Liverpool: Hillsborough campaigner hails 'poignant' victory

A Queen's University professor who led an inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster has said Liverpool's premier league win was "hugely significant".

The team secured their first top-flight title in 30 years on Thursday.

Professor Phil Scraton said the win was very poignant, given "the history of the club over recent years and what they've been through".

"It's a culmination of a recent re-emergence of the club as an international force," he said.

"That sounds like a crazy thing to say if you think about how dominant Liverpool were in 1989 and 1990, but we have to remember that 1990 - the last time they won the league - was a very important year, because it was the year the inquests into those who died at Hillsborough started."

Mr Scraton said that for him personally and for many other life-long Liverpool fans, football "became relatively insignificant" after Hillsborough, because of the "real tragedy, real disaster and a fight for justice" in the years that followed.

"We've had this duality of the tragedy, the aftermath and the fight for justice running alongside the poor fortune of the club.

"Even though in 2001 they were treble cup winners and in 2005 won the European club, the club went into the doldrums... culminating in a very serious decline with the previous American owners when it came close to bankruptcy."

Mr Scraton said he believes the new owners "have really committed to the club" and reversed its fortunes.

"Coming back from all that [tragedy] has made this an even bigger story... It comes on the back of a sense of revival," he said. "There's a sense of relief among life-long fans."

He also described as "incredible" the fact that the whistle blew in the 96th minute of the match - 96 is a significant number for the team as it represents the total number of victims who died at Hillsborough.

Last year, Mr Scraton visited the Liverpool grounds to talk to the team about Hillsborough.

During that meeting, he said, he witnessed "an immense coherence and sense of responsibility and respect".

"When I pointed out why they carry 96 on the back of their shirts and two flames on their collar, I expected to see multi-millionaires sitting on their phones, but it wasn't like that at all. Three of them were crying. They were really trying to understand the history of the club.

"You could hear a pin drop as we talked about Hillsborough. And what I got was a feeling, an emotion and discipline and understanding.

"And I think all that has come to fruition under the chairmanship of Peter Moore and management of Jurgen Klopp."