‘A wonderful player, an inspirational mentor and lovely man’
FORMER City midfielder Paul Lake has led the tributes to Glyn Pardoe, who has died aged 73.
Lake, who like the former Blues defender had his career cut short by injury, tweeted yesterday: “So saddened to learn of the passing of our friend Glyn Pardoe. A wonderful player, an inspirational mentor and, above all, a genuinely lovely man. My condolences to his family.”
Pardoe had been in the news earlier this season as his grandson Tommy Doyle made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton.
Doyle is also the grandson of another City legend, Mike Doyle.
City’s under-23 captain, Tommy, tweeted a heartfelt tribute to his grandfather, saying: “Forever my hero! I love you so much. Rest easy.” He accompanied the post with a picture of the pair at one of Tommy’s City games.
After Doyle’s debut against Southampton, the youngster revealed the advice - and little joke - Pardoe gave him before he walked out at the Etihad.
“I Facetimed him before the game, and told him I couldn’t wait,” Doyle said. “He reminded me he was only 15 (when he made his debut), just getting a little dig in! He does that all the time, we have a nice healthy competition.
“But he is a legend at this club and I’m fortunate to have him in my family, so I get advice that others might not get.
“He said ‘listen, everybody has to do it, just go out and do what you do.’ They’ve all said the same thing to me, everyone has to make their debut at one point.”
City tweeted the news of Pardoe’s passing, saying: “Everyone at City is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Glyn Pardoe. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his friends and family at this difficult time.”