The longest
judicial inquest in British legal history came to a close on Tuesday 26th
April 2016. Letting the enormity of that fact sink in makes the whole tawdry
decades-long exercise in mud-slinging and blame-shifting all the more
horrendous.
In the aftermath
of the jury’s eye-watering verdict in the 27-year-long wait for justice for the
96 people who needlessly died at Hillsborough at the FA Cup semi final in April
1989, football fans of a certain age will be reflecting on how it really could
have been any one of us, given the callous disregard for safety and
organization we as football supporters met every week of our apparently
risk-laden lives during a decade of neglect and disrespect.
That is
why, for all the occasional jarring moments about wallowing in the past and
breeding a grief culture, this decision, dreadfully late though it is, should
be seen as a release first and foremost for the relatives of the families
involved in the tragedy, but also a breath of fresh air to anyone, who was
there in the 80s and attempted to follow his or her club through a decade of
danger, dirt and decadence.
Contrary to
the idea mooted on social media on a daily basis these days, apart from the
last five years, following Manchester City has not really been what you might
call a bed of roses. In the 80s, in
fact, it was anything but.
As the last
dainty notes of Sister Sledge and Boney M faded and the jagged sounds of the 80s
dawned, the football landscape began to change radically. It would do so again
after Hillsborough, spawning the sometimes anodyne but always safe environment
we watch the game in today, but first came this jarring, dizzying change for
the worse. Much worse.
You can read the rest of this article on Four Four Two magazine's website
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