Whelan and Madejski obvious forgot, or hope everyone else forgot, that Thatcher pushed through the Football Spectators Act of 1989 - the most notorious part of this legislation being compulsory ID cards for football fans, otherwise they would not be allowed into any stadium (it was only in the aftermath of Hillsborough when this plan was abandoned - and, in direct opposition to Thatcher's stance, the FSA developed from a small group into a national one)
That's just ridiculous, comparing Thatcher to Stalin. I can't even be bothered to dignify such an ignorant comment with an appropriate response.
This mark of respect is more for figures within the game, i can't recall too many others outside of football given a minutes silence. To expect an entire sport to honour a political party figure is ridiculous, did we honour Ted Heath, or any other ex PM who's passed away? I'm not sure that we have, so why special case her?
Nsis - I can see why Whelan would think the way he does, he is clearly one who benefited from her floodgate opening policies, but he should keep his brown-nosing to himself. Go to her funeral Dave if you love her so much, just don't involve everyone else. Without causing controversy, football is traditionally a working class game, the working class would traditionally support Labour. To ask a sport (or more to the point, the fans of it) which is probably more Labour orientated to honour a staunch Tory is more than silly imo.
'Traditionally' maybe Notso, but think that doesn't necessarily apply anymore. You just have to take a look around the PL grounds and see how much centres on the private boxes and hospitality areas, let alone the simple cost of buying a season ticket or even financing an a occasional visit. There may be fans who consider themselves to be working class, but more than likely will be firmly entrenched in one of the new 'middle classes'. Personally think that a minutes silence is a ridiculous idea, although wearing black armbands might be appropriate.
I knew I should have expanded , I'm aware the of 'corporate' face in football now mate, it was just a broad statement of what Whelan is trying to do. its more directed at the generation that 'grew up' with her in charge, there's a generation today who didn't know who she was till she died .
How is it ignorant? As well as both of them strongly believing in their ideologies and imposing them on their respective country with an iron will, the only difference between the two is he used bullets where she used a pen - the end results were the same, with opponents in the party cast out never to return whilst citizens of their country who opposed them were swiftly crushed. Ken Bigley - unfortunately, as the minute's silence was at an England match at Old Trafford, the silence made the anti-Scouser chants much clearer.
I really don't know why I'm bothering to repeat myself - yet again! But, for the last time, Uncle Joe was nothing more than a homicidal thug who seized power ( Thatcher was elected, remember?) and then retained it by the most brutal oppressive means imaginable. He HAD no ideology! The other big difference is that Thatcher's opponents lived to fight another day. Stalin's never did. To compare the two is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to portray Thatcher as something she never was.
I agree, it has no place in football. As far as I know, Thatcher was no supporter of the game, so I find it hard to see the logic behind it
Trying to rewrite history, just because she's dead, is an insult to everyone. What she did and didn't do is well documented. She will be judged on her deeds, not her philosophy, and rightly so. The cheer-leading happy-clappers should also remember she's dead, not up for election. Who are you trying to convince?
celebrating someones death is pretty disgraceful imo. I'm no fan of thatcher but i'm not gonna rejoice either. She was someone's mum/daughter/etc as well. Her "crimes" were hardly those of a war criminal or baby murderer were they?
Thatcher did not bring the miners out on strike, The NUM did. The miners were not balloted, they were just called out on strike. How democratic is that? At least Thatcher was elected. Her election was not due to her popularity, it was because people were frightened of the alternatives. The cancer that was Scargill and his cronies holding the country to ransom were the controlers of the Labour Party. Somebody had to cure that cancer (the French called it the British disease) at any cost. I remember when the bakers went on strike. My mothers hotel had all off the pool balls and pool cues stolen. The next thing was that people trying to cross the picket line had the windscreens smashed with pool balls and beaten with cues, what sort of country is that? One guy who crossed the picket line and told the strikers to **** off had his car burnt out. Thatcher was big enough to stand up and deal with these scumbags. Good on her. Some of these people protesting now are too young to have known those times. Someone had to sort the awful unions out. As for a minutes silence at footie matches, forget it. Just give everyone an extra day off (bank holiday). Anyone who objects could just ignore the holiday and go to work as usual, bet you wouldn't find many! Thatcher was a leader for her time, she figured out the basic issues and solved them (not always with the best solution but she solved them). If we had had Tony Benn, Scargill, Mouser Hatton or any of the other of the lefty loonies running the country we'd have been right up the creek without a paddle now. There's still one of them left, Bob Crowe running the railway workers union, what a ****** that is. Could you imagine him running the country??????? FFS, madness. The pound would be worth about 0.3 of a second hand bus ticket and eveyone would have a job earning about £2k a day, but there would be about 1000 pounds to the dollar.
Funny you should mention these facts together. She was Mark's mum who was done for plotting a coup therefore could be deemed a war criminal.
There won't be a minute's silence, because some people at every ground will boo and it will prove to be an embarassment. Love or hate the woman, you shouldn't boo; she's died, everybody deserves some mark of respect at that time. Thatcher did transform the economy (which was desperately needed), but she replaced manufacturing and other heavy industry with finance and services. That has left Britain relying on being a financial and tourist centre with many service industries, but producing little. As the government has run up debt year after year to plug the balance of payments deficit, many have benefited from her policies for a relatively long period of time, but future generations will suffer. Indeed, we are suffering now because debt has had to be addressed. Her economic policies boosted those who got jobs in these new markets, but she didn't care about the social cost to the rest- those like the miners.
The debt level that now has to be addressed can be laid firmly at the feet of Blair & Brown!..they had 13 years between them to implement their ideas and agenda. The result was a debt explosion, the like of which had never been seen in this country before.
Since you insist on having this debate it's about time a few facts were inserted. 1. The 'neo-liberal' policies introduced by Thatcher were the first to be introduced into an advanced Western Economy, this was quickly followed by Reagan and then the rest of the world. Up until then the Chicago University Economics spearheaded by Milton Friedman had only been tried in South America in CIA led coups. This is why Pinochet was a friend of Thatcher. She changed the world. 2. The neo liberal policies are in force today, everywhere, and are directly responsible for the economic mess the world is in today. As we speak thay are being introduced into Cyprus, the latest victim. Wholesale privatisation, the removal of workers rights and a low wage economy are the name of the game. This enriches the rich at the expense of the masses. 3. Unless you are rich then I can see no logical reason why you would support these policies. If you are not rich and you do, then you are either badly misinformed or just plain stupid. Thatcher's legacy is all around us today. Workers rights that resemble the 18th century, financial cutbacks, job losses, and low pay. I speak btw, in case you think I am some looney lefty, as a successful buisnessman. The difference is I have taken the trouble to inform myself on these matters, rather that regurgitate the kind off crap you will read in the such places as the Daily Mail.
