I dont agree a mins applause comes from football where fans cant keep quiet for 60 seconds before a game where as RL fans are able to keep shut for 60 seconds.

Listen, I am no fan of the player, however, for dignity and respect's sakes I will be keeping schtum on Saturday during the minute's silence; as a mother, I cannot begin to imagine how it would be to tell my children what their father had done, nor what it would be like to see two of my children systematically destroy themselves.

Have a heart - please please please observe this silence for his family's sake.

Thank you.

I was hoping there wouldn't be a minute's silence, not because Newton doesn't deserve one, but because I know it won't be observed by what will most likely - and unfortunately - be a fairly large minority of Saints fans. I hope I'm wrong, because not only will it be obviously disrespectful, but because it'll tarnish all Saints fans for years to come.

Agreed. It's therefore up to us sensible types to keep our traps shut, and hopefully the SKY cameras may pick out the inconsiderate twits and give them the visual equivalent of a "name and shame".

i dont think it is appropriate as there are a number of fans who go just to drink, not to watch a game and just to cause trouble.

We, as Saints fans, need to police this amongst our own supporters. Whether you agree with this or not we should not allow our gloryhunters to disrupt this minute.

I am cringing at the thought of some idiots letting us down as a club. This could leave a stain for a long time.

Don't worry you can boo at your TV lol.

ive got a really bad feeling that someone will

Oh, I will!!

The problem is other than giving dirty looks to anyone who does disrupt it there is little we can do to stop the idiots. If they are going to be idiots they will. In a sense its best to ignore it as anything else will just disrupt it more.

I agree. Better to just ignore it than having Saints fans seen fighting among themselves on the TV!

Use the force Luke.

I don't think so, a minutes celebration for a convicted drug cheat who's left his kids in the lurch because he couldn't face up to what he'd done? That's a step too far IMO.

I think a minutes silence is pushing it personally, but I will be honouring it regardless, as should everyone else in the ground.

Convicted ? I don't remember it going to court.

Well it was enough for him to be banned for two years.

Its an interesting point. I share the feelings that the minority who can spoil any such mark of respect will be all the more likely to do it for this one.

I'm also struggling slightly with the concept of a this mark of respect given the circumstances surrounding his death (not the player in question). I certainly can't ever remeber a minute's silence for someone who'd taken their own life happening before, can you? but I guess its not a common occurence.

Now, I've never had any personal experience with mental health issues, but I did have a long term girlfriend who was a physcologist, so I do know from her tales how desperately things like depression can affect some people.

The shock of Newton's death got us all, I reckon. This man whom we either cheered on or booed like a pantomime villain, a character from the game we love - what state of mind could have caused him to do something so extreme!?
I'm not questioning the tradjedy of his death, but I am, as callous as it may seem, questioning his right to a minute's silence at the grand final.

Stephen Prescott battles everyday with a terminal disease he contracted independant of his actions. Gary Purdam was going about his daily work when his life was stolen. Last year, when my dad died from prostate cancer, ormskirk RU had a minute's silence before their next game (he was a long term supporter and main club sponsor). All these above are people that had no choice about what happened to them, unlike (arguabley) Terry Newton. Certianly in the case of Steve and my dad, guy's who never lied down in the face of their affliction.

The flip side to that is that (actual) depression is a disease, and essentially one that killed a young father. Some people (i guess me included) don't automatically realise, but mental health [iis[/i part of your health and incases like this or, for example, extreme eating disorders, can ruin and even claim lives. The unsypathetic veiw that perhaps the victim could have done something about it perhaps isn't always correct. Had he not been banned for substance abuse, he may have still suffered the same fate - we don't actually know.

For me, something doesn't sit right with a minutes silence at Old Trafford for terry newton. That said, he [iwas[/i one of ours and we've lost him; we should repsect him as one of ours. I wouldn't have argued about a minutes silence at Knowsley road if the event had occurred earlier in the season, so why should I worry about it being this saturday?

A lot of fair comments in there but had this been any other player e.g. Shaun Edwards, we probably wouldn't be arguing over the minute silence. His method of departing shouldn't really have an influence over whether there's a minute silence or not.

Until youve experienced clinical depression stfu and keep your opinions to yourself.

I agree with a lot of what your saying offside, unfortunately I have personal experience of being part of a family left behind from a suicide. Depression can hit people harder than you think and especially when they just seem a bit down, in my case I knew he was having a bit of a hard time with his girlfriend but never in a million years would we have guessed what he would do and it looks the same for Newtons family. If people don't want to respect Newton at least think of his family, they have a very rough few months/years to come and will need all the support possible.

I can see where you are coming from but I do think the comparisons you are making are slightly unfair. I have so much respect for Steve Prescott and how well he has coped with everything, he must have so much mental strength to do what he is - I doubt many people would have the strength to do what he is. Gary Purdham lost his life in truly tragic circumstances. All of them, and Terry Newton deserve the tributes they have got. If it had occured at any other point of the season the silence would have been at the matches for the teams he played with, we are now at the end of the season with only one game left so to me it seems right it happens then.

Your paragraph about mental illness is spot on. Not everyone has the same mental strength to cope with things, people all have different limits as to what they can take both physically and mentally. The problem is there is still in so many cases mental health is a taboo subject and one people to a degree are scared of.

I guess in cases like this it is very much an example the saying "walk a mile in someones shoes before criticising them" (I'm not saying you are criticising, just making a point we don't know what he was going through)

You are assuming Newton was suffering from clinical depression. Just because someone commits suicide does not mean they are suffering from a serious mental illness.

Was Newton? I've not seen his medical history reported anywhere? Until it has, why don't you stfu yourself?

Plenty of people who cannot handle the situations they find themselves in commit suicide, not all suffer from clinical depression. Anyway, my main gripe is that he was a drugs cheat, if he wasn't I'd have no problems with a minutes silence.

Newton had been on Anti-depressants since his sister died according to some reports.