memorial, said it was a “simple design” based on their research.

“On the terraces, we saw two scarves – one from Juventus and one from Liverpool,” he said.

“That gave us the idea to pull the design together as ‘forever bound’ to signify the unity, the collaboration, the reconciliation that has taken place between the two clubs.”