Hillsborough has been deemed ‘aged and inadequate’ 35 years on from the fatal disaster.
Football fans from across the country came together yesterday as we remembered the 97 people whose lives were taken during the Hillsborough disaster.
The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989 was halted when a severe crush occurred in the Leppings Lane end that saw men, women and children lose their lives, while hundreds were left injured.
The families and friends of the 97 have never stopped fighting for justice, while former Police Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield was found not guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans only five years ago.
Sheffield Wednesday paid their respects at Hillsborough yesterday, but an investigation held by Mail Sport has now claimed that the stadium hasn’t welcomed the improvements that would be expected to take place after such a tragedy.
The investigation has deemed Hillsborough as ‘aged and inadequate for the modern era’, as they visited the stadium during Wednesday’s home match against Rotherham back in October.
Hillsborough remains ‘inadequate’ 35 years on
Mail Sport said they found ‘insufficient turnstiles to service the Kop’ and that ‘entry capacity was compromised’.
There was also a lack of stewards recruited for the match, while an official at their match against Leicester City the following month said it had the lowest proportion of professionally trained ‘Security Industry Authority’ stewards than ‘any club he dealt with’.
There also continues to be huge problems in the Leppings Lane end – the place where disaster occurred in 1989.
The report claims there weren’t enough stewards spread across the upper tier of the Lennings Lane for their draw with Norwich last week, while space in the concourse at half-time was ‘uncomfortably tight’.
Mail Sport then go onto claim that Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane ‘should have been bulldozed and rebuilt years ago’, with ‘its inadequacies shredding the value of any expression of regret’.
Dejphon Chansiri needs to wake up
Dejphon Chansiri purchased a 100% stake in Sheffield Wednesday back in 2017 and made very little improvements to Hillsborough, while it is all down to him now to make the required changes after purchasing the stadium from the club in 2019.
Hillsborough should have had these drastic alterations made very soon after the disaster happened, but 35 years on and it still appears to be particularly unsafe to supporters.
It is now down to Chansiri to make a difference at the stadium, but coughing up the cash seems to be something he has struggled with in recent years.
He certainly won’t want to splash the cash if Wednesday go down, but he is in a situation where this should really be a priority for the club. He is not being asked to build a whole new ground, but simply just ensure nothing like the Hillsborough disaster can happen again.