Liverpool

Steve Clarke: 'Hillsborough families deserved the truth'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 13 September 2012

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke says that the families of the Hillsborough disaster victims deserved to learn the truth of the tragedy.

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke believes that the recent revelations regarding the Hillsborough tragedy has allowed the families of the victims to be vindicated.

An independent panel found that 96 Liverpool fans' lives had been lost due to the incompetence of the authorities after it had emerged that 164 police statements had been altered to deflect blame away from the South Yorkshire police.

"The biggest thing is it vindicates the families," said Clarke. "The families have chased this verdict for a long time.

"They are the ones who have suffered when you think 96 people went to a football match and didn't come home. There is something deeply wrong with that.

"For the families to have to chase the verdict they have finally got for 23 years, it vindicates the way they have conducted themselves, the way they have conducted themselves, the way they have channelled their anger if you like into getting this verdict in the right way."

Clarke spent a year at Anfield as an assistant manager to former boss Kenny Dalglish.