Premier League: Liverpool's Anfield will host the Hillsborough disaster memorial for the final year

Football News 24/7

Anfield will hold a memorial service to remember 96 football fans who died at Hillsborough in April for the final time.

Memorial services have been held at Liverpool's stadium most years since the disaster on 15 April 1989. 

In the days that followed immediately after Anfield was a focal point for mourners, with a bed of flowers covering the entire pitch and a chain of scarves that stretched across Stanley Park to Goodison Park, home of city rivals Everton.

However, Hillsborough families have agreed that this year's service - on the 27th anniversary - will be the final one.

The decision to end the Anfield services was made by the Hillsborough Family Support Group (HFSG) following consultation with the relatives of those who died.

Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the HFSG, said: "The 96 will never be forgotten. This final memorial service will provide the families with some closure."

Mrs Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died in the disaster, added: "The HFSG would like to thank everyone for all the support the families have received over the past 27 years and all those people who have attended the service at Anfield each year.

"We hope that the public and fans respect the decision of the HFSG and will continue to remember the 96 in their own, perhaps more private, way."

The annual service in the past was used as a way of keeping the disaster in the public eye whilst the families fought for justice for their loved ones, with inquests still being held to determine what really happened that day.