Standing at football is one of the main topics of the hour at present with many fans supporting a return to a form of terracing at football stadia with the accent on safety.

Many supporters of a certain age hark back with affection to the good old days of terracing.

The famous Kop at Liverpool was a magnificent sight in the 1970s as over 20,000 fans packed on to it. The noise generated was awesome.

At Southampton we had our own version The Milton Road End with its quaint 'Chocolate Boxes'. All kids in Southampton in the early 70s aspired to join the Milton.

For those younger readers, the choccies were three balconies of raised terracing at the back of the the Milton Road End and, it's fair to say, no other ground had a similar structure.

But it was the atmosphere of the Milton that attracted most people. Everyone had their favourite spot and stood there most weeks. It was the passion that kept everyone going, week in week out. The football could be dire but the community and sense of belonging kept you going.

The late 70s saw the introduction of fencing at most higher division grounds and certain areas were no go at every ground.

The game was declining in every aspect and, by the mid-80s, was dead on its feet.

The government was looking for ways to hammer football and it knew it wouldn't have to wait too long.

The Bradford fire should have been the wake up call for football clubs but in many ways it was ignored. It wouldn't be long before the next disaster - some football grounds were diasters waiting to happen.

The events at Hillsborough brought a kneejerk reaction from the authorities. In fairness, the early 80s had brought an upsurge in crowd disorder that had made terracing a dodgy place at times - especially when aligned with the decaying condition of some grounds.

But none of those factors were present at Sheffield on that fateful April day. It was a modern stand and, despite the government's attempts to claim to the contary, the two main accusations against terracing - ie hooliganism and poor condition - were not a factor.

From that day onward football grounds were destined never to be the same. All seater stadiums were to be the norm as the seated areas at grounds were associated with a more sedate luxurious setting. The authorities had found their scapegoat - terracing!

Italia 1990 helped the cause in that it made football sexy. For the first time in living memory to be a football fan was in fashion and clubs saw their niche market and used this as an excuse to upgrade terracing to seats. Of course it was mere coincidence that ticket prices went through the roof.

A new breed of fan took over in football and the terraces were consigned to the scrapheap, or were they ? They had a powerful ally and that was nostalgia.

The new stadia grew and attracted back the old fans from the 70s/80s.

No longer the youths they once were, they had now grown up and had families and now returned to the game they loved.

They harked back to the atmosphere of the old days and, more to the point, they didn't just accept the lame excuses as to why they had to sit. The new grounds had good atmosphere but it wasn't as good as it used to be.

So where do we go from here? Well, the fact is that there are two fronts for the standing battle to be fought.

Firstly there is the situation of standing safely in seated areas, and if that can be achieved then perhaps we can move forwards to grounds once again having dedicated standing areas.

They will never be on the same levels as before, but it will once again bring about a community feeling and allow fathers to take children to the game on occasions at a reasonable rate.

That is one thing that terracing took away - the chance to introduce your child to football.

If you are a season ticket holder at St Mary's it's impossible without actually having to leave your regular seat and buy another one to sit with your sibling and that's sad.

Standing is no more dangerous than sitting, and properly employed once again we can see the passionate support and joy of youngsters attending the game.

Friends can just go to the game and meet up with each other instead of being forced to sit in a seat isolated from those they want to watch the game in.

Seating has its place in football, but so does standing.

Those that say that sitting fans create a better vibe are being a little off the mark in that when the noise level starts to rise it's natural for fans to stand up.

If you want to sing, who better to ask for advice that Pavarotti. After all, you never see him sitting when he sings!

So that's why I support the Echo's campaign for safe standing areas to be debated in Parliament, but let's also make sure we keep the noise levels high at St Mary's. We don't want visiting fans to sing at us 'you only sing when you're standing!'