The Kraken

Thankfully one letter in the Echo is not indicative of the opinions of the whole of the city. Anyone I know has embraced the idea of the German Market. If memory serves me right, it's not actually called the German Market any more, I'm pretty sure they bill it as a "World Market" or some such nonsense. Which kind of dilutes it a bit; its all about the gluhwein and wieners for me..... As for your question, it is indeed a difficult question how the club decide who to hold a minute's silence for. Our club has decided to have an all encompassing All Saints Day, to remember the passing of all those who have passed away in the year. But it is a fact that, the more "standing" a person has in the club, the greater the need will be for the fans to have a public service of its own.

I think in certain instances the club definitely has a role to play. The two firefighters that died a few years back is a point in case; it affected many people in the city. As a consequence a minute's silence at the stadium was more than appropriate at the time; it allowed many people who felt quite emotive about it to pay their respects there and then. It was also very moving to see the reaction of the fire-fighters at St. Mary's station on the way to the game, and in a sense it galvanised the public. The Titanic; it was a complete disaster and tragedy, absolutely no denying that. And we should never forget what happened. But there is no emotional attachment to it for the vast majority of those attending St. Mary's; and a lot of people feel they or the club don't "need" to pay their respects in such a formal and public way. That may sound harsh and a bit cold, but I agree with you, grief shouldn't be compulsory in this case. And looking down on those who feel this way certainly doesn't make you a better person, that's for sure.

To be fair, I don't believe you have to have met someone to feel affected by their passing; it would be a sad state if that were the case. Although in terms of your other point, you're probably correct.

I don't understand the NIMBY analogy, I think all anyone is suggesting is that there are more appropriate ways and venues in Southampton to show respects than at a football match. And I find claiming superiority from grief-comparison a worrying trait, but you're welcome to your opinion.

But all you're doing is assuming the worst in people; that they don't have as much depth of feeling as you do. And that because they don't care as much it makes them inferior. I'm sure if there is a minute's silence, it will immculately upheld. If there isn't, then there are opportunities for people who want to pay their respects in other, more appropriate venues around the city. Newspaper and television coverage will ensure that pretty much everyone is aware of the date,a nd they can choose to show their respect in a way appropriate to them. It doesn't show a lack of respect or community that there isn't a huge petition for the football club to formally mark the occasion, and the fact that a significant amount of people aren't personally affected by it shouldn't be a stick to beat them with IMO.

Is this what all that stupid talk of a takeover of the club ( ? £25M for £33M of shares !?) was really about ? There have been rumours about a snow dome there for years now; I'd be utterly amazed if it happened. Indoor ski centres have their peak times on Saturdays; as does St Mary's. Traffic chaos, closed roads etc mean that it must be the least viable location in the whole city for such a venture.

Like you, I'm living abroad right now, and you're right it does make you much more appreciative of everything back home (I can't wait to get back home in 3 or 4 weeks time). That said, I'm not sure if I agree with you on this one, though I appreciate the sentiment. I don't think you can "force" people to grieve; people will pay their respects in their own way. A little education is certainly beneficial, but as has been posted I think the whole Hollywoodisation of Titanic has done way more to contribute to it being ingrained upon our psyche than a minute's silence at a football game would do. Obviously, if the disaster had happened recently then there's no doubt at all that there would be an occasion to show respect. And while I'm sure everyone empathises with what happened, a lot of people aren't as emotive about the subject as you, and I think we have to respect that also.

Do you not think that that is what many others will do, too? Perhaps many people feel they don't need a minute's silence at a football game in order for them to pay their respects. A lot of people genuinely don't feel that attached to a disaster that happened 100 years ago; as much as it was a complete travesty and huge loss of life.

That really is a rather sad and desperate act to airbrush past events from history.

Out of interest, assuming you won't be attending the game, what will you be doing to mark the occasion?

The more I think of it, the more I agree with this approach. And its not being cold-hearted or disrespectful of those who lost their lives, but I don't see how a minute's silence is particularly relevant to the SFC of today. It may be a poor comparison to make, but if we're now doing minute's silences for landmark anniversaries, would we also expect one for the various anniversaries of Ted Bates' passing? Or other club legends? Gone, but never forgotten, and we shouldn't need a minute's silence to remember that. I still hope the city do something to commerorate the day; that is entirely appropriate.

Yes, but on the flip side, Rememberance Day is a time to reflect on the contributions made and lives lost of those in all wars, not just ones from years past. As I've said above, I can understand the arguments for and against. Overall, I think its much more important for the city to have a major event to commemorate the anniversary than it is for the football club to do so. If SFC choose to do something then great. If they don't, I wouldn't choose to criticise them for it.

You could ask the same question about Rememberance day, couldn't you?

It's a sensitive subject; I certainly think the city should be doing a hell of a lot in terms of rememberance. I'm split on whether the club should or not, and can see the arguments on either side as to what SFC should do before the game. If the club are going to do something, it needs to be built up so that people know its going to happen. Just having an off the cuff on the day "by the way, we're having a minute's silence for the Titanic" is inappropriate, it's all or nothing for me. But in any case, I'm out of the country until May so it's not really something that affects me anyway...

Too long; didn't read.

Birch isn't saying any of that. The £1K is an initiative by their supporters trust. Which is clearly doomed to fail, as nobody knows how much the club will cost to buy, how much it will cost to run, who the money will go to, and what you actually end up owning for your money. What an investment!

Without wishing to be too pedantic, that's not entirely true. Our current average attendance is just over 25,500. Previous years in the Championship showed average attendances of 23.5K, 23.5K, 21K and 17.5K. In mitigation, we've never had a season as successful or trouble-free as this one, which would somewhat explain the extra 2K on the gate.

You just hit the nail on the head. At the moment, despite what anyone says, no-one has any realistic idea as to what sort of regular crowds we could achieve. There are estimates we can all make (and have done to death), but for now that's all they are. What we can be sure will happen over the next 2 or 3 years is that Cortese will certainly be monitoring the situation very closely, in terms of: How many season ticket holders we have. How quickly the home seats sell out. What sort of level of applications there are for tickets beyond that. Plus various other methods (e.g. online ballot for tickets) which would give an indication as to what a realistic capacity stadium is for us in the top flight. If the numbers are proved feasible, then I'm sure a very good case will be put forward for increasing the stadium capacity. If it turns out the numbers don't stack up, then I'm sure we'll look to maximising other revenue streams.

Is that true? Slightly different scenario, but I'm sure when it was bein mooted that Pompey could go bust that their parachute payments would return to the PL.

No chance. My mate owns a pub in town and he'll definitely be open for it, whereas in the past he's been "advised" by the police to close. Prior to the bubble the police were quite hot on shutting some pubs down for the morning/day; well they didn't say pubs "had" to close down, but that if there was trouble the landlord was pretty much on his own! The bubble has seen to it that pubs can now open up as per normal.

Avenue Saint seems a little bit emotional about it all. Worryingly so.

Yep, just saw it on ebay myself.

Up: Us, Reading and Cardiff (only because my mate works for them and I get free tickets.....) Down: Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, clubs who have settled for league mediocrity and can't fill their small grounds.