Hillsborough disaster shared tribal grievance against the rest of society. The deaths of more than 50 Liverpool football supporters at Hillsborough in 1989 was undeniably a greater tragedy than the single death, however horrible, of Mr Bigley; but that is no excuse for Liverpool's failure to acknowledge, even to this day, the part played in the disaster by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground that Saturday afternoon. The police became a convenient scapegoat, and the "Sun" newspaper a whipping-boy for daring, albeit in a tasteless fashion, to hint at the
Liverpool F.C. 0–2 Arsenal F.C. (26 May 1989) line. For much of the 1988–89 season, Arsenal led the First Division table; their manager George Graham had assembled a side mixed with youth and experience, captained by academy graduate Tony Adams. At one stage Arsenal were 11 points clear of defending champions Liverpool, but their lead diminished following a run of bad results. Liverpool, coached by player-manager Kenny Dalglish, capitalised after an indifferent start to the campaign, and emerged as Arsenal's main challengers for the title. Towards the end of the season Liverpool supporters were involved in a sporting disaster at Hillsborough, where 96 of the club's supporters lost