Thirty-five years ago, a modest news report ran on page six of The Liverpool Echo newspaper.
Entitled ‘OLD RIVALS NOW UNITED IN SORROW’, it gave details of a small, powerful gesture from Manchester United’s fans in the wake of the horrendous Hillsborough disaster. A gesture that years of rivalry and rancour has threatened to bury.
Nine days earlier, 95 Liverpool fans had lost their lives in a devastating crush at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, at an FA Cup semi-final that was desperately aborted after just six minutes of play. The tragedy would claim two more victims in the years ahead, bringing the death toll to 97.