They looked like they were just sleeping
Former sports reporter Bob Paterson, now 79, was working for The Sunday Post at Ibrox as the tragedy unfolded.
Each year when the anniversary approaches I can’t help but remember that awful night with crystal clarity.
I was working for The Sunday Post, doing reports for the sports paper, The Sporting Post, and when Colin Stein’s equaliser went in I thought that was it, and took off down the twisting metal staircase from the press box to the main entrance of Ibrox, at the reception area.
I’d been there for about 10 minutes when I heard someone say: “That’s three.” There was a bit of an eerie atmosphere and people were running around aimlessly.
The front doors were locked and the police officer in charge asked me who I was. “You’re not Sunday Post now, you’re with me,” he growled. I took my jacket off and rolled up my sleeves.
I went down to the pitch and clambered up Passageway 13 opposite where it happened. It was like a scene from an apocalyptic movie.
The metal barricades were buckled. It had quite simply been a domino effect. I was thrown into the thick of it, helping stretcher the bodies. We carried them across the field and left them on the track at the south stand.
The stretchers were lined up the way hospitals lined up gurneys; I could see they were putting shrouds over them. Another reporter said I was lucky to be there. I wanted to lay one on his chin. When I got back to the office my boss told me to go to the pub and have a couple of drams, as if I hadn’t had any already.
For my efforts that night I was given a bottle of whisky and £25 as a bonus for going above and beyond. I had two days off because I was suffering from shock without realising it. That night feels as though it was last week and I can describe people on the stretchers vividly. They just looked like they were sleeping.