article_snippet: Christina Lambert QC, counsel for the inquests, said: 'You say in hindsight you recognise that's where a number of fans might have gone.
article_snippet: David Duckenfield replied: 'Ma'am, I think it is fair to say that is arguably one of the biggest regrets of my life, that I did not foresee where fans would go when fans came in through the gates.'
article_snippet: Mr Duckenfield, stationed in the police control box with a bank of TV monitors of the ground, said Mr Duckenfield, stationed in the police control box with a bank of TV monitors of the ground was 'shocked' at the request to open the gates from Superintendent Roger Marshall from outside Leppings Lane after police became 'overwhelmed' by the number of fans gathered at the turnstiles.
article_snippet: Mr Duckenfield said Mr Duckenfield was left 'no option' and thought fans would feel 'relief and comfort' in being released from the crush of the turnstiles on to the concourse.
article_snippet: After viewing CCTV footage of fans on a concourse behind the Leppings Lane terrace, having passed through Gate C, Mr Duckenfield went on: 'I have a view from what I have seen that quite a few of the fans were apparently standing around, waiting for friends or wondering where to go or what to do.'
article_snippet: Miss Lambert asked Mr Duckenfield: 'At any stage during those five minutes did it occur to Mr Duckenfield to wonder where the fans were going?'
article_snippet: Agreeing with Miss Lambert that a match commander of reasonable competence ought to have thought where the fans allowed through the exit gate might go, the 70-year-old claimed to have been 'distracted' by a radio message referring to another gate 'going in'. '
article_snippet: That is why my thought processes moved from where they (fans) were going to go, to what would happen next.'
article_snippet: Miss Lambert Miss Lambert suggested to the former match commander that it might be said to have been 'obvious' that fans climbing out of the central pens might be connected to the ingress of supporters through Gate C. '