David Lacey’s funeral on December 10
DAVID LACEY'S FUNERAL
David Lacey's funeral will be on Friday December 10, 1.30pm at Cambridge Crematorium East Chapel. David's brother Roger said: “We hope to have an informal reception at a nearby hostelry afterwards, depending on availability. I will let you know the details when we’ve booked a venue.
“By all means forward the details to any of David’s old colleagues, although as numbers are limited, could anyone wishing to attend contact me at rogerlaceyupnorth@gmail.com.”
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We at the FWA were incredibly sad to learn of the passing of David Lacey, one of the greats of football writing. As a Guardian sub-editor and then football correspondent for more than 30 years, David established himself as a writer of authority, style and wit. He was also one of the most liked and respected men among his fellow journalists.
Paddy Barclay, former FWA Chairman, was David's colleague and one-time understudy at the Guardian and has written this heartfelt tribute to the man who passed away at the age of 83.
"To be ‘’on the road’’ with David Lacey, following the English national team or clubs abroad, was a joy, rich in humour (when he was in the mood) and light wisdom. To have been his underling on The Guardian was a privilege, albeit dubious in the sense that our sub-editors’ daily practice was to shovel into the page however much Lacey had written, uncut and rightly unaltered to even the slightest degree, and only then to allot the space left towards the bottom of the page to be shared among the rest of us.
"Perhaps only Hugh McIlvanney inspired such reverence among those charged with presenting his efforts to the public. There was a reason for this: only Lacey, McIlvanney and the great Brian Glanville could be guaranteed to entertain and educate a football audience with a combination of style, resonance and authority unmatched, perhaps, by any such triumvirate before or since. To be working alongside – or, to be more realistic, under - Lacey was to be shown a dazzling standard, and to be in no doubt that striving to follow every habit and principle of his writing style would be worthwhile.
"When eventually an offer from the infant Today newspaper in early 1986 enabled me to dart from under his shadow, David happened to be in the group that heard my breathless announcement. He had also been within earshot of many passionate outbursts about football, clearly, because he adopted a grave expression and extended a hand, which I shook. ‘’This is the end,’’ he said, ‘’of an earache.’’ It was typical Lacey: succinct, meaningful and very funny. His football writing was those things and much more because no quip was ever at the expense of the truth about the game.
"Indeed he had everything. Except one thing. For such an erudite man, he betrayed not a hint of pompousness (let alone pretension). Not a line of his could ever have merited an entry in Pseuds’ Corner. Although Lacey was very much in the tradition of the great Manchester Guardian specialists Donny Davies and Neville Cardus, his allusions would be more often inspired by a popular film than obscure literature or Greek mythology. And he never explained a joke. If it puzzled you, you looked it up. It is often said of the great football managers that their methods would not work today. If the same could be said of the generation of broadsheet football writers that Lacey led, maybe we should look at the methods of today."
Tags: david lacey, Paddy Barclay, patrick barclay, the guardian
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Although the peerless David Lacey was twice named ‘Sports Reporter of the Year’ at the British Press Awards — first in 1997, then in 2003 — not once was he honoured or recognized in any of the relevant categories in the British sports journalism awards organized by the Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA). Noisier, less gifted practitioners seemed always to have been preferred to the man who wrote more insightfully and intelligently and impartially on football than anyone else working in the English language. He was strangely undervalued, and even those two sports reporter of the year awards only came in the twilight of his wonderful career.
May I suggest to the Football Writers’ Association that an annual award be set up in Lacey’s memory to be presented to the most gifted and promising young and aspiring football reporters in Britain. Please don’t forget him!
Lacey’s passing is a terribly sad loss to his family, and to the world of football and football journalism. There have been great British football writers from Geoffrey Green to Brian Glanville to Hugh McIlvanney, but no one wrote more fairly and lucidly than Lacey. Generations of football reporters, both born and unborn, can do worse than savour his wit and wisdom; it would be unwise, even self-defeating, to squander Lacey’s legacy.
Farewell to a fine man and great sports journalist.