Thread by @TonyEvans92a

I've snapped. And I'm going to say it. All the dickheads who are niggling me over Hillsborough have pushed me to the edge. But making money out of it? Being a 'Murdoch rat'?

You know, for years we banged our heads against a brick wall. Everyone in Liverpool knew, the rest of the country believed The Sun

So you have two options. Carry on or try to confront it. I got a job at The Times. I got myself into a position where I could write. When very few people were even interested about Hillsborough - @david_conn was an exception - I tried to mention it at every possible point

And The Times audience was not naturally sympathetic. But, because we had a sensible editor, by the time the 20th anniversary came around, the paper was shifting to support the campaign. Go back and read my piece after the memorial

By the HIP it was on the front page. Lots of people got in touch with me and the paper to say they hadn't understood what really happened. I realised about 2005 that we had to try to convince people who disliked us (Scousers) and football

The same with Talksport. Their listeners might not have been instinctively sympathetic. But you talk to them. Tell them. Convince them. What's the other option? Leave some of the media organisations with the biggest reach to the opposition?

And I wish I had made money from it. At least something positive might have come out of it. Instead I slogged around media outlets pouring out the fucking pain on each occasion. The day of the HIP verdict I did 17 interviews, each more destructive than the last. No fucking money

And it's the worst sort of Tory view that the only reason people will do things is for money. Do you know what it takes to write the first-hand pieces about my experiences? A fucking lot

But what other choice do I have? The battle goes on and will until the day I die. Oh, and an actor says he doesn't believe what I said in the Hillsborough film. Well go on, act it. Show us how easy it is to do. Wanker

And people bring up Colin Murray all the time. As I always say, where was he when we needed him? When it looked like the world had forgotten Hillsborough and just wanted to ignore it. When I was spending my days off trying to see MPs - of all parties - to get some support

When even my bosses at The Times were telling me I was writing too much about Hillsborough - they never stopped me, though. Go check out what happened after I left. There's so much more I could say. But the pain in all of us who fought is still raw

I'm glad I fought the battle in the Murdoch pages, on the Murdoch airwaves. I'd do it all again. If you think it was about money then you are some kind of c***

So thanks for everyone who's supported me. To the people who have done this to me tonight, I pity you. But if you were here I would hit you so hard

Oh, and you know why media organisations approach me to talk about Hillsborough? Because I was there as a fan, because I stepped over dead bodies, because I managed to gain a voice in the media and because I can articulate the agony we've suffered

I've never approached anyone

32 years on I have to explain this shit. And live with the memories, flashbacks and nightmares. Some of you make me sick. Not just in a metaphorical way

And there'll be people laughing out there saying 'ha, he's had a breakdown.' Well, yeah, I've had dozens of them. Fucking dozens

For years I fought my battles alone. I wasn't in the pens. I didn't feel worthy of mixing with the survivors. I felt - and still feel - like I hadn't done enough and I wasn't worthy of their company. @RichieG_LFC and a lot of friends have helped me think differently

I refused to call myself a survivor. I was in the stands. I was just outside. Then Anne Williams told me off about that. She told me she felt sorry for me, because of what I'd seem. I cried for two days. She said 'you are a survivor'

If Anne Williams would have told me not to do Talksport I wouldn't have done it. Margaret Aspinall did a column for us in The Times - and she slaughtered The Sun in the piece

I shouldn't have to say any of this.