Five men will enter not guilty pleas to charges over the Hillsborough disaster.
Norman Bettison was one of a number of ex-South Yorkshire Police chiefs that attended a preliminary hearing at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
All the officers are set to plead not guilty to their roles in the tragedy which saw 96 Liverpool fans unlawfully killed at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground.
Bettison, former inspectors Donald Denton and Alan Foster, as well as the force’s erstwhile solicitor Peter Metcalf all intend to plead not guilty at their trial.
Sheffield Wednesday’s former club secretary Graham Mackrell also entered a not guilty plea to health and safety charges relating to Hillsborough in 1989.
All five were bailed until the scheduled hearing on September 6.
Match commander David Duckenfield did not attend the hearing pending the lifting of a High Court order relating to a private prosecution in 1999.