Clubs go it alone in tribute to ‘the 96’

THE Premier League have left it to individual clubs to decide whether to pay tribute to the 96 football fans who were unlawfully killed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Liverpool play Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday and the Welsh club are considering whether to make their own gesture as a mark of respect. Other clubs are also discussing whether they

should follow suit but they have not been told that tributes will be compulsory. There was a suggestion that the Liverpool anthem You’ll Never

Walk Alone could be played and sung by fans at top-flight grounds. Clubs showed solidarity last November following the terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people

dead, when La Marseillaise was played at Premier League grounds as a mark of respect. A minute’s applause before kick-off is another possibility, with a full set of 10 fixtures taking place between Saturday and Monday. The jury at the Hillsborough inquests found that the fans who died were victims of gross negligence and that match commander Chief Supt David Duckenfield was in breach of the duty of care he owed them. Thousands attended a special commemorative service at St George’s Hall in Liverpool yesterday when former Liverpool striker Kenny Dalglish — who managed the team on the day of the tragedy — read a passage from the Bible. Dalglish added: ‘You’ll never walk alone’, and a poem for the victims by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy was also read. The families of the victims were applauded and as they walked out hand in hand the crowd chanted: ‘Justice for the 96.’ The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also addressed the crowd, saying that ‘the truth had triumphed’.