PICTURE: Liverpool Scum - Steaua Bucuresti 1986

Liverpool fans tend to lump together the disasters of Hillsborough and Heysel. Whilst they bear similarities, in that innocent people died in both, the former saw Liverpool as victims and the latter saw Liverpool fans at fault.

After Heysel they blamed Chelsea fans and didn’t appologise for what happened until 20 years later when Liverpool and Juve met in the Champions League. The chairman, John Smith, publicly distanced the club from what happened, again, talking of the southern accents heard in the crowd and the apparent number of Chelsea fans there.

Had they accepted the blame, the chants of “murderers” would never have arisen. But their repeated denial and eagerness to blame others lead to outrage amongst other football fans.

The irony of their denial is that throughout this time period they were urging the South Yorkshire Police to accept responsibility of Hillsborough. Justice for the 96, but let’s sweep the 39 under the carpet.

Last season during the Merseyside derby, Liverpool fans could be heard singing “2-0 to the murderers”, making light of the actions of their fans.

In this year’s Merseyside derby, their home fans were seen with “Steaua Bucuresti 1986” banners, again, mocking what happened at Heysel.

The deaths caused by Liverpool fans meant all English clubs were banned from Europe, and Everton, who were flying high at the time, were denied the opportunity to compete, with eventual winners, Steaua Bucuresti.

It’s good to see those “lovable scousers”, who rightly mourn their own fans, can take the deaths of the Juventus fans they caused so lightly. This banner shows perfectly why it’s ridiculous for Liverpool fans to claim Heysel as their own disaster and become enraged when people talk about it.

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Table showing all the English clubs effected by the ban imposed because of Liverpool fans