This Sunday

Just a thought - I think all Alliance games should have a one minute silence to remember Gary Speed. I'm sure most if not all refs will agree. What does everyone think?

Yes.

Totally agree Mark

agree

devils advocate, may be worth waiting until we know the reasons behind the suicide?

I agree, the minute silence is more than appropriate in this situation.

I don't disagree........................but where do you draw the line? Who decides who is and isn't worthy of a minutes silence?

i doubt whether the welsh would have a minute silence if an england player/manager paseed away!

KAJI-MACHINE wrote:

i doubt whether the welsh would have a minute silence if an england player/manager paseed away!

Are you saying you wouldn't respect a minutes silence because he's Welsh

of course i would im jus saying i doubt ud see it on a sunday morning in wales if it was an eglish person!

Personally i dont think it would be right, was at work earlier so didnt have time to comment properly.

The guy appears to have been a very nice bloke who looked after younger players coming through the ranks, was a good mate to people and played a hell of a lot of footie matches which obviously means he was a model pro. But, as Stroller says, where do you draw the line?

In addition to the above, i think its a personal tragedy for his kids, his wife and his friends, but i associate a minutes silence with those who fought for their country, maybe people known locally or those whose life was taken in tragic circumstances such as the tsunami a few years ago. Sadly, Gary Speed took his own life and in my opinion that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the others.

I think its a tragic situation, but i dont personally agree with a minutes silence. Just an opinion

KAJI-MACHINE wrote:

of course i would im jus saying i doubt ud see it on a sunday morning in wales if it was an eglish person!

having been cardiff on many occasions and quite a few places in wales i tend to agree they hate the english with a passion.
on another note i would be more than willing to do the minutes silence out of respect for the player he was

Widds wrote:

Personally i dont think it would be right, was at work earlier so didnt have time to comment properly.

The guy appears to have been a very nice bloke who looked after younger players coming through the ranks, was a good mate to people and played a hell of a lot of footie matches which obviously means he was a model pro. But, as Stroller says, where do you draw the line?

In addition to the above, i think its a personal tragedy for his kids, his wife and his friends, but i associate a minutes silence with those who fought for their country, maybe people known locally or those whose life was taken in tragic circumstances such as the tsunami a few years ago. Sadly, Gary Speed took his own life and in my opinion that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the others.

I think its a tragic situation, but i dont personally agree with a minutes silence. Just an opinion

its a bit of a cowards way out to be honest i agree. a minutes silence simply for the player he was id do it but i do agree with your points widds

In my opinion i think it would be a good idea, for the footballer he was and i can imagine a role model to some of the players. at the same time i could understand why some people wouldnt.

It may be a good idea for the Ref and two captains to have the conversation at that start, they will know there teams best.

If both captains ask the ref, I am sure he will oblige.

as captin of NPE i will be asking the ref if we can, he was a great player despite his nationality, its a sign of respect for the game we all love

KAJI-MACHINE wrote:

of course i would im jus saying i doubt ud see it on a sunday morning in wales if it was an eglish person!

i follow your point about the welsh-english thing, but this is not about nationality. the guy was a genuine, well liked pro who seemingly didn't have an enemy in the world. it's a terrible tragedy for football and I think that's why he should be honoured

Widds wrote:

Personally i dont think it would be right, was at work earlier so didnt have time to comment properly.

The guy appears to have been a very nice bloke who looked after younger players coming through the ranks, was a good mate to people and played a hell of a lot of footie matches which obviously means he was a model pro. But, as Stroller says, where do you draw the line?

In addition to the above, i think its a personal tragedy for his kids, his wife and his friends, but i associate a minutes silence with those who fought for their country, maybe people known locally or those whose life was taken in tragic circumstances such as the tsunami a few years ago. Sadly, Gary Speed took his own life and in my opinion that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the others.

I think its a tragic situation, but i dont personally agree with a minutes silence. Just an opinion

obviously there are almost certainly circumstances of which we don't know about (yet) but taking your own life is not something people do without serious reasons. for all we know he may have been ill - i accept he's not given his life for his country etc. but it doesn't make it any less worthy just because of the nature of his death

shawry1984 wrote:

as captin of NPE i will be asking the ref if we can, he was a great player despite his nationality, its a sign of respect for the game we all love

spot on

Quality footballer and model professional, however I agree that people should wait until they know why he took his life. Could have been depression could have been something bad was about to be published about him. Having said that I would respect the minutes silence if it were to happen.

agreed. if it was depression related, that is a real tragedy, because it shows that this is a serious illness. i've read a few books where certain people who have 'made it' in terms of money, prestige or fame are grossly unhappy.

Polska legend II wrote:

Widds wrote:

Personally i dont think it would be right, was at work earlier so didnt have time to comment properly.

The guy appears to have been a very nice bloke who looked after younger players coming through the ranks, was a good mate to people and played a hell of a lot of footie matches which obviously means he was a model pro. But, as Stroller says, where do you draw the line?

In addition to the above, i think its a personal tragedy for his kids, his wife and his friends, but i associate a minutes silence with those who fought for their country, maybe people known locally or those whose life was taken in tragic circumstances such as the tsunami a few years ago. Sadly, Gary Speed took his own life and in my opinion that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the others.

I think its a tragic situation, but i dont personally agree with a minutes silence. Just an opinion

obviously there are almost certainly circumstances of which we don't know about (yet) but taking your own life is not something people do without serious reasons. for all we know he may have been ill - i accept he's not given his life for his country etc. but it doesn't make it any less worthy just because of the nature of his death

Not sure i agree on that last point (not that someones life is worth more or less, but that the way they die makes the silence more worthy), its not an easy thing to discuss when its so fresh, but personally, i think i have more reason to hold a silence for someone who had their life taken defending his country, than a footballer who took his own life....not saying i dont feel for the guy and his family, really do....but i cant understand how you could do that to your kids...

Also agree with Hellboy that you cant measure the effect of mental health on someone...

Would respect a silence if there was one, but personal opinion is that there shouldnt be a directive to have one, but if someone feels affected by it, then ok, have one.

We didnt have a silence for Keith Alexander....?

I have no worries with having a minutes silence, as I believe he was one of the Premiership greats, but, are people suggesting this because of the person involved or the tragic circumstances surrounding his death, my point behind this is I don't remember people suggesting for a minutes silence for the likes of George Best, Bobby Robson, Emlyn Hughes when they passed away and some would say did more for the British game.

Please don't take this as though Gary Speed doesn't need to be respected and remembered but does he deserve to remembered any more or less than any soldier brought back from Afgan drapped in a Union Flag, if not why is it no one suggests this on a weekly basis as they to have families they leave behind

That last bit is a very good point. Think its safe 2 say then that if both sides and the ref feel compelled 2 do it then fair enough rather than something mandatory

Blimey, a balanced argument on the forum where all involved are respectful of each others opinions

You do realise this is one of the signs of the apocalypse, we're all doomed!!!!!

Widds wrote:

Personally i dont think it would be right, was at work earlier so didnt have time to comment properly.

The guy appears to have been a very nice bloke who looked after younger players coming through the ranks, was a good mate to people and played a hell of a lot of footie matches which obviously means he was a model pro. But, as Stroller says, where do you draw the line?

In addition to the above, i think its a personal tragedy for his kids, his wife and his friends, but i associate a minutes silence with those who fought for their country, maybe people known locally or those whose life was taken in tragic circumstances such as the tsunami a few years ago. Sadly, Gary Speed took his own life and in my opinion that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the others.

I think its a tragic situation, but i dont personally agree with a minutes silence. Just an opinion

I agree with you there mate

Back on subject......

I won't have an issue respecting the minutes silence, however, I'm not comfortable that Gary Speed is more deserving than (to pinch Dodgy's great example) Bobby Robson.

Also, the nature of the death. I can't agree that it is cowardly, you've got to have some balls to go through with it IMO, but I'd say selfish in respect of what you leave behind especially if you haven't left a note explaining to loved ones the reasons behind it.

Great guy, great player but deserving of a minutes silence at our level I'm not so sure

isn't that where the alternative round of applause kicks in?

I think a better suggestion would be for everyone that feels they want to show respect and honour the man to donate to a related charity. I am not the biggest fan of a minutes silence because I think everyone has their own way of grieving/showing respect and in some cases a minutes silence ends up just more of a publicity thing.

Just my thought.

I'd have to say, I'd find it rather uncomfortable giving a minutes applause to a man who 'decided' to leave a wife and two children fatherless.
He obviously had issues, of which none of us know of, but at the moment I'm at a loss to think of what his children must be going through at this time.
It certainly seems I'm in the minority on this, but its just the way I feel.

gazfox9 wrote:

I'd have to say, I'd find it rather uncomfortable giving a minutes applause to a man who 'decided' to leave a wife and two children fatherless.
He obviously had issues, of which none of us know of, but at the moment I'm at a loss to think of what his children must be going through at this time.
It certainly seems I'm in the minority on this, but its just the way I feel.

I think you are in the minority for a reason mate. That is a very naive view, almost making it sound as though he didn't consider his children in his actions.

If (and obviously we don't know yet) it is down to something like depression, then it is impossible to put yourself in their position and even begin to think about what they might have been feeling. Even when you are close to someone who suffers with this illness (which I am), it is impossible to understand it and how it makes them feel. People seem to dismiss the idea of depression as an illness even nowadays...take Neil Warnocks moronic view that depression doesn't exist in football.

Try telling that to Robert Enke's family.

to be fair warnock has never been the brain of britain, has he?

i think people who have criticised him 'leaving his wife and kids behind' miss the point. depression is a mental illness therefore the sufferer is not in the correct frame of mind therefore they are clearly not thinking properly about the causes of their actions because their mind will not function correctly

Polska legend II wrote:

to be fair warnock has never been the brain of britain, has he?

i think people who have criticised him 'leaving his wife and kids behind' miss the point. depression is a mental illness therefore the sufferer is not in the correct frame of mind therefore they are clearly not thinking properly about the causes of their actions because their mind will not function correctly

Fair enough, and if it is depression, then you have to have more compassion, but as we dont know why he committed suicide, i think you have to hold fire on any silences...there is a rumour going around that a newspaper was about to run a report about his private life, wont go into it in more depth, but if the rumour is correct, then its not depression.....

agree there pal, although privacy only helps bad people according to that prat from notw

one of my best mates whom i grew up with took his own life. he was on drugs and couldnt find a way or even the will to get help coming off them. he left a father and disabled brother behind whom both doted on him.
it was a sad day to say the least but if there is one question i could ask him it would simply be WHY?
at the time i went over this time and time again in my head and no matter which way i looked at it i could never come to the point where i understood why he had done it even tho i knew the reasons behind it if that makes sense. i will never get why ANYONE would take their own life but thats just me