Graham Taylor has died, he managed my team and did a good job and we were sad to loose him to the England appointment. I never meet him but enjoyed his company and insights through many football matches. By all measures it seems in the press today no dirt, no snipes but honest appraisal of a great man of football. So why am I disappointed in myself? I'm disappointed that when the press, mainly newspapers, used there privilege to put undermining highly offensive pictures and headlines focused on Graham's struggles with his job as coach. I'm disappointed that I did not go into the news agent buy up news papers and dispose of them. I'm disappointed that as a member of the football fraternity I colluded in silence and allowed newspapers to ridicule a great man. I wonder if today there are people sitting in newspaper offices reflecting on what they did and said of a great man? I hope those people of privilege in the press might learn that there were greater headlines to write and life challenging pictures to print.
I hope that as we mourn the loss of this great man of football we learn something.
When people struggle with role, life job we need not ridicule, there are better things to do.
When people do ridicule those who struggle we need not collude in silence.
I'm sorry for my silence, God bless you Graham.
I find that life is full of the silent salutes. The acknowledgement of heroes we never stepped forward to recognise when the world derided them. The easy sins of omission, the reluctance to step forward into a debate that was not ours. But then there are so many areas where we could have, should have that set the bar too high for mere mortals. So perhaps the silent salutes are the only, best, final salutes we can make in this naughty world.
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