Part 2: What Hillsborough means to me

STEVEN GERRARD, Liverpool FC captain

I was only nine years old when it happened. I was really, really shocked and deeply saddened to have seen the scenes live and heard the news over the radio. Unfortunately for myself and my family we got the dreaded knock the next morning to say that a member of our family was at the game and had been tragically killed.

Obviously it was difficult to take that my cousin Jon-Paul had been there. Seeing the reaction of his Mum, Dad and family helped drive me on to become the player I have developed into today.

Hillsborough is very important to this club. The 96 will never ever be forgotten, but it is important these people are remembered individually and not just as a number. This club has fought for justice ever since and will continue to do so. We have stuck together because we are not just about what happens on the pitch but we are all one off the pitch as well. Time has gone by, but the scars will never ever be healed and the fans will never forget. You can always rely on our supporters to be there for you when you need them.

I think it was such a big tragedy, that the majority of the players who have arrived from other countries are already aware of it. The players are brought up to speed about what happened at Hillsborough and they pay their respects every year, just like the rest of the staff of Liverpool Football Club.

Even when I stop playing for the first team I will continue to go to the service and show my respects every year. I see Jon-Paul's family there as well so it's nice to go and share the memorial service with them. The families who lost loved ones have shown great dignity. I think they should be proud of themselves. They have behaved impeccably and the club are very proud of them and the way they have handled this tragedy.

RICK PARRY, Liverpool FC chief executive

I was working on the Manchester Olympic bid on the day it happened. We had a group of IOC members with us. The news was filtering through and it was a bit vague. Everything was just a bit uncertain. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I was able to gather the full enormity of it and for it to sink in. I remember the day graphically.

It's hard to know where to start when it comes to the impact of Hillsborough on the club. It's certainly been deep and long lasting. We now wear the eternal flame on our shirts in every game. The flame burns brightly at Anfield and will do so at the new Stadium.

For many the 20th anniversary has a significance but for me it's no different to any other anniversary because we always remember Hillsborough properly. You can't feel it more deeply this year than any other year. For me it's what binds the club to its supporters. From the club's point of view, those who died will always be remembered. It's about doing the simple things really well, the things that matter.

The fact we never want to play on April 15 is massively significant. I'm very pleased that UEFA were supportive this year because it is the day of the memorial service where we get together with the families and the supporters and everyone shares their grief. It is a very special moment for all of us. It's always a very sad day and it's entirely appropriate that it's at Anfield. On the 10th anniversary we broke with tradition and held it at the cathedral, but I think everyone feels it should be at Anfield.

The club has always had a strong relationship with the Hillsborough families. We try to recognise our responsibility to them. We try to understand the grief they must be going through, but unless you have been there that's incredibly difficult. We have a strong bond and it's something the club will always regard as very important. We will always support the families in their desire to find the truth. The reason for that is because it's incredibly difficult for those affected to find closure until they get an answer. It is entirely understandable that questions are still in people's minds. It's trite and wrong to say it's 20 years so we should move on. There is still a quest for truth and we will support that.

ROY EVANS, Former Liverpool player, coach and manager

As the early moments of the game developed people started to come over the barrier and we began to realise there was a problem. We just thought it was an overspill and that once it was cleared up the game would carry on. It wasn't the case and we know the sad story that unfolded after that.

The journey back home was one of numbness. We didn't have all the details at the ground but on the coach home we were getting phone calls from friends. Both my son and Kenny Dalglish's son had gone to the game with a friend of ours. At first you begin to wonder if they were involved, but we got a phone call from the lad who had taken them and he gave us a better picture of what had happened.

In the days that followed the people of Merseyside were fantastic and the support for everyone was great. I also have to commend the players and Kenny for the way they approached things. Families would come into Anfield and we would meet them and talk to them. We went to different funerals and quite a strong bond developed between ourselves and the families. Merseyside reacted with great dignity. Not just the Liverpool side of things but Everton too. There was a great respect and a great response from the world of football.

I hope we learn from it. It's disappointing no-one has been big enough to admit mistakes were made. There were probably mistakes from all sides of it. Sometimes in life you have to be honest and hold your hand up. The blame was forced on to the fans and they didn't deserve that. They deserve justice.

STEPHEN DONE, Liverpool FC museum curator

It's a disaster of such profound sadness that it is difficult to sum it up. If you want to encapsulate it into a few words... 96 people lost their lives. When 96 people die you can't consign it to history. It's perhaps tempting for outsiders to say, 'it was so long ago, move on', but football clubs are very much a part of people's lives. There are many that struggled to go back to a match after Hillsborough. It's important we don't forget that fact. At a time when people get worried football is losing touch with the fans, I think it is important that a club that is a multi-million pound business never loses sight of what happened that day.

It's sometimes easy to forget that many thousands are still damaged and affected by it. It wasn't just the ones who died. There are all the survivors, family and friends who to this day, have to remember that horrific event.

It has a profound significance for the club. In some ways you can think of the club before and after Hillsborough. It's part of what makes Liverpool Football Club what it is now. At Anfield we have the Hillsborough memorial as a permanent monument to those who died. It can be found next to the Shankly Gates where there is the living flame and the names of the 96. Every single day tributes are laid there and every time we have a home match it is flooded with scarves and beautiful gestures. It's a very important monument to say the least. Even away supporters leave their scarves there to show that football rivalry doesn't matter so much in the light of such a tragedy.

The club crest also changed as a result of Hillsborough. In 1992 - the year of Liverpool's centenary - chief executive/general secretary Peter Robinson made the decision that they would review the crest and make a permanent memorial to the victims of Hillsborough. Hence, the flame on either side of the crest with the top the section of the Shankly Gates saying, You'll Never Walk Alone.

TONY BARRETT, Liverpool Echo football correspondent

I remember waking up on a bright day and walking down the street with my mum. I was 13 years old and I didn't have a ticket. I remember going past the pub where all my Dad's mates drank and there was a carnival atmosphere there. My Mum spoke to them before they got on the bus to the game and said: 'You couldn't have better weather for it'.

As the day unfolded, I remember being at home with my headphones plugged into the radio and it was obvious something was going wrong. I put the TV on and suddenly the house was very busy. Various families were there and wanted to know what was going on. I remember the feeling of emptiness. I don't think I'll ever experience anything like that again. My Dad had been working that day and I remember him coming home and he got me and my mum and took us for a walk. It was all the way from Prescott Road into town. It was just out of a feeling of helplessness. We knew so many people there and that was the thing you couldn't escape from. You were so far away and couldn't do anything to help. You just hoped people would come home.

The reaction to the disaster was magnificent and it's something this city can take great credit for. Look at the support Everton and its fans gave Liverpool - that's something that should never be forgotten. There were fundraising events in schools and pubs and there was a genuine rallying round for anyone who had been affected. There was just a great civic reaction to a terrible tragedy.One of the things that is easy to forget is how well some journalists and some newspapers reacted. That's because of the way others behaved and conducted themselves. In the years after the disaster the Daily Mirror's coverage of the fight for justice, particularly Brian Reade's reports, were priceless. With that kind of desire to fight against the establishment we have found out some things that we may never have known.

We all know what happened that day. We know who is to blame and that's why there is such a burning sense of injustice in the city. I remember being at the first competitive game after the tragedy, a 0-0 draw against Everton at Goodison Park. I can't remember anything about it though, such was the emotion of the occasion.

The restaged semi-final at Old Trafford brings back most memories. I was in the crowd that day and I don't think we knew how to react. That uncertainty was summed up with the opening goal. It was an Aldo header that looped over keeper. It was a strange goal and if you look back at the footage there is a delay between it going in and the fans celebrating. That may have been because of the nature of the goal, but I also think it was because people weren't sure what to do. It was only at the end of the game that we got back to the type of support we are renowned for. I mean, how do you cheer after what had just happened?

Looking for good out of bad is something you have to do when it comes to tragedies. For me the one that sticks out is the fight for justice. It's gone on for so long and despite suffering so many setbacks people are still pushing for it. I also believe Liverpool Football Club changed for the better in the days that followed Hillsborough. I remember the day after, when Peter Robinson opened the gates to allow people to come and grieve. That to me was the club opening up. It is well documented it was perhaps a conservative club before Hillsborough, but after the tragedy it had to change. The players and the staff responded magnificently. That has continued right through to today.

Just look at how Rafael Benitez turned up at the 'Fields of Anfield Road' commemorative CD launch. It summed up how Liverpool sees its fans and how willing it is to support them.

ROGER MCGOUGH, Poet

I remember seeing it on the television and I couldn't believe it. It was a similar feeling to the one I had many years later watching the horrific events that took place with the Twin Towers. It's hard to come to terms with this horror happening before your eyes. You think to yourself that it will be okay because it is just a crush. You really couldn't foresee the disaster and the pain that lay ahead.

The TV cameras moved between shots of fans crying and captured the general chaos as people tried to ascertain what was going on. There was a sense that it wasn't really happening, that it couldn't be true. It was disbelief turning into horror, anger and then sorrow. When bad things happen it shakes the entire community.

Everybody is involved and everybody feels the pain. If I try to equate things, the recent tragedy that saw the death of Rhys Jones is similar in many ways. The whole city feels it. It's like the blue and red scarves tied together. You look back on those days and you think of Adrian Henri's poem and a lot of good poems came about as a result of the genuine emotion and grief being felt.

You recall the carnage but also remember the flowers everywhere and the outpouring of grief that was genuine. These things bring the city together as well as the anger and the feeling of injustice.

It's 20 years on and it hasn't gone away, people still haven't been recompensed. It's still there, that black hole...

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