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‘Could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham?’

Newstalk Breakfast spoke this morning to Daniel Taylor about revelations released yesterday in re...



‘Could any man really be as un...
Soccer

‘Could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham?’

Newstalk Breakfast spoke this morning to Daniel Taylor about revelations released yesterday in regards to the Valley Parade fire in 1986 which claimed 56 lives.

Taylor, who is the Chief Football Writer for The Guardian broke the story, after speaking to Martin Fletcher. Four members and three generations of Fletcher's family died in the fire.

A new book written by Fletcher claims the fire at Valley Parade was one of at least nine blazes at businesses owned by or associated with the club's then chairman Stafford Heginbotham, who died in 1995.

The official inquiry into the tragedy, led by Mr Justice Oliver Popplewell, concluded that the cause was an accident probably started by a spectator dropping a cigarette into the rubbish that had accumulated under an old timber stand.

The new claims are contained in the book Fifty-Six - The Story Of The Bradford Fire, by Martin Fletcher, who was 12 at the time and escaped from the blaze.

The book, published today and being serialised in The Guardian, does not make any direct allegations but Mr Fletcher says Heginbotham's history with fires, which he claims resulted in payouts totalling around #27 million in today's terms, warranted further investigation.

"Could any man really be as unlucky as Heginbotham had been?" he asks.

Mr Fletcher's 11-year-old brother was the fire's youngest victim while his father John, 34, uncle Peter, 32, and grandfather Eddie, 63, also died.

Hear the interview below with Daniel Taylor

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