Champions League final: Liverpool CEO 'concerned' by deletion of CCTV
By Tom Gott
Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has admitted he has 'deep concerns' over the deletion of the CCTV footage of the incidents surrounding the Champions League final.
It was recently revealed by French FA director Erwan Le Prevost that the footage, which he described as 'extremely violent', has been deleted automatically as nobody made a legal request for the videos within seven days of the final.
That means footage of police tear-gassing supporters, as well as separate claims from fans that they were assaulted and mugged by locals after the game, can no longer be accessed.
"Clearly, we saw the reports yesterday afternoon regarding the deletion of CCTV footage, which is deeply concerning," Hogan told the club's official website. "We have formally contacted UEFA to confirm whether or not that's the case, so we're waiting to hear back specifically on that.
"And we're also working to make sure, through the relevant authorities to put requests in, that all evidence related to events around the final are retained. So, clearly concerning, it's something that we're following up on and, as I keep saying, our priority really has to be to make sure that the independent review and investigation takes into account all the evidence. So that's why we've requested that any evidence related to the final is retained."
Hogan also discussed UEFA's response to a letter from Liverpool which posed 13 key questions about the incident.
"I think as you said at the start, things have been moving around quite a bit over the course of the last 10 days, almost two weeks now," he continued. "Just to be clear, we sent the letter to UEFA prior to their announcement regarding the independent review. So some of the questions that we did pose to them were covered in the terms of reference, not all of them.
"But we're in the very early stages, I would say, in understanding the structure of that independent review. We did have a call with Dr Rodrigues yesterday, with UEFA and Real Madrid also on the call, and it was a very initial first call, so there's a number of outstanding details that we need to understand, and that's what ourselves and Real Madrid will be working on with UEFA and Dr Rodrigues in the days ahead.
"And again, I keep saying this, but we just need to be satisfied that this is going to be a thorough, independent and transparent investigation. And I would imagine that all of those questions that we have will have to be answered over the course of the coming days and weeks."