Pete Hillier is looking forward to Sunday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool but he is wary. The 58-year-old is conscious that this is the first FA Cup tie between the two clubs since the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Like many who attended the game in Sheffield 33 years ago, he still feels the aftereffects of that dreadful day that resulted in the death of 97 people. The headteacher has put a lot of effort into dispelling the lingering falsehood that the disaster was caused by Liverpool supporters.
But Hillier is an unusual voice in the battle for justice. He is a Forest fan. The author of the Zigger Zagger blog is worried that the match at the City Ground will be marred by objectionable chants about Hillsborough.
“I am concerned about Sunday,” he says. “There’s a minority of supporters who cling to the lies and they will be offensive. It’s so inappropriate coming from supporters of our club.”
A curious form of Hillsborough denial exists among a section of Forest supporters, maintained by some of those present 33 years ago and passed on from generation to generation. It was summed up by an exchange between David Watts, a fan, and a barrister during evidence at the 2014 inquests.
“I believe that the cause of this tragedy was due to drunken Liverpool supporters forcing their way in,” Watts told the inquest.
“You agreed with me a little earlier that you were never anywhere outside the Liverpool end of the stadium,” countered Pete Weatherby QC, who represented 22 bereaved families. The barrister then asked Watts how he formed his opinion.
“Well, I suppose it was what I’d heard in the press and on TV," Watts said.
Hillier is aware that this sort of thinking is more common among the Forest fanbase than it should be, given the mountain of evidence that clearly shows the disaster was caused by the fatal mismanagement of the South Yorkshire Police. He believes a lot of the anger is a form of misdirected emotion.
“You get people saying ‘I’ve hated Scousers since Hillsborough,’” he said. “What they mean is they are still upset about it.”
There is a substantial group of Forest fans who recognise their unique view of the tragedy and who regret that it did not lead to a closer relationship between the clubs. The plethora of negative publicity about Liverpool supporters in the immediate aftermath made that difficult. That increasingly rankles in Nottingham.
“I deal with people who are still properly traumatised – people who have self-harmed and who have been suicidal,” Hillier said. “There is one guy who wakes up in a panic and thinks he’s still there. I know a doctor who tried to get on to the pitch to help and was beaten back by police. He still struggles with guilt.”
Forest supporters on the Kop and in the South Stand watched as the dying and injured were hauled out of the crush on the Leppings Lane and were treated on the pitch – mainly by fellow fans. Many of the dead and the most seriously injured were placed on torn-down pitchside advertising hoardings and taken to the corner of the Kop where a gymnasium was turned into a makeshift morgue. The horror unfolded in front of their eyes but Nottinghamians are the forgotten witnesses to the tragedy.
Hillier does not want sympathy. “It’s not our disaster,” he said emphatically. He understands how lucky he was, though. “If we would have been at that end it would have been us.”
Nevertheless, the impact has been profound. “For years, I never talked about it to anyone,” he said. “Then my partner said to me, ‘You were there, weren’t you? Why do you never speak about it? Do you think it’s normal? You went to a football match on a beautiful spring day and you saw so much ugliness. Do you think it didn’t have an effect on you?’ This made me think. It had an effect on everyone there.”
Even on Merseyside, many people sought to rationalise their experience by maintaining that only the bereaved or injured suffered long-term consequences after the disaster. Over the decades there has been a growing recognition that everyone present was damaged in some way by what they saw unfolding in front of them. This process has barely started in Nottingham.
Part of the problem was the behaviour of Brian Clough. The iconic Forest manager made a series of public pronouncements that supported the police narrative that Liverpool fans were drunk, ticketless and caused the disaster with their unruly behaviour. He eventually recanted but the damage was done. Clough, one of the greatest managers in English football history, did more to establish the myths of Hillsborough in the public’s mind than almost anyone outside the South Yorkshire Police. His legacy was tarnished by the disaster.
“Clough did a lot of damage,” Hillier said. “He reinforced a trope that was ludicrous.”
The club, too, come in for criticism. “Forest have historically been silent,” Hillier said. “They said they were trying to be sensitive. That does not wash. I think it will be better in the future.”
The Nottingham Forest Supporters Trust are making huge efforts to change the flawed perceptions. “There are people who still think it was the fault of ticketless fans,” Hillier said. “The NFST are trying to isolate these people and make them an even smaller minority. We desperately want to get the message out that those who sing offensive songs don’t speak for the vast majority.”
Hillier is aware that Liverpool supporters have been on the receiving end of appalling abuse in recent weeks. Shrewsbury Town banned two supporters for chanting about Hillsborough on the day of their third-round tie at Anfield. Chelsea supporters, who have an awful record on the subject, were particularly offensive outside Wembley after the EFL Cup final last month.
The NFST have hired rooms in a pub in Nottingham on Sunday to provide a safe space for anyone who is feeling triggered by the tie. Hillier is in contact with the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance, a group that raises money to fund therapy for those affected by the disaster, and said that a number of individuals have expressed trepidation about what might happen on Sunday. “The HSSA have been brilliant in reaching out,” he said. “They provide support for Forest fans suffering from PTSD. If people are struggling or traumatised, it’ll be a sanctuary
“It’s normal people trying to do a good job of helping others.”
Hillier was part of a delegation on Thursday that visited Anfield to lay a wreath in the shape of Forest’s badge at the memorial to the 97 who died. He wants the quarter-final to pass off without incident but is apprehensive.
“I like football to be edgy,” he said. “Sanitised football is crap. But this goes beyond it.”
On Sunday, Hillier hopes the forgotten participants at Hillsborough remember they were there, the horror they witnessed and maybe even admit that everyone, including Forest fans, came away with mental scars. No one escaped Hillsborough unscathed.
