Hillsborough

Like many football mad Scots kids of the eighties I was Liverpool fan and Kenny Dalglish was my favourite player.

Dalglish was a genuine super-star, a truly world class player the likes of which Scotland has never seen since. In addition to this Liverpool had Alan Hansen, Steve Nicol, Greame Souness and even John Wark and Gary Gillespie giving the team a sturdy Scottish spine.

As a result I was a Liverpool fanatic. I had the shirts, school-bags, towels, cups and glasses, footballs and full bed-spread.

I can remember watching the BBC with my folks as the dreadful events of Hillsborough filtered through. It was hard to comprehend as a 13 year old that so many fans had died after simply going to a football match.

Last weeks independent report confirmed what all the fans of Liverpool and other clubs already knew: the authorities and the police were to blame and together with the odious Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government they had tried to cover-up their culpability.

The extent of the cover-up will eventually come out and the families of the 96 will finally get some sort of justice 23 years too late.