Liverpool-born Town boss Paul Jewell says he was left feeling “empty” as he watched the Hillsborough disaster unfold. Yesterday, saw the release of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report into the May 1989 disaster in which 96 supporters died.
The Blues manager had been at a previous semi-final at the same venue: "I’d been to Hillsborough back in 1980 as a fan to watch Liverpool play Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final.
"I was about 14 or 15 at the time and that came back to me when the scenes came through from Hillsborough in 1989."
Jewell subsequently progressed through the ranks as a Liverpool youth and reserves player before moving on to Bradford and coincidentally was in action in a 2-2 draw against Town at Valley Parade on the day of the disaster.
He said: "I watched the scenes from the players’ lounge and it was surreal what was going on at a football match. They were devastating scenes and it just left you feeling empty.
"I was there with my wife Ann-Marie. She’s from Liverpool as well and was pregnant at the time. We just sat there in silence watching what was going on.
"It was very raw to the people of Bradford as well because only a few years earlier they had the tragedy of the fire at the stadium. It brought back some devastating memories for people at the club.
"I later found out that one of the lads I grew up with in Liverpool died at Hillsborough. It was a tragic, horrible, horrible day.”
On the 20th anniversary of the tragedy ex-Town boss and skipper Jim Magilton, then a young player with Liverpool and present at the game, recalled his memories of that day.