Over the past eight months or so most Saints supporters will have been aware of the disputes between Southampton Football Club and the Daily Echo, at one time the papers reporters being barred from Home Games.
Some Saints supporters took the view that it should be good riddance to the Echo as they have posted uncomplimentary articles in the past, this however is a very blinkered view and those that say that Southampton Football Club no longer need the Echo should look at the far bigger picture.
In fact the idea that Saints can exist without the Echo is based purely on the fact that some would say the internet is now king and therefore Saints can communicate with everyone via it, when compared with a decade ago a lot more Saints supporters are on line, but it is no where near 100%, therefore publicity in the Echo and free publicity at that is still needed.
So taking out the ability to communicate effectively with supporters excuse and also ignoring the freedom of speech aspect, is there any other reason why the club should bury the hatchet with the paper.
The answer is a big Yes, it is the Club's 125th year, without the local paper very few of those years would be effectively documented, it is the paper that has extensive library's of match reports and indeed reports of everything that went on, it also has photographs dating back to the very formation of the Club, a look at In That Number, the book that is perhaps the bible of Saints supporters reveals that all the match reports and most of the photos are from the Echo library, not from Club archives which are either not very comprehensive or have been well hidden this last century and a quarter, to put it bluntly it is the Daily Echo that has documented every step of Saints history, without the paper there is little to mark our pages in history.
So perhaps its time for all to get together and mark the 125th year properly, Southampton Football Club is part of the Southampton community and so is the Daily Echo and so to that mind are all of us supporters, even those that do not live in the area, that being the case its time to all join together not divide apart.
NB. This is my own personal view and should not be taken as the view of Southampton Football Club, The Saints Trust or the Daily Echo, nor should it infer that I have any direct connection or endorsement with either Southampton Football Club or the Daily Echo.