There should not be a minute's silence for Thatcher at football matches

There are reports that at football matches at the weekend there is to be a minutes silence to remember Margaret Thatcher.

This strikes me as a strange and somewhat foolhardy move. Strange because I do not recall any such thing being done for Wilson or Callaghan or Heath or Macmillan (all former PMs who have died within my living memory). Foolhardy because Thatcher was such a polarising figure that although there will doubtless be a fair few in each crowd who liked her and are happy to pay their respects there will also be a significant number who do not wish to. Some of those may just not attend the match. But it is likely that a good number will attend and it will only take a few of them to make noise during the silence for it to be ruined.

If that does happen then of course the headlines will be all about how "DISRESPECTFUL FANS DISRUPT THATCHER SILENCE" even though it will probably only be a small number of people.

It's all so unnecessary. Just don't have a silence for such a controversial figure in a place where there are tens of thousands of people.