Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan has responded with “utter disbelief” at the latest blatant mistruths from the French government over the fiasco at the Stade de France.
In a three-hour meeting of a French senate committee, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin doubled down on some claims already shown to be false that Reds fans were responsible for the chaotic scenes, and were the only ones to have been a problem.
A clearly furious Hogan responded by branding the high ranking politician who is responsible for policing “disgraceful”. And he also revealed that his counterpart at Real Madrid is asking for an independent inquiry, after his club’s supporters were also brutally treated.
“Nobody should go through what our fans (went) through on Saturday. The pain, the grief, the harm, the hurt that they suffered on Saturday, and now to be told by a French minister that only Liverpool fans have been a problem, it’s just disgraceful,” Hogan explained. “My response to the French minister’s comments again, is just one of disbelief frankly.
Given the body of evidence through video, photographs, personal experiences – and not just from Liverpool fans but from all fans that attended the match; media; English politicians; folks who travelled from literally all corners of the world – which people have seen now across social media and other media channels. It’s just utter disbelief.”
Liverpool have now received 6,500 individual accounts of the horror which unfolded at the French national stadium before, during and after the Champions League final against Real. And Hogan said that he’s had extensive dialogue with Real Madrid CEO Jose Angel Sanchez, who made clear his club’s fans also suffered disgusting treatment from French police, and will now collate evidence from their support.
He said: “I spoke to my counterpart at Real Madrid yesterday, who made it clear that their fans also had issues. They had major concerns with the matchday operation, including the policing operation around the match. We spoke for a while about this yesterday, I know they’re equally concerned about making sure this, again, is an independent and open investigation.
“Madrid have made it clear their fans suffered as well. So all I can say is I have a tremendous amount of empathy for our fans, I don’t think it’s fair what’s being said and we’re just in disbelief.”
Liverpool will stick firmly to their demand that an open and fair independent inquiry is carried out, and they will not accept a report. And the CEO added: “We’ve written to UEFA again today and we’ve raised specific questions – 13 specific questions – that we’d like them to clarify around the details of this investigation.
“We need clarity around what those points we are asking, the questions we’ve asked. We feel it’s incredibly important that we get this investigation going, that we get it launched immediately. Nobody should go through what they have gone through on Saturday. Both accessing the stadium as well as leaving the stadium, it was an absolute disgrace.”
