I’m pretty sure this has been raised before, but Katharina and other family members were against the idea.
Tom, I appreciate your point, but we don't know the truth and probably never will know. My point is still that you can't change history, it is just that. Knocking down a statue is just that. Lessons from History need to be learned in order to prevent it re-occuring. Token gestures like destroying our heritage is merely shoving the problem under the carpet, out of sight out of mind. Virtually every important person in history has had skeletons in their closets, you celebrate their goodness and deplore and regret their waywardness. Victims are always a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Attitudes have changed as we become more aware of what happened, but the problem is still rife, and those responsible are masters of the art of deception, it still needs total vigilance to nip it in the bud. Token gestures will not change that.
All this does beg the question of why the people making the allegations did not also inform the police?
If? So if it is proved that he didnt know or was incapable of doing anything about it, do we put the statue back up again? I doubt it will be proved either way. You also have to accept that attiitudes were different back then and ignorance was a prime factor in not taking action, you can't change that fact now, but you can change things now, knowing the truth and can prevent any repeat. I do however believe that Ted should have known, but he isn't here to defend himself.
Because at the time they didn't believe anyone would have believed them. Also there were many incidents of false accusations which can't have helped.
The abuse by Bob Higgins was found to have started in 1971, Ted Bates retired in 1973, (he did join the Board), Dave Merrington was still trying to get it stopped in the 1980's, so a lot of water flowed under the bridge in that time, to pin the blame on Ted Bates seems a bit tenuous, as it took until 2005 to get to the bottom of the issue, even then there were no succesful prosecutions until 2019. Knowing about the problem was a long way from getting it dealt with.
this needs to be done very gently and slowly with slightly increasing intensity over time. Please do not rush him.
Noob question needs answer please For the Coventry FA Cup match I wish to attend but so do 3 family members. Only I have a season ticket. In order to sit together I would need to wait until these go on general sale (and pay £15 each)?
Not members, they are just going as a 1-off. It's my brother's birthday and his wife/daughter are being forced to attend
Do you know any other season ticket holders that aren't going? Could use theirs to get 4 seats together...
Blimey, Coventry sold out their entire allocation for the FA Cup game (approx 4,800) in just 25 minutes!