Having been awake for a good while thinking about our friend Benny I wanted to start a thread that did a couple of things.
Many of you have already been able to express on the twatter thread your shock and sadness at losing him and how much he meant to you. The thread title (bought a chuckle) was a Bennyism as I recall, and he always did that whether you met him on here or in "real" life so to speak. Here's his "home page" for example:
http://www.omnomnomnom.co.uk/
Everyone loved Benny but he also loved the forum and, whilst his influence undoubtably shaped the way we are on here, we should also be proud of the friendship and support that the forum gave to him.
Through the forum he made many good friends, Bastard (who gave me the idea this thread title), Paddy, MRAMB, Emigre to my knowledge especially, but also countless others who will all know who they are.
Despite his outward appearance Benny was a deeply troubled soul at times and, whilst I don't know much of the detail myself, I do know that his friends on here made his life much better, more fun and meant a great deal to him.
Going to see City will always be tinged with sadness for me now. I can't imagine ever not looking to see if he's in his seat in East Stand, something I've done this every game this year even though he didn't renew his season card, or looking out for him at half time and a pint and a chat with Bert or Bastard.
Whether we knew him in person or just online we will miss the bright sunshine he bought to into our lives but the warmth he gave will stay with us for ever.
So, next time you're at the CoMS or even in your local pub order yourself a John Smith's, drink a third of it, then drop in a Blue WKD and raise a toast to our friend with his favourite disgusting half time tipple.
We will miss him terribly and he will be missing us.
If you have a favourite memory of Benny that you'd like to share you might want to post it here.