Alan Davies Hillsborough

It seems to me there's no real reason why they can't play. Other teams don't have a problem with playing on anniversaries of tragedies relating to their team, (e.g. Munich Air Disaster or the Glasgow Rangers disaster in 1971. If they want to show their respects, then couldn't they just hold the game and have 2 minutes silence?

He’s since apologised on Twitter for the outburst and whilst the Hillsborough Justice Campaign have accepted his apology they’ve not accepted the £1000 donation that he made at the same time:

“The HJC has not accepted the £1,000 paid into its paypal account by Alan Davies. Whilst we accept his apology, we would prefer that he genuinely tried to understand why the decision never to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster is so important.”

In addition to the apology and the donation Davies tried to explain what he’d really meant: “I’m getting tweets from Liverpool fans who have been given the impression that I was disrespectful to those who lost their lives on 15/4/89.
“Many disagree but I feel that the Liverpool v Everton semi-final could be played on Apr 15. Apologies to those upset by that suggestion.

“I said the Hillsborough disaster was the worst event in modern peacetime history. I was on a terrace listening to a radio as it happened.

“I agree that there must be a full enquiry into Hillsborough but not playing on the 15th doesn’t change anything. It’s not fair on Chelsea.”

Having listened to Davies on his podcast it’s hard not read that “it’s not fair” comment without thinking of Harry Enfield’s spoiled teenage brat character. Enfield didn’t just do Scousers.

The comments show how ignorant Davies is to the reasons behind the club’s long-term decision to resist playing on that date.

For one thing it’s hardly a great hardship for football to make these kinds of considerations. It’s the first time Liverpool have been involved in an FA Cup semi-final since The FA put the ties into hock for thirty years to help pay for their stadium. Liverpool and Everton shouldn’t really be travelling all the way down to London, fans getting on their coaches at 4am, for a semi-final that could have been played at Old Trafford.

And maybe, just maybe, it would have shown more sensitivity if the FA didn’t schedule any semi-finals for that date. Would it hurt to move them to the weekend before or after if the 15th fell on a weekend?

Even UEFA made it clear they would do all they could to accommodate Liverpool’s request not to play a Champions League tie on that date, even though it may have messed up agreements with the TV companies that make the tournament so lucrative.

Part of the complaint from Davies was that the Chelsea-Spurs game was kicking off at 6pm. Liverpool’s game kicks off the day before at lunchtime. Was it Liverpool’s fault that the Chelsea game kicks off so late in the day? Should he not be livid with The FA for allowing ITV to dictate the kick-off time? Should he not be ranting at ITV?

One point he seems to gloss over is that Chelsea’s Champions League match is at home, not in Barcelona, and their FA Cup semi-final is in their home city too.
He also doesn’t really mention that this Champions League semi-final is being played on the Wednesday, not the Tuesday.

Luck gave Chelsea their first leg on the Wednesday rather than the Tuesday and at home rather than away.

Who would everyone be complaining about if Chelsea’s two semis were set for 6pm Saturday (at the behest of TV) and 8pm Tuesday?

It was “not fair” in 1989 when The FA decided how to allocate ends of the stadium, giving the side with the far larger average home gate far less tickets than the other. It was “not fair” in 1989 when the authorities ignored the fact that many fans were delayed getting to the stadium because of problems on the motorways. It was “not fair” that 96 football fans never went back home to their mums and dads and sons and daughters because people who were supposed to look after them treated them like scum.

And those bereaved mums, dads, sons and daughters remember that day every minute of every day. All they ask is that one day out of every year they can remember it with everybody else who wants to remember it with them.
One day.

If we’d given each victim one day, one victim every year, we’d still have 63 years to go before they’d all had that day.

Every year we do remember them there’s a good chance it’s the last time individual mums or dads will be there to do so. Twenty-three years is a long time and many of those parents will never see justice done in their own lifetimes, although we’ll carry the fight on until it’s won.

A service is held at Anfield. It’s attended by Liverpool players, by Liverpool staff of all levels, by families, by survivors, by fans, by fans of other clubs, by people who have no connection to football whatsoever but feel a connection to what happened.

Why would anyone want to stop them from being able to remember what happened for that one day every year?

On the 20th anniversary maybe 30,000 people went to the service. This year might be the same – not everyone can make it on the 15th if it falls on a working day.

As well as the service at Anfield there are services held elsewhere, including Sheffield. People have their own ways of remembering, their own places to go to.

It’s for the families and the survivors to decide, one day, if there is no longer a need to avoid playing on the 15th.

Liverpool always ask not to play on that day and so far have always been granted that request. It’s difficult to imagine a situation where that couldn’t possibly be accommodated.

As for the question about Liverpool playing on the anniversary of Heysel, Liverpool FC has only played on that day once in all of its 120 year history. And that was the day the disaster happened.

Other clubs who have suffered tragedies have their own ways of dealing with their loss and take their own amount of time to come to terms with it – if they ever do. But isn’t that the same for all of us when we’re hit by tragedy? We deal with it in our own way – and it takes a real lowlife to interfere with that just because it might spoil their fun a bit.

For Liverpool April 15th isn’t about football, it’s about remembering 96 people no longer with us and thinking about the hundreds of survivors who still suffer the after-effects of what they went through.

It’s also about reminding football what happens when priorities are wrong.
Alan Davies has had plenty of time to reflect on what he said and the response he got. He should know better than to give the Twitter trolls any attention and to focus on what the more reasonable people have said to him.

He has something more powerful and helpful to the campaign for justice than that £1000 the HJC turned down. He’s a well-known public figure. He can help spread the word, help to get the truth out there. He doesn’t have to be an ‘enemy’ and his apology has been accepted.

Maybe he should try and arrange a quiet meeting with the HJC so they can help him to help them.

It doesn’t have to be on Sunday. Any day will do.
But is one day too much to ask?

I'll repeat what's been said many times already:

This has nothing to do with whatever Man U, Rangers or Bradford do on the anniversary of their disasters. They choose to play which they are perfectly entitled too do. We choose not to and we are perfectly entitled to.

'it seems to me there's no real reason why they can't play'
Everyone associated with LFC attend a memorial service to remember the 96 who died on April 15th every single year. Are you trying to say that a football match is more important than remembering 96 people who lost their lives?

It's worth remembering that this is an FA cup SEMI FINAL we are talking about here.

You are right. Of course I am not trying to say that we shouldn't remember the 96. But would you not agree that a fitting tribute would be a 2 minute silence and a win against Everton to put LFC into the FA cup Final? But I can see your point of view.

Can you genuinely not see why the families - and every other Liverpool fan for that matter - would have a problem with the team playing in an FA Cup Semi-Final (I can't spell it out any more clearly) on the anniversary of the disaster? Our Captain's cousin died that day.

It would be somewhat akin to organising an air show over Manchester on the day of the Munich disaster in terms of insensitivity. No one forces United to play on that date, it's your choice and I'd respect that choice either way, just as I believe fans of all clubs should respect the decision of my club not to play on April 15th as a mark of remembrance to those who died.

But if you want to be the one to phone up the families of those 96 people and tell them the remembrance service is off this year because Chelsea would have been slightly inconvenienced then please, be my guest.

Alan Davies is a pseudo-intellectual moron who has made a career hanging on to the coat tails of S. Fry. Although he doesn't deserve death threats, his comments about Hillsborough AND Spurs were absolutely disgraceful. His pathetic, backtracking apology has done nothing to help either.

Of course there is a lot of anger surrounding Hillsborough due to the lies peddled by the s*n, goverment and police...

As for the rest, I'll write it in a list so as to keep it simple:
1) Hillsborough happened on April 15th, the match that was going to be played was an FA CUP SEMI FINAL.
2) Since that time, Liverpool as a club, the supporters and the families of those who died have had a memorial service on April 15th.
3) The families of those who died do not want Liverpool to play on that day, Liverpool as a club do not want to play on that. Therefore we do not play on that day.
4) If Liverpool were forced to play on the 15th, the majority of supporters would prefer to see us leave the competition.
5) We have not played on April 15th for 20+ years and this is the first year it has ever caused an issue
6) Chelsea haven't even bothered appealing as they respect the wishes of Liverpool.
7) Chelsea asked for the match to be played on the Friday - the FA, Tottenham and the police refused
8) The FA want to pay off the overpriced crap that is Wembley so force semi finals to played there.
9) If semi finals were still played at various venues around the country then there would be no issue.
10) ITV also have control of match times, which is why Chelsea are playing at 6pm rather than 1pm.

I may have missed some things but you should get the gist.

As an aside do you want to be the person who tells the families how best to mourn their dead? Why do you think you know better than them for how they want to mourn their own family members?

Don't you think its ironic that you call them angry and bitter? Because it really sounds like you are describing yourself from all the abuse and vitriol you have been spreading in this thread.

I honestly don't know why you hate Liverpool so much. I don't know whether its an act and you are doing this for TSR brownie points or whatever but if you're like this in real life then I genuinely feel sorry for you. Peace.

Because I'm a football fan and they continue to bring shame and embarrassment on the English game and the sport as a whole. They just never learn, 1,000's of the ***** went to the CL final without tickets, stealing them off kids, rushing the gates, climbing walls, breaking through security to get in. Killing 39 Juve fans, and injuring another 600 more.


Robbed the chance for Everton to compete in the European Cup which they would've had a decent chance of winning.

Also robbed the chance of Coventry, Oxford, Wimbledon, QPR, Luton and Crystal Palace having what would've been there only season in Europe.

And of course it goes without saying that Hillsborough was in no way whatsoever anything at all to do with the hundreds of ticketless fans who forced their way in and proceeded to push themselves forward into an obviously overcrowded enclosure. They simply can't be blamed, as all they were doing was being cheeky and how can that be anything other than adorable!?!

Juve are proper football fans and you can only respect that.

well said, has anyone from Liverpool ever admitted to being one of the hundreds of ticketless fans pushing from outside that day ?

Liverpool don't play on April 15th and the club/supporters would have preferred to resign from the competition than play an FA Cup semi final on the 15th. As much as people are blaming Liverpool for this it is only an issue due to wembley being the host of the semi finals.

Because I'm a football fan and they continue to bring shame and embarrassment on the English game and the sport as a whole. They just never learn, 1,000's of the ***** went to the CL final without tickets, stealing them off kids, rushing the gates, climbing walls, breaking through security to get in. Killing 39 Juve fans, and injuring another 600 more.


Robbed the chance for Everton to compete in the European Cup which they would've had a decent chance of winning.

Also robbed the chance of Coventry, Oxford, Wimbledon, QPR, Luton and Crystal Palace having what would've been there only season in Europe.

And of course it goes without saying that Hillsborough was in no way whatsoever anything at all to do with the hundreds of ticketless fans who forced their way in and proceeded to push themselves forward into an obviously overcrowded enclosure. They simply can't be blamed, as all they were doing was being cheeky and how can that be anything other than adorable!?!

Juve are proper football fans and you can only respect that.

You are being totally serious as well. I guess there is no point in arguing with a person like yourself so I'll leave it at that.

I disagree, if I was a Chelsea fan I'd be angry and I'd have a right to be angry that Liverpool are allowed to get away with this, blatantly risking Chelsea's chances in the Champions' League semi final.

Just listening to it now, he's absolutely spot on. There is no valid reason for Liverpool to not play on the 15th. You'd think the perfect tribute would be to actually play football but God forbid a FOOTBALL CLUB let playing the game of football interfere with their mass orgies of grief.

It's grief junkies running riot again. For the record, United have played on February 6th several times since the Munich tragedy in 1958, and even beat Nottingham Forest 1-8 away from home on that date a few years back. That's sympomatic of the two clubs though, we only mention our tragedy when it's relevant or on the anniversary week because we have so much else going on football wise. LFC feel the need to bleat on about theirs endlessly for 23 years like its a game of oneupsmanship.

As tragic and awful as Hillsbrough was, a minutes silence on the anniversary is enough of a public tribute and then individuals can lay flowers at the memorial if they wish. They're a football club, not a mourning club.

This thread I really can't understand why people can not look at this with empathy and understanding. They are essentially saying a sport is more important than respecting the lives of people still mourning and respecting the people who were castigated in death.
I know people want to act like 'big men' because they want to sound like they think football is more important than anything or they have such a hatred of Liverpool that they will use any stick to beat them but look at the thing logically if you can't look at it emotionally.

If some of the views expressed in this thread are genuinely held in real life then I feel sorry those people.

Why should they be forced to play? It's not in the rules. Many clubs are given the option and Liverpool choose not to take it, why's this so wrong, just because it's LFC? People are only saying it because they want to appear all modern and not mainstream with their 'Liverpool just want to appear the victims' crap. You try telling that to the families, they don't know why their family members died.

You still play football on the day of the Heysel disaster, Rangers play football on the day of the Ibrox disaster, Bradford still play on the date as the Bradford disaster, football is still played on Armistice Day FFS Millions of people died in a war yet day to day life and football still goes on.