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David Meek – more tributes

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More tributes have come in for David Meek, the former Manchester United correspondent for the Manchester Evening News, who has passed away at the age of 88.

Colin Young was given a huge help in his fledgling career  by David:

“When I was 14, my heart already set on football reporting as a career, my headmaster Alan Walker arranged for me to go over to Manchester to spend a day of work experience with his best school friend and a proud Archbishop Holgate’s Grammar School old boy. He had arranged a similar day out at Old Trafford for Jonathan Champion, who also went on to fulfil his dream, and is now a world-renowned commentator.

The Manchester Evening News’ legendary David Meek met me at Manchester Piccadilly and took me straight to the MEN offices and then into the inner sanctum of Manchester United Football Club, introducing me to the likes of Sir Matt Busby, Ron Atkinson, who was then the manager, and after the match, Bryan Robson and man of the match Jesper Olsen. I hardly closed my mouth all day.

‘Meeky’, as his colleagues called him, was the first person I saw and heard file a live match report and I was mesmerised. United lost to Nottingham Forest which meant I met Brian Clough for the first time. I remember him telling me to go to the press room (then a little cupboard next to the PA announcer) to pick up some quotes from the managers while he filed his final match report to ‘Belfast’. Cloughie, who clearly hadn’t expected such a young young Young man, spent the first five minutes interviewing me, much to the senior journos’ amusement. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, which has lasted to this day. I fell in love. With the job, journalism, Cloughie, although not United. David sent me on my way back to York after buying me a copy of The Pink at the station, with his by-lined match report on the front page.

A week later, I sent him a combination of a thank you letter and match report which he liked so much he kindly printed it in The Pink the following week. It was my first published football article, but certainly not the last.

And so began a warm friendship. When I joined the national newspaper pack, he remembered me the first time we met again at St James’ Park in 1996 and always kept an eye out for me. I can’t tell you how privileged that made me feel. The lovely welcome David extended on that first day was always there whenever I went to Old Trafford and he was still working and ghostwriting Sir Alex’s programme notes.

As well as sharing a love of the game and job, we had a joint interest in the fortunes of York City, and the Yorkshire Evening Press. I started at the YEP as an 18-year-old trainee after two years of voluntary weekly work experience, arranged with Alan Walker’s blessing. David’s dad Wilf was the YEP’s City reporter for many years and eventually became club chairman. He always asked about York and Archies when our paths crossed.

Last year I went to interview him at his home in Milton Keynes. He was such a lovely man, made me tomato soup and was in great form, typically humble, reminiscing from the days when he was appointed the MEN Manchester United man just days after the Munich air disaster which claimed the lives of eight journalists, including the MEN’s Tom Jackson. He made such a positive impression he stayed on for more than 40 years. He was so trusted that he continued to write Sir Alex’s notes when he retired from the MEN. His favourite all-time player was Bill Foulkes. And like any good journo that was based on ability and accessibility.

The bookcase in his office was a sea of red volumes and spines from the 50s, 60s and to the present day. And he had written most of the hundreds of books and magazines on show.

I covered a few Manchester United games in Europe and I remember sitting next to Jon Champion on a return trip from Athens a few years ago. I reminded Jon of his own trip to Old Trafford all those years ago and we agreed how proud Alan Walker and David Meek would be that two Archies lads were living their dreams.

I was fortunate that two great men set me on that path and it was an honour for me to go on to call David Meek a friend and a colleague. RIP ‘Meeky’. Although I always called him David.”

 

Ian Herbert, of the Mail, was another close friend of David’s:

“It was the fundamental humanity of David Meek which so many of those who worked with him will most remember.

Someone made the point, when news arrived of his death on Tuesday, that he was always interested in what you had written, heard, or were doing in life. He’d kept chickens at some stage and I had some vague intention of doing the same. ‘So have you got them yet?’ was his constant refrain when our paths crossed. I’d newly arrived in the forbidding world of football writing at the time, ten years back. Kindness of his kind was a precious commodity.

By then, Meek was a regular traveller on Manchester United’s European trips – there as a representative of the club to accompany reporters and a regular companion on match-day morning walks around some European city or other.

But behind the humility and self-effacement, there was the journalist’s steel. He was the chronicler of Manchester United for the Manchester Evening News and, of course, also the ghost-writer of Sir Alex Ferguson’s programme notes down many years. He gave as good as he got when Ferguson revealed that propensity of his to combust with reporters.

There was trouble when Ferguson took his players for a day trip to the SAS headquarters in Hereford, at the instigation of the club’s head of security Ned Kelly, who had served with the regiment. One of the MEN’s news reporters had got wind of the story. Ferguson asked the paper not to publish – fearing that his club would become a target for the then active IRA – but the paper went ahead anyway.

Ferguson had thus effectively severed all relations with him, but he decided to meet the problem head on at Old Trafford, when the players trained on the pitch there just before Christmas that year.

Ferguson spotted him. ‘The Manchester Evening News is finished at this club,’ he bellowed and marched away up the slope to the top of tunnel. He was out of breath, at the top, when Meek caught up with him. “OK. If that’s how you feel, then Merry Christmas,” Meek retorted as another Glaswegian volley came his way. Meek was marching past him when Ferguson’s arm came out. ‘Nothing personal, you know!’ Ferguson said, a smile breaking across his face. Fire always was best met with fire where Ferguson is concerned.

Meek’s quiet persistence also brought surely the greatest published insights into Ferguson. The relatively unknown book ‘Six Years at United’, which he ghost-wrote with the manager in 1992, is a gem. Its depiction of the insecurity Ferguson felt in those early trophy-less years quite extraordinary when you read it back now.

Meek is also perhaps the journalist who knew Ferguson’s compassion more than any. After illness forced him to break off from 16 years of uninterrupted programme notes, the Scot despatched a huge bouquet of flowers to the hospital where he was recovering. He was convalescing at home a week later when the phone rang. There were no words of introduction down the line, just a growl declaring: ‘The Scottish beast is on its way!’ Ferguson was at Meek’s door in 20 minutes.

Meek related these anecdotes for a piece I was writing for The Independent seven years ago – about the manager’s relationship with the media in what had by then been 25 years at the helm. I felt like the callow newcomer, mining his secrets, yet he was happy to speak of those days with extraordinary affection. ‘He never lost his sense of wonder at the game and his characters,’ someone reflected this week. Which pretty much said it all.”

 

Michael Hart, like David a life member of the FWA, wrote this:

“David Meek was a hero of mine. And not just me. He was a role model for dozens of young football reporters back in the sixties and seventies and, of course, he had the stage on which to perfect his journalistic craft – Old Trafford.

“Meeky” charted the everyday business of life at Old Trafford with the spirit of Denis Law, the confidence of Bobby Charlton and the grace of George Best. These three great players were the cornerstones of the rebirth of Manchester United in the sixties and David found it impossible to say which of them was THE greatest.

But he did say of Best: “I watched him blossom into a rare performer who in my view still stands alone as the most extraordinary and exhilarating player I have ever seen.”

David reported on life at Old Trafford from 1958, when as a young leader writer he took over as United correspondent from Tom Jackson, tragically killed in the Munich air disaster, until 1996.

I had the good fortune to work alongside him on many occasions. I learned many valuable lessons from him and perhaps the most important was the value of trust. “Meeky” would never break a confidence.

I remember a former United manager Dave Sexton, who I knew well from his time at Chelsea, telling me that David Meek was the only reporter he would trust. Years later, David established a similar rapport with Sir Alex Ferguson. He wrote his programme notes for 26 years and despite all kinds of inducements would never reveal the manager’s thoughts before they appeared in the programme. He was privy to the inner most secrets of one of the world’s great football clubs and never betrayed a confidence.

We travelled together across the globe, covering England, and it became a real pleasure watching his charm, his logic and his kindness win over some stubborn passport official, security guard or press box dictator!

I last spoke to him a few days before he died. I wanted to remind him of the debt I owed him. At the Mexico World Cup in 1986 he introduced me to the girl who would become my wife.

Yes, “Meeky” was a not just a special friend. He was my hero too.” 

And the tributes continued on social media:

From Neil Harman: The sad news keeps on hitting hard. David Meek, who became the Manchester United writer for the Evening News in the wake of the Munich disaster [a job he continued for almost four decades] has passed away at the age of 88. I moved to Manchester in 1981 and will never forget his kind words, wise counsel and helpful spirit. There was no more considerate, warm colleague in the press box. Always there for his fellow man, which speaks volumes of him. There will never be another Meeky.

From Matt D’Arcy: Devastating news! My guide and mentor from the time I joined the MEN sports desk in 1966 until I joined the Daily Star in 1978. And even then, he would keep in touch as a friend as much as a colleague, with words of advice and encouragement. He introduced me (young, and new to this world of football journalism) to his closest contacts–like Busby, Best etc–and opened doors for me, generously and unselfishly. David was a wonderful, kind man, a gentle soul, widely admired and trusted by football people who gave their trust and admiration sparingly. What a loss to our profession. My thoughts, now, are with his family. RIP Meeky.

From James Fletcher: Oh no, what terrible news. Lovely tribute Paddy. David Meek was one of the finest men I’ve ever met, not just because he was a proper journalist with proper contacts but, more importantly, it was the way he conducted himself. Always gentle, softly spoken, considerate. Willing to listen to the whipper snappers dominate conversations in the press box or on the press trips whilst he knew what was really going on. I learned a lot from just being around his company, a man who didn’t need to boast or shout or scream, he just quietly and professionally did his job and, never had a bad word to say about anyone. A man of true honour. RIP Meeky, and lots of love and best wishes to his family

From Andy Mitten: Very sorry to hear about journalist David Meek passing away. He covered MUFC for the Evening News from ‘58-95. Helped me loads, with work experience and advice. He was still on Euro aways until 2011. He’d mind my ticket and wanted to hear which daft route I’d taken to the game.

From Mark Ogden:  To many journalists who have covered @manutd, David Meek was as big a figure as some of the players he reported on as the MEN’s United reporter for almost 40 years. A great man, without an ego, and a true legend of his profession. Sad news.

From Stuart Mathieson: Very sad to hear that David Meek has passed away. Always available for advice when I took over in #MUFC MEN role. Meeky tours on Champions League aways were legendary. A coffee and a cathedral visit cured many a hangover. A great man. God bless

From the FWA’s Paul McCarthy: David Meek was a journalist who people trusted implicitly even when he had one of the toughest jobs in the media. His class shone through in everything he did and he was truly a man with the absolute highest standards. He will be greatly missed by so many.

From Gordon Burns: So sad to hear of the death of David Meek the legendary @MENnewsdesk sports writer. Great journalist and really nice man. What a long and outstanding career he had.

From Alex Stepney, former Man Utd goalkeeper: Very sad to hear that David Meek is no longer with us…been a bad week for losing good football people.

David Meek RIP

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David Meek RIP

Tributes have been pouring in for David Meek, one of our life members, who has passed away at the age of 88.

David started covering Manchester United for the Manchester Evening News in 1958 after the Munich air disaster claimed the life of the MEN’s Reds correspondent Tom Jackson.

He continued until his retirement in 1996, building close ties with the club and its leading managers including Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson.

He was highly regarded among his peers and the world of football, as a local newspaperman par excellence, always representing the views of his readers while maintaining a strong relationship with the club, which is no easy balancing act.

Manchester United, the MEN and many journalists, fans and players tweeted their tributes to David on hearing the news. Here is the personal recollection of FWA Chairman Paddy Barclay, who knew David from his early days in sportswriting.

FROM PADDY BARCLAY

Journalism is sometimes said to be a ruthless business. But never by anyone judging us by the standards of David Meek.

‘’Meeky’’, who died in the early hours of this morning, seemed incapable of writing a line for the Manchester Evening News without considering its impact on the subject – it might be a football player, manager or director – and anyone else affected.

You could see this quality in his handsome face if you asked a question – as many did, for he was the man to whom we all went for authoritative opinion and guidance on Manchester United affairs. He would frown, concentrating, as he thought the matter through, and then deliver a verdict of sometimes frustrating fairness.

But that was David: a fair and fine man, as well as an outstanding journalist of the old school. In any job you need a few strokes of luck, and one of mine was to start as a football writer with The Guardian in Manchester in 1977. Because our sister paper then was the Manchester Evening News, I got to sit alongside David in the Old Trafford press box, and learn from a master.

It was also a pleasure to travel with him. Latterly this was sometimes in the company of Liz, his beloved second wife. But an early trip was to Tampa Bay, where United played a friendly against the Rowdies, featuring Rodney Marsh. Our baggage initially refused to cross the Atlantic and, upon hearing of this, a United bigwig offered David a club polo shirts; a consignment had been taken as gifts for any fans that might turn up.

When the bigwig, who had better remain nameless, added that David might kindly have the shirt laundered afterwards and returned, our hero, with typical restraint, declined to guffaw. He could see United’s traditional faults – and care with money had been a trait even in the days of Sir Matt Busby, to whom David was introduced a few months after the devastating aircraft crash at Munich in February 1958 – but never ceased to be a friend of the club.

The association began immediately after Munich. Tom Jackson, who covered United for the Manchester Evening News, was among the journalists who died. David was a young leader writer at the time – in succession to Harold Evans, later to become a great editor of The Sunday Times – but he had briefly covered his home-town club, York City, for the Yorkshire Post (his father, a journalist before him, had not only covered York but served as chairman) and that, in the emergency, was deemed qualification enough.

In a matter of days, he was at the Norbreck Hotel in Blackpool, where United’s remaining and hastily signed players had been taken by Jimmy Murphy, manfully standing in for Busby while the boss ailed in a Bavarian hospital. ‘’I’ll always associate those days with the smell of chlorine,’’ said David, ‘’because Jimmy used to hold his press conferences at the end of the swimming-pool.’’

David’s journalism was always constructive if that could be achieved. Not that it saved him from the ire of some of the managers with whom he worked, including a recovered Busby. A couple of years after Munich, relegation threatened United and some papers were calling Busby’s future into doubt. So David sought an interview with the then chairman, Harold Hardman.

‘’My purpose was to get him to say it was rubbish,’’ David recalled, ‘’and Harold responded as I thought he would. He said it was ridiculous – Matt was part of Manchester United and that was how it would stay. I duly wrote the piece. But Matt didn’t see it as I had.’’ He called David into his office and accused him of going behind his back to the chairman and trying to stir up trouble. ‘’I put my case,’’ said David. ‘’I thought he was being over-sensitive.’’

Between Sir Matt and Sir Alex Ferguson, whose complaints were at least more predictable, came Wilf McGuinness, Frank O’Farrell, Tommy Docherty, Dave Sexton and Ron Atkinson. All had the utmost respect for David and on one of the last occasions I saw him socially he and his son Andrew had chats with McGuinness and Atkinson at an event organised by the Association of Former Manchester United Players. His friendship with this admirable organisation was huge and almost palpable and last year AFMUP, who usually salute one of their own, made an exception by honouring David.

He richly deserved the ensuing ovation, for, although he could be critical when he felt it was required – and his barbs had all the more effect for being judiciously placed – his work had a conscience. He was a perennial credit to journalism. Above all, to those of us who knew him, he was the best of friends and a source of wry fun. To Liz, to David’s daughter Joanna, to Andrew, to his step-daughter Emily, grandchildren Jonathan, Victoria, Christopher, Hannah and Dominic and the rest of his family, we can only offer our deepest sympathy.

Funeral details to follow

Games of Remembrance

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The FWA is pleased to support two important Games of Remembrance on Thursday November 8 in Nottingham.  Representative teams from the Armed Forces of Great Britain and Germany will play two matches to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice.

The first game, between the women’s teams, is at Notts County’s Meadow Lane kicking off at 12 noon, and then the men’s teams will play at Forest’s City Ground at 7pm.  It is aimed at families especially and ticket packages are very reasonable – for details visit https://www.gamesofremembrance.com/

Vanarama Column – Chorley

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Vanarama Column October 25 – Chorley, by Glenn Moore

From a trio of Dutchmen in Rinus Michels, Louis van Gaal and Guus Hiddink, to the Scots Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown, to England’s Roy Hodgson and Howard Wilkinson, the list of teachers turned football coaches is long and illustrious. Indeed, the highly-regarded Cowley brothers, Danny and Nicky, of Lincoln City are football’s latest alumni of the education sector.

Jamie Vermiglio, however, is a teacher-manager with a difference. The majority of the aforementioned were PE teachers, Vermiglio is a headmaster. The 36-year-old combines running Locking Stumps primary school in Birchwood, Warrington, with managing Vanarama National League North front-runners Chorley.

The Magpies have had an extraordinary start to the season, 15 matches unbeaten taking them five points clear with a game in hand and, after a 3-2 win from 2-0 down against Vanarama National League Barrow on Saturday, into the FA Cup first round.

Chorley, a Lancashire town squeezed between the established clubs of Manchester, Preston and Blackburn, briefly reached the Conference (now Vanarama National League) in 1988 but survived only two years. By 2007 the Magpies had dropped to the eighth tier, Northern Premier League Division One North. The club has steadily risen since, despite a financial crisis in 2011 after two officials were jailed for stealing £70,000.

Garry Flitcroft, the former Blackburn Rovers midfielder, led the club back to the National League North.  Both he and his successor, another noted Rover, Matt Jansen, reached the promotion play-off final, but that final step was elusive.

Jansen left in the summer and some raised eyebrows when Vermiglio was entrusted with the job. A midfielder who spent nine years at the club in two spells before moving onto the coaching staff in 2014 Vermaglio was steeped in Chorley, but it was still a bold move.

It has paid off spectacularly. Vermiglio has retained the bulk of the players but adopted a more attacking style. “We’ve kept the heart of the formation the same but have changed the set-up and get more crosses in and shots on goal,” he said.

Should Chorley maintain their form which, said Vermaglio, will depend on “being consistently up for it, not taking our foot of the gas, even if it’s been a tough week at work”, he may have a tough decision to make.

As the reference to a ‘tough week at work’ intimates, Chorley are part-time. The majority of the Vanarama National League are full-time but Vermaglio, whose school has a Good rating from Ofsted, has no intention of quitting teaching. “It is my career. It’s stable and I have a mortgage. That’s the priority,” he said. The similarities between the roles are most notable, he said, in terms of leadership and preparation.

Vermaglio also has two young children of his own. The juggling act works due to having ‘good people around me’, be that ‘a wife who does everything’ or supportive staff at school and football. “I’ve been involved at Chorley a long time and I want what is best for the club,” he added. “It is difficult to compete at that level part-time.” One possibility is he stays part-time while other staff go full-time. First, however, Chorley have to keep their feet on the gas win promotion.

For more on Chorley FC go to http://www.chorleyfc.com/

For more on Vanarama National League North : http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/news/general/division-42248

Leon Mann honoured by Prime Minister

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We congratulate FWA member Leon Mann for receiving the Points of Light award from Prime Minister Theresa May for his work striving to increase diversity in the media.

Leon, the former BBC and ITV journalist who now runs his own production company, founded the Black Collective of Media in Sport which works to promote diversity in the media, and he has organised the past three D-Word Conferences, the latest of which was attended by a number of fellow FWA members and Chairman Paddy Barclay.

He also co-founded the Football Black List in 2008. This annual list, released in The Voice UK and coming soon, celebrates and highlights the contributions of Black people across football and aims to ensure there is diversity in front of and behind the camera.

The Points of Light award recognises outstanding volunteers who are making a change in their community and inspiring others. Each day, someone, somewhere in the country is selected to receive the award to celebrate their remarkable achievements.

In a personal letter to Leon, Prime Minister Theresa May said:

“Your dedication to improving access and inclusion within sports media is having a transformational effect on young Black professionals who aspire to work in the industry. By establishing the ‘Black Collective of Media in Sport’ and co-founding the ‘Football Black List’ you are inspiring the next generation of diverse sports journalists.”

Leon said: “It is an honour to receive this award for my work trying to increase diversity in the sports media. BCOMS recent research highlights a lack of BAME and female representation on screen and in the national newspapers that needs to be addressed urgently. The situation behind the camera, in newsrooms and within senior management is not much better. This impacts how stories are told, how communities engage with sport and how we portray diverse people. By working together, funding initiatives in this area and with strong leadership we can change this uncomfortable dynamic. I look forward to continuing to push this agenda forward.”

For more on BCOMS see: https://www.bcoms.co/

For more on the Football Black List see: http://footballblacklist.com/about-us/

Jim Lawton’s final column

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Jim Lawton, who passed away last Thursday, was writing to the end.  His final column for the Irish Independent was published today with permission of Jim’s family.  Here it is:

James Lawton 

A place where, for example, if the boss did what Mourinho did this week and treated Paul Pogba, a World Cup winner and widely agreed to be among the world’s three or four most talented players, as if he was an uppity ball boy there would probably have been a call for the men in the white coats.

It’s not so long ago, after all. Five years ago, United were champions of England and their manager didn’t go out of his way to publicly insult his players.

Alex Ferguson hadn’t merely taken one of the fancier jobs. He had inherited a destiny and a certain way of doing things. There were some things he knew instinctively – and perhaps because his ego hadn’t run out of control – that he didn’t do.

He didn’t retire to his hotel suite as a glowering potentate convinced that his talent and vision, his sheer specialness, was integral to every moment of the club’s success and if there was failure, well, there was no chance he might be part of that too.

He didn’t strip one of the world’s most gifted – though perhaps not always most seriously-minded – young players of his rank and his distinction with all his team-mates assembled for the spectacle.

He didn’t forget for a moment that he was defending the reputation of an organisation which, unlike few others in any sport, had reached its standing through pain and blood and destruction which, rather than demoralising, had proved ultimately inspiring.

Buoyed So much for such historic pride right now. United is not so much buoyed by its history as haunted.

Mourinho’s third season at Old Trafford has been born in chaos. Overwhelmed by Brighton and Spurs, held at home by promoted Wolves, knocked out of the League Cup by a once adoring protégé Frank Lampard, he is being outfought, out-thought, by some rivals who a few years ago wouldn’t be recognised if they strolled by you in the street. It means that it is increasingly hard not to be drawn to the likelihood of a jarring conclusion to United’s hiring of a coach still ranked, though ever more tenuously, among the world’s best 10.

The truth is that Mourinho and United have never worked to an arresting degree, are certainly not doing so now – and to the extent that the odds against a sweet ending seem to grow a little longer every day.

The Mourinho-Pogba relationship has always been pivotal. You do not spend a world record £89m for a player who has been voted among the world’s best, who has been coaxed and backslapped to Serie A titles – and a Champions League final – by Max Allegri and guided to the World Cup podium by France’s Didier Deschamps, as a work in very early progress.

Of course, you want to improve him tactically, strengthen his competitive instincts, but first you take what you paid for or inherited.

Pep Guardiola did it famously with the sublime Lionel Messi. Carlo Ancelotti did it with Cristiano Ronaldo, accepted his foibles and gloried in his talent, and won the Champions League in the process – an attitude enthusiastically adopted by the serial winner Zinedine Zidane, who, ironically enough, is now one of the favourites to succeed, sooner or later, Mourinho at Old Trafford.

In the best of his times Mourinho did it too. He lifted the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry to unimagined heights and when he left Inter Milan, after winning two Serie A titles and the Champions League, the notoriously hard-nut defender Marco Materazzi is said to have wept like a babe in arms.

This was not the least discountable of sentimental tributes when you remember it was Materazzi who provoked Zidane into the headbutt and red card which cost France so deeply in the 2006 World Cup by suggesting his sister was a whore.

But then where did Mourinho’s personal, inspiring touch go. At Old Trafford, it has flashed like a very distant and infrequent beacon, lost in swirls of bombast and self-justification and endless reminders of what he once achieved.

Thanks to the Irish Independent

Tribute to Jim Lawton

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A heartfelt tribute to Jim Lawton by John Dillon.

IT is a daunting task to say farewell to Jim Lawton as well as a sad one. He requires an elegy rather than an obituary.

Even then, it wouldn’t  match the poetic tones of his own great works.

His voice, rich, ornate, important  yet restrained,  has been in my head ever since the news of his death at just 75 on Thursday.

I am sure it has been the same for everyone who knew him and admired him or counted him as a great friend and colleague. For all those who revered his work. For all those privileged to have accompanied him at the dinner  table and the bar, where his bon-vivant spirit graciously emerged  once the graft was completed.

That voice has accompanied me all through the writing of this tribute. Since so  few sports journalists ever  translated their voice so masterfully and so recognisably on to  the page,  it has been impossible to avoid his influence upon it. Or the standard, unreachable by miles of course, which he set for it.

Jim, such a big, gently patrician  yet unpretentious figure in the business, was so prolific for so long that there are thousands upon thousands of examples which could be quoted to define his brilliance.

Here is one which the former player-turned-journalist Stan Collymore respectfully  re-issued on Friday in which Jim  captured perfectly both the talent at work on the pitch and the slight sense of un-fulfillment which   accompanied it.

“Collymore was an extra-ordinary prospect,” Jim wrote. “He operated at a time when Alan Shearer was head and shoulders above all English strikers but there were times when Collymore made a nonsense of that status.

“He scored a goal at White Hart Lane ….which was received in awed silence. He was a giant stunted by his erratic nature – and his opulent times.”

That’s all Jim. Eloquent. Elegant. Authoratative. Wise. Experienced and impassioned to a level of searing analysis of the good and the bad of football. Then finished with a flourish.

Jimmy delivered to this majestic standard in two stints as Chief Sports Writer at the Daily Express divided by an adventurous spell at the Vancouver Sun. He continued in the same fabulous form at The Independent.

Just yesterday, what has turned out to be his final piece was due for publication in the Irish Independent . They will run it on Saturday with suitable fanfare and reverence. It is fitting and not disrespectful to note that he died with his boots on. He would have gone on forever if he could.

It is correct here at the home of the Football Writers Association to have first summoned an example of Jim’s work about our greatest, most consuming game.

Jim was a deeply seasoned football man whose friendships with men like Sir Bobby Charlton and Johnny Giles reflected the knowledge and insight he had gained starting out in a football era more raw yet more open and human than that of the present day  – and which he brought to bear so powerfully  upon the modern game.

Notably, though, his vision and his beat encompassed all of sport.

His unique magic was an ability to infuse all that he witnessed and analysed with an epic grandeur. Or a devastating, unanswerable  insight.

Whether he was marvelling at the feats of Tiger Woods, Lennox Lewis and Michael Atherton – all of whom particularly impressed him – or eviscerating the fripperies and distractions infecting modern football, Jim’s style told us that this was all important because it reflected human nature and the human spirit; again good and bad, great and poisonous.

Here he is on the death of Muhammad Ali in The Guardian in 2016.”His body, for so long a such a monument to physical perfection may have been ravaged but his spirit was never compromised and if anyone needed a reminder of this, it has surely come with the emotion provoked by his death.”

It wasn’t just about monumental words, however. As both a master craftsman and a man steeped in the professionalism, methods and disciplines of the good reporter, Jim was noted for being able to turn around  the required, usually elegaic 800 words quickly, crisply and without blemish.

He was driven and impassioned by both sport and the romantic’s love of the newspaper trade. It made him one of the greatest of his generation, with the rare distinction of that achievement being noted upon both sides of the Atlantic.

The impression he  has left upon all of us is deep and memorable. Personally, it was an honour to follow in his footsteps  – or attempt to – as Chief Sports Writer at the Express, whatever they did to the newspaper along the way.

It was a privilege, too, to travel with him. To work alongside him. To drink with him and dine with him on so many wonderful occasions. There was no false modesty about him but neither was there any excess of  pride despite his status as a giant of Fleet Street.

A word of encouragement or acknowledgement from him filled you with belief and  gratitude. It was offered to the youngest and most inexperienced of those who had joined the trade he adored so much and carried out  so beautifully.

Among the tributes now pouring forth, one recalled how he told a  young hopeful that the world of journalism was “a jaded vineyard.” Again, pure Jim. How he loved it in there.

Sometimes, of course, it tortured and dissatisfied him. An element of self-doubt drove his work, as it does for most of the greats. Sport often disappointed him, too. But it also up-lifted him to imperious levels of work.

It was my good fortune to do so many of these things with him against the back-drop of so many great locations across the football world, at the World Cup, at the big fights in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and on and on across the USA.

He seemed particularly suited to America, where the big cities matched his own broad vision – both of sport and life. His opinion was always up-to-date but there was, gratifyingly, something of the old school about him.  Newspaper traditions across the pond are as powerful as they are here and there was something of both about Jim.

This was partly due to his experience in Canada, partly due to the fact the he spent so much time in the USA and partly because of his own nature.

This was where he  left the ringside to work through the night. Where he lamented the Sunday evening finale of each golf tournament  because  it would never be repeated in quite the same way again.

This was where he resignedly and regularly paid fines for smoking in his room. This was where he tipped waiters $100  at the start of the week to ensure a good table every night. Never in an over-mighty way but because he knew what he liked and he wanted it to work well. One tribute today from Canada described him as “steak dinner and a bottle of wine waiting to happen.” Work, which he did furiously and incessantly, always came first, though. It was afterwards when  he was such fabulous, generous company as well as being a fabulous, generous work-mate

This was where he offered insight and a translation of  the ways of life and sport in America and thereby massively broadened my own horizons as a sportswriter. Once I cut out and collected his pieces. Now here I was, keeping him up until 9am on one memorable occasion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

I will cherish the memories of the times I enjoyed with Jim and what he taught and offered me  – as will so many of you. On Friday, the Ryder Cup began and with typical good grace, Paul Hayward of the Daily Telegraph said he would be walking the course in Jim’s honour.

Jim loved this competition and all of golf  and with the Ryder Cup’s return, I’m left with one particular vision of him, sitting outside the tent at the K Club or in Louisville, a plume of blue smoke rising into the pale air as he discussed the day’s events and  prepared to begin sculpting his words.

He was a colossal figure in journalism and sports-writing. A great man and a good man.  To take in tribute his own memorable summary of the fine work he did, I think he paid the freight.

 

Jim Lawton RIP

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Tributes have been flowing for James Lawton, a giant of journalism, who has passed away suddenly at the age of 75.

Jim was one of the finest sportswriters of this or any other generation, and his passing brought tributes from around the world, not just from friends and former colleagues on the Express, Independent and many other newspapers whose pages were graced by his writing. Many younger journalists spoke warmly of the help he provided in their early days, and of course many recounted their favourite Jim Lawton story.

He was born in Flintshire and began his career in the Flintshire Leader before moving to the Daily Telegraph in 1963. He went on to work at the Sun, Express and the Independent, as well as a stint at the Vancouver Sun. Jim won numerous awards in his career, including The Sports Journalists’ Association Sports Writer of the Year in 1988, Sports Columnist of the Year in 2005 and Feature Writer of the Year in 2006 .

Jeff Powell broke the sad news on Twitter and the tributes followed.

“Very sad to have to report that the great James Lawton has died suddenly today at his retirement haven in Italy. Great sports writer, great friend, great companion on the road. Funeral arrangements to come. RIP Jim,” wrote his close friend Powell.

Another friend and colleague for around a half a century was Steve Curry, who wrote: “The great Jim Lawton left us suddenly today. In the top five sports writers of my generation. We were neighbours, colleagues on the Express and great buddies. I would drive him to work and we’d stop every day at a wine bar in Battersea. We drank a bottle of champagne served by a Sloan ranger who was fascinated by Jim’s wit and command of the language. His writing style was so unique he didn’t need a by line. Bon viveur, gourmet, lover of fine wine, lover of life. What a colossus, what a man. An intimate friend.”

Paul McCarthy, FWA Executive Secretary, wrote: “More desperate news. So many great memories of working alongside Jim and on many nights out. One of the giants of our trade and a beautiful writer. It worked Jim, every time. I’ll always remember a line from Jim Lawton’s final Express column as he reflected on a career spent following the greatest sports events from around the globe. “The coffee pot’s half full, the ashtray overflowing…” Before a wonderful reminiscence of his role.”

John Dillon tweeted: “Jim Lawton….you taught me so much and inspired me even more…and in return I kept you up all night RIP.”

Nick Harris added: “I sat with Jim Lawton in cabs when he dictated to a copy taker, off the cuff, 2,000 words on a major story that had just happened. Passionate, articulate, persuasive, word-perfect, crafted. Just like that. Then he’d turn and ask: ‘Do you think that was ok?”

Matt Lawton recalled: “Lot of the guys sharing their Jim Lawton stories here in Paris. My favourite: getting a call from Sean Connery on day of 2006 WC final in Berlin to tell him how much he’d enjoyed his coverage. A pat on the back from James Bond takes some beating.”

Des Kelly: “Grim news; the wonderful sports writer Jim Lawton has passed away. He was not only a gifted wordsmith, but he had the ability to deliver his perfectly crafted prose at breakneck speed. This made him the best. Proud to work with him. Jim was a true great.”

Dave Kidd: “Jim Lawton used to check in to a hotel, pay a month’s worth of smoking fines up front and then write everybody else under the table. I admired the hell out of him. RIP Jim.”

Owen Slot: “Jim Lawton, one of the best ever to fill our back pages. Envied how much he lived the story. A generous friend to young pups who just wanted to learn and be near him at the bar.”

David Conn: “So very sad to hear of Jim Lawton passing away. A brilliant writer & charming man, got to the heart of every subject & the soul of football. And although a giant himself, very kind and encouraging to younger journalists, meant so much to me when I started at the Independent. RIP.”

Sam Wallace said: “Farewell to Jim Lawton, a great colleague and a kind man. Never better than when dissecting an England tournament disaster -especially in 2006, the likely outcome of which he had long warned.”

Neil Harman added: “Another master of the sports writing industry has passed with the death today of the wonderful James Lawton. A giant of his trade, terrific raconteur, brilliant wordsmith, great supporter, ally and friend. My God he wrote beautifully especially when the Daily Express was a paper of high repute. Jim absolutely shone. Another terrible loss.”

Paul Kelso tweeted: “First met Jim at the Recreation Ground, Antigua, ‘97. I was green as the pitch & he welcomed me with a great (oft told) Viv Richards story. Jim in a nutshell: encouraging & great company. He liked the right sports, had the right heroes and was, above all, brilliant. Not only did Jim Lawton tell me the Viv Richards story, he introduced me to Viv Richards as they buried the hatchet by way of an interview. I’d been there 10 minutes & met two of my heroes.”

Martin Lipton: “Sad, sad news. One of the greats. Spent many a night in his company. All of them to be treasured. RIP Jim.”

Janine Self: “Really sad news about Jim Lawton. A proper gent, absolutely no ego, great company in press box or restaurant and what a writer.”

Donald McRae wrote: “Jim Lawton….a great sportswriter, especially when it came to football and boxing, and a kind, amusing man who loved to share a good glass or two.”

Steve Nolan: “Privileged to have worked with him at the Daily Express. His catchphrase of ‘I think it works’ came after he submitted his Monday Verdict on the weekend’s major action which usually set the sporting agenda for the rest of the week. A genuine guy.”

John Rawling added: “Jim Lawton was a brilliant tourist and a fine writer. Some add very little, but Jim was always essential reading. I am so pleased to have known him, shared time with him and to have watched a tremendous journalist in action. Every word in tribute is well merited.”

Mike Parry said: “So very sorry to hear of the death of Jim Lawton. He was a fellow Chester boy who conquered the world of sports reporting, using words like a needle and thread .. majestic company in any arena .. a golf-course, World Cup, Madison Square Garden .. an English country pub.”

John Etheridge: “Jim Lawton dipped into cricket sometimes, most memorably in Antigua in 1990. Viv Richards berated him furiously in the press box when the West Indies captain should have been on the field, leading his team. First spoke to Jim 40 years ago – wordsmith, kind, lovely company, a gent.”

David Bond: “Very sorry to hear that James Lawton has passed away. An elegant master of his craft. No matter how junior you were, he always had time to talk and share his insight.”

Glenn Moore recalled: “I persuaded Jim to get public transport, tube and bus, to 2001 Champions League final on a broiling hot day in Milan. But the buses weren’t running so we had to walk about two miles with our bags. As we arrived, bathed in sweat, Jeff Powell stepped out of a cab, ice-cool. Jeff smiled and said something like, ‘hello chaps, been for a yomp?’. Jim looked as if he would willingly execute me. The journey back, in a ferociously quick car Nick Townsend had flagged down at 2am, was another tale. It was the last time I got Jim on to a tube to a game.”

Mike Rowbotham said: “Did something similar with poor Jim at London 2012. Boldly led him on about a half mile walk through crowds to reach the rowing venue press sub-centre when we could – and should – have taken a short cut bus-ride the other way. Of course, he was lovely about it.”

Mark Staniforth tweeted: “I recall erroneously steering the late, great Jim Lawton to a press conference halfway up a mountain during the 2010 Winter Olympics – a trip requiring a dangly cable car and a treacherous skate over sheet ice. fter a voyage of simply epic proportions, I had to break the news to Jim that I had mis-read the email, and the press conference was actually right back down in the centre of Whistler, from whence we had just come. ‘Mark – are you trying to kill me, Mark?!’ wheezed Jim, fag in one hand, clutching my arm with his other, as we careered our way back down the mountain. I always considered it a minor miracle that we made it intact. A recalibrating drink and approx 10 more fags were required upon our arrival back on terra firma. Farewell Jim, simply the nicest and most brilliant sports journalist I’ve ever met. Hope there’s no cable cars up there.”

Roy Curtis: “I don’t cry too often. But, the death of a hero. Jim Lawton, Fleet Street’s finest bard. A gentleman and a genius. Wordsmith supreme. No more poems from Arcadia. Rest easy, my friend. The lyrical dance ebbs.”

Mike Beamish: “Very saddened to read the news that the great wordsmith James Lawton — Vancouver Sun sports columnist (1980-87) — has died. Jim was the complete package — gifted, incredibly hard working, generous in spirit and a travelling companion/pub mate nonpareil.”

Jim’s daughter Vicky tweeted: “Touched by the tributes to my father tonight. A kind, insightful, talented and hardworking Dad. Proud of him and grateful.”

More tributes and funeral details to follow.

MANarama National League column – Leyton Orient

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Leyton Orient, by Glenn Moore

On 25 May 2014 Leyton Orient were twice on the brink of reaching the second tier of English football for the first time in more than three decades. As they prepared to celebrate promotion at Wembley that day, the idea that they could be playing a league match at Braintree within four years – and coming home elated after a win – was beyond comprehension.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday night around 1,600 O’s fans made the 40-mile journey back from Essex in jubilant mood. Justin Edinburgh’s team had won 5-1 at Cressing Road to extend their lead at the summit of the MANarama National League (sponsors Vanarama have renamed the competition in support of the charity Prostate Cancer UK).

Victory eclipsed a club record set in that 2013-14 season when Russell Slade’s team began with a 12-match unbeaten run before having to settle for a play-off place. At Wembley they led Rotherham 2-0 with 35 minutes left, then led again in the penalty shoot-out.

Two failed penalties followed, and less than three years later they were relegated from League Two ending a stay in the Football League dating back to 1905. This precipitous decline, which almost concluded with the club ceasing to exist, began when long-term owner Barry Hearn sold to Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti. This proved ill-fated as Becchetti rattled through 11 managers, overseeing two relegations, a string of unhappy headlines, and the alienation of supporters. Soon after dropping out of the League the club faced a winding up order.

This, however, was staved off and the club bought by a consortium fronted by Nigel Travis, an Orient fan and former schoolmate of Hearn who had risen to head up Dunkin’ Donuts.  The bulk of the cash was provided by Texan millionaire Kent Teague whose enthusiasm has extended to watching the club’s walking football teams play.

The pair brought stability off the field and, after a brief stint by former Crewe boss Steve Davis, Edinburgh provided it on it. The former Tottenham defender arrived at Brisbane Road at a low ebb having been fired in quick succession by Gillingham and Northampton Town. However, he had good experience at non-League level having taken Rushden & Diamonds and Newport County into the National League play-off places, winning promotion with the latter.

Edinburgh banished fears of a second relegation as the Os finished mid-table. This season they began by snatching a late equaliser at Salford and have been unbeaten ever since with six wins in the last seven games. Macauley Bonne, a 22-year-old signed by Davis from Colchester United, took his O’s total to 31 goals in 57 matches with a hat-trick at Braintree. Just as influential have been the experienced Jobi McAnuff and Dean Brill, youth product Josh Koroma, East Thurrock recruit Marvin Ekpiteta, and an injury-free run that has enabled Edinburgh to name the same XI for nine successive matches.

MANarama National League is a hard one to escape. Less than half the clubs relegated from League Two in the last decade have bounced back. Orient are on course to buck the trend.

For more on Leyton Orient visit: https://www.leytonorient.com/

For more on the MANarama National League visit: https://thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on cars and vans visit: http://www.vanarama.co.uk/ 

FWA to support Prostate Cancer UK

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FWA to support Prostate Cancer UK
Following the sad passing of our colleague and lifetime member Ralph Ellis, who lost his battle with prostate cancer last weekend, the FWA is proud to announce we will be supporting Prostate Cancer UK as our designated charity for the remainder of this season.

When his illness first struck, Ralph went out of his way to support PCUK including a bike ride to Amsterdam in June where he and his family and friends raised over £15,000 for the charity. Before that, a wide-reaching interview he conducted with Ray and Stephen Clemence, including words on Ray’s own diagnosis and the impact on his family, reached more than 500,000 people across Prostate Cancer UK’s channels.

This tie-in is particularly apt as Vanarama, the sponsors of the FWA Golf Day have also pledged their support and, as many of you will have seen, they have changed the name of the National League to MANarama for the remainder of September and until Non-League Day on October 13th to raise awareness of the disease while also pledging to raise £150,000.

It seemed a logical time to show the FWA’s support of the charity that was close to Ralph’s heart and we would urge all members to back the MANarama initiative throughout the next six weeks on social media by means of an RT or Like. Please feel free to contact gary.haines@prostatecancer.org if there are any stories or features that will heighten the awareness of prostate cancer and with which Vanarama can assist.

Ralph’s family have also asked us to pass on their thanks for all the kind words and tributes over the past few days but have also stressed how important it is for men to be aware of the dangers of prostate cancer. It claims the life of a man every 45minutes in the UK, and there is more information here about this terrible disease and what’s being done to counter it.

https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate…/about-prostate-cancer
https://www.prostatecanceruk.org/football