Sheffield Wednesday ‘cover-up’ claims over Newcastle United fan safety concerns clarified in council statement

Concerns were raised following the Owls’ FA Cup win over Newcastle United on January 7, when reports of supporter distress in the Leppings Lane End of the ground – the club’s long-standing away end – were reported in the national media.

A Sheffield City Council Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting followed 13 days later, with Wednesday later releasing a joint-statement with the Council on February 10 confirming ‘All aspects of safety at the stadium complied fully with the club’s Safety Certificate’ and that ‘Minor recommendations were made relating to the overall matchday experience’.

A Daily Mail article published on Tuesday described a ‘scandalous cover-up’ by Wednesday, detailing the findings of what was reported to have been uncovered only by force of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Newcastle United.

The Council statement has made clear however that the information was not as a result of an FOI request and that the information was handed over voluntarily with the intention of full transparency by the Council at the polite request of the above bodies.

The statement reads in part: “For the avoidance of doubt, Newcastle United's request for the minutes of the SAG meeting did not come in to Sheffield City Council as a Freedom of Information request. As is Council policy for such a request they were provided the information via the Freedom of Information team.”

SAG minutes are taken as a matter of course and are made readily available to the public on request.

The statement also makes clear that the Council notified Newcastle United of a required reduction in capacity at the Leppings Lane end of the ground from 4,700 to 3,700 before Wednesday figures had been notified – senior Wednesday figures found out about the measure when a statement was released by Newcastle United and so renders a perceived attempt by Sheffield Wednesday to ‘cover-up’ the directive impossible.

The required directive was only retrospectively confirmed to the Club by the Council on Tuesday, some 24 hours after Newcastle United had been informed.

The Council statement reads in part: “The SAG minutes released to Newcastle United should have made clear that when talking about altered capacity figures, these were – at the time – only temporary and had been done voluntarily by the Club pending a further review. The club had not formally been told of this required reduction until Tuesday 14th March 2023.”

The Star understands Sheffield Wednesday have appealed the required directive on the basis that the Club have been fully compliant with the up-to-date Safety Certificate as issued by SAG in the summer of 2022.

The statement also confirms Wednesday had taken on the reduction in capacity for their clash against Plymouth Argyle on February 4 entirely voluntarily and only because the findings of the review were still being formed. This reduction has now been extended by the Council ‘until the end of the season where a further review will take place’.

Lesser suggestions were published in the minutes such as the improvement of CCTV, the installation of shutters at the Leppings Lane tunnel and a suggestion around the possible reduction of toilet space to allow for more room on the upper concourse.

These are among 15 lower-level safety recommendations described as minor in February 10 statement released by Sheffield Wednesday. No firm directives had been ordered at that time. The minutes of the meeting handed over to Newcastle United show the three suggestions described above have been acted upon by Sheffield Wednesday, as has the solicitation of a crowd management consultancy firm.

There was also a suggestion that four further turnstiles at that end of the ground should be ‘considered’.

While the minutes of the SAG meeting revealed CCTV footage showed the upper concourse to be ‘extremely busy’, other findings included the fact that neither stand was over capacity, that stewarding numbers were excess of Safety Certificate requirements, that no injuries reported or incidents were recorded and that there was no CCTV or social media evidence of fans in distress.

An error was recognised in the covering of sold seats. CCTV showed these errors were corrected some 75 minutes prior to kick-off. A ‘lack of pro-active stewarding’ was described as ‘possible’.

Clarifying any confusion over the situation, Sheffield City Council’s Director of Street Scene & Regulations Richard Eyre said: “Following concerns about crowd movements at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Wednesday issued a joint statement outlining that minor recommendations were made relating to the overall matchday experience.

“The recommendations included enhanced training and development for stewards, improved CCTV and a review into the capacity of the stands.

“Although there was no immediate recommendation to do so, the Club voluntarily offered to reduce the capacity in the Upper and Lower West Stands. Sheffield City Council agreed this was the right thing to do prior to a robust review having taken place and since then the reduction request has become a formal requirement so to improve the matchday experience.

“It should be made clear that Hillsborough Stadium never breached its capacity or its Safety Certificate at any time.”