On the eve of the 25th anniversary of Heysel, Chief Reporter Luke Traynor looks at the aftermath of the disaster

AFTER the tragic events at Heysel, the spotlight fell on Liverpool FC, and English clubs in general, as the issue of hooliganism reared its head.

Liverpool FC chief executive Peter Robinson visited the Heysel terraces the day after the game with club lawyer Tony Ensor.

They gave a brief press conference expressing their regret and sadness that 39 Juventus fans had lost their lives.

Back in Turin, some fans were voicing their anger with the manner in which captain Michel Platini and his colleagues had celebrated the win on the pitch, and, later, how the club almost proudly displayed the trophy in their cabinet back home.

UEFA, however, were determined to deliver a weighty punishment and their chief observer was in no doubt over who was to blame.

In the days after the disaster, Gunter Schneider stated: “Only the English fans were responsible.

“Of that there is no doubt.”

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put immediate pressure on the Football Association to withdraw English clubs from European competition.

Not long after, UEFA did ban them for an indefinite period, ruling that the clubs would be barred indefinitely, with Liverpool missing for a further three years beyond that.

Peter Robinson remembered: “UEFA imposed a sentence that Liverpool would be suspended for three years after English clubs had been allowed back in. Juventus were told to play two games behind closed doors and Belgium was banned from staging a final of a European competition for 10 years.

“We didn’t think that our three-year ban after English clubs were let in was fair, particularly when all the evidence came to light.”

The overriding feeling was that, while the actions of some Liverpool fans had been reprehensible, the finger also had to be pointed at the inadequate policing, lack of control over ticketing, and ultimately, the antiquated Heysel stadium.

Mr Robinson added: “An independent inquiry in Belgium found that Liverpool {as a club} was in no way to blame. The main blame lay with the Belgian FA and security.

“In the end, English clubs were banned from Europe for five years and us one year longer. We didn’t have to serve that extra three years.”

Tony Ensor was the Liverpool FC lawyer who was tasked with producing a report about the tragedy.

With those findings in mind, he attended a Parliamentary Select Committee in Belgium four weeks after the disaster.

He said: “I gave evidence for two hours through an interpreter. I was expecting hostility. But it was straightforward.

“The Belgian Prime Minister lost his job over the disaster. That was the upshot of the report.

“At the time, there was a sense of shame that the good name of Liverpool Football Club and the city had been besmirched by this behaviour.

“I never tried to condone the behaviour of our fans.

“But there was lamentable failure of the authorities to anticipate the problem.

“One can never exonerate those who behaved by charging into the so-called neutral zone. We had to be punished. But the investigating of UEFA was very incomplete.”