Nightmare is ‘always there in your mind’, says Ray Houghton

Even in rare times of vindication, such as yesterday’s verdict on the Hillsborough tragedy, Ray Houghton can’t help wonder what might have been on the fateful day 27 years later.

He was one of the Liverpool players corralled in the dressing-room as, just metres away, 96 fans who came to support his side in the FA Cup semi-final that day lost their lives.

English football was in the midst of a hooligan crisis and Houghton doesn’t apologise for admitting the thought of another skirmish was behind the decision of Ray Lewis to remove the teams from the pitch as chaos erupted in the Lepping’s Lane end of the ground.