We lost league in 1989 against Everton in the Cup not Arsenal

WHENEVER they gather, the subject of Hillsborough is out of bounds for the former Liverpool players, especially those who were there. Yet, the haunting will forever remain. On many levels, the horrors sucked the energy from Liverpool players on the verge of a double in 1988-89.

Ronnie Whelan, who was captain that ill-fated afternoon in Sheffield 29 years ago, and acknowledges he ‘lost it’ after speaking to the parents of Ian Whelan, a 19-year-old fan who left roses at the door of his girlfriend that morning lest he wake her.

Ian Whelan idolised Ronnie and his name on the Anfield memorial of the Hillsborough victims read: Ian Ronnie Whelan.

‘Ian was from Warrington. I went to his funeral with Jim [Beglin],’ recalled Whelan who also saw ‘a kid’ who had his life support machine turned off which was ‘so hard to take’. Of all the players, though, Whelan felt John Aldridge struggled most ‘as Aldo was a Koppite’.

The tragedy occured on April 15. Liverpool didn’t play again until May 3.

‘Then Ronnie Moran came in one morning and said “That’s it. It’s been bad. We’re professional

footballers. We’ve got to get on with the job.’

But tiredness would creep into the minds of the players on their return for the first of nine games in just 23 days. The penultimate game in that gruelling period was against Everton in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

‘I never felt pressure like it. The families of Hillsborough were there; we had to win it, more for them than for us,’ said Whelan.

It took extra-time before Liverpool edged out Everton 3-2.

A few days later, they were seconds away from securing the double when Arsenal scored the second goal they needed to win 2-0 at Anfield.

John Barnes copped flak for not running the clock down in the corner but Whelan didn’t blame him.

‘You can put it down to mental fatigue. If it wasn’t after Hillsborough and we’d not had so many games, he’d have known what to do. Things go awry in your head.

‘I felt we lost the league in our first game back against Everton when the atmosphere was subdued and we drew.’