Whether or not you accept Martin Tyler’s explanation that he did not intend to link the Hillsborough tragedy with “other hooligan-related issues” is a personal choice.
Listen to the clip and make your own mind up. For what it is worth, it sounds to me like the sort of automatic subconscious connection that so many people have made down the years - one that, somehow, has still not been fully eradicated by years of campaigning, education and, finally, justice.
In his apology, Tyler said: “There is no connection at all between the Hillsborough disaster and hooliganism - I know that.” But, in common with many, perhaps he did not know that at the time and, hence, the conflation of the two in his radio interview. Whether you want to give Tyler the benefit of the doubt or not, his comments have given Sky Sports a problem.
