Each year, Saints remember players, staff, supporters, family members and loved ones connected to the club who have passed away in the previous 12 months with a designated tribute game.
There is a trait in modern football to have spontaneous gestures such as a minutes applause for supporters who have passed away, there are sometimes those who genuinely deserve to be remembered but also many when no matter how sad the loss was of that supporter, he/she would be unknown to most of those in the stadium.
It is a difficult subject and a delicate one and difficult to say just where the line should be between the recipient genuinely deserving the tribute or not.
However Southampton Football Club realised several seasons ago that this type of thing could become impractical and get out of hand, that in any given year not only a number of ex players die but also hundreds of supporters both tragically young and of natural causes, all of whom loved the club.
They therefore implemented a day of remembrance not just for players who had died in the past year, but also for supporters, employees etc indeed anyone connected to the club.
The day is usually the nearest fixture to not only Remembrance Sunday but also has significance as November was the month in 1885 that the club was originally founded.
The fixture this season is the home game against Burnley on 4th November and as usual the club are asking supporters to send them short dedications that can be published in the matchday programme.
The club will also add its respects to former players and staff who passed away, including Ken Wimshurst, Dave Maclaren, Barrie Hillier, Len Gaynor and Bill Green.
If Saints fans would like to include a message in the programme as a tribute to a supporter who has passed away in the last year, then please they should email their dedications with the subject ‘All Saints Day’ to
programmesfc@saintsfc.co.uk
by midday on Monday 30th October.
The club will aim to include as many messages as they can, but of course they have no control over the number of requests they receive but it should be noted that all shall be remembered during a period of silence ahead of kick-off on the day.