Thread by @draper_rob

🧵For past few months @MailSport we’ve tried to report + investigate chaos of Stade de France at the Champions League final in Paris last May….in doing so we were contacted by so many #LFC fans with compelling stories that all deserves telling we were somewhat overwhelmed…

We had what we think is important evidence for the UEFA independent review led by Dr Rodrigues (who coincidentally is in Liverpool today meeting fans). Unsurprisingly it completely contradicts French interior minister @GDarmanin narrative of ticketless fans….

We believe the tech failures precipitated chaos. Contrary to established UEFA narrative, digital tickets were part of the problem. Tech meltdown was a primary cause compounded by a potentially fatal misdirection of 37,000 #LFC fans to an entrance designed for 10,000…

….all compounded by scarcely credible lack of communication between authorities, which put lives in danger, exacerbated by inept policing. However, the info we have is so huge, we weren’t sure what to do with it….

It was far too much for a normal newspaper article and yet too important not to publish. So we made a plan for a three-fold approach

1) @cormaccsmith has put together this superb digital package, combining words with videos and photos we’ve been sent

mailplus.co.uk/edition/sport/…

2) We have actually put together all the testimonies into a mini report, which we will be sharing with the UEFA review. It’s substantial - 12,000 words - but the sheer weight of evidence tells its own story. We will publish it online shortly

3) and for those not ready for 12,000 words (!) we have this executive summary for the paper tmrw morning (which is basically the words in the digital link above)

Some PS notes

Firstly, I need to thank the scores of fans who contacted us. There were more than 40 interviewed for this (+ we referenced other reports and credible accounts)

We are now at a critical mass where it’s impossible to thank everyone individually…

But you know who you are and without you, journalism like this can’t happen. It is the sheer weight of testimonies that allows us to be confident we can shed some light on this. And be bold enough to offer recommendations to UEFA (more of that next week)……

I was marginally caught up in chaos but those I spoke to had much worse experiences. Thank you for contacting us, for being patient with our questions + bearing with us as we complied all this. It’s one of those times where you feel everyone’s story deserves to be told….

I think we came close to something tragic that night and I shuddered writing down the words - especially how 37,000 fans were misdirected. It reminded me of reading the Hillsborough report by Ld Justice Taylor as a student…

I can’t let this thread pass without acknowledging @david_conn + this excellent piece by @guardian_sport

Frankly, the more media that work on this the better

theguardian.com/football/ng-in…

Lastly UEFA have seen our full report. They can’t comment at present as they have to let the review do its work. But they corrected a couple of things we had misinterpreted or where translation had caused confusions.

You can view the abridged version here, without the digital extras but with the words

dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsne…

And for traditionalists (like me) who prefer the actual newspaper….