Tributes to football club’s ‘friendly face’
AFOOTBALL club has joined tributes to a much-loved family man who was a familiar and friendly face on the turnstiles.
Raymond Smith, from Bacup, passed away on Friday morning, April 16, following a battle with COPD and emphysema. He was 72.
The great-grand-father-ofsix used to welcome supporters to the Brian Boys Stadium for Bacup Borough matches before he became too ill about two years ago, and was a popular figure in the town.
Manager Brent Peters, speaking on behalf of Borough, said: “Raymond effectively played an important role on match days by sitting in the pay box taking the entrance fee and welcoming all of the visitors and supporters to the Brian Boys Stadium.
“Raymond was a genuine good guy who supported his family well. He will be sadly missed; may he rest in peace.”
Raymond’s eldest daughter Debra O’Connor is personal assistant to Peters at West View, and has a 22-year association with the football club.
She is also known as the creator of the famous ‘Prem Pie’ as featured on Sky Sports News, and daughters Amy, 30, and Billie-Jo, 23, both work on the bar.
Debra has received plenty of touching goodwill messages since the club announced her dad’s death, which have provided some comfort through their grief.
She told the Free Press: “People have remembered him and they’ve replied saying what a true gent he was. He always gave five minutes of his time to have a chat and catch up. He would chat to anybody. It’s nice to know that people remember my dad. A lot of people knew him in the town; before he couldn’t get anywhere [due to illness] he had been up and down on his scooter. He would go to the bookies and put a bet on, and everybody used to talk to him.”
Debra, whose family have always been from Stacksteads and Bacup, said Borough are a real family football club – and this was partly how her dad ended up on the gate a few seasons ago when there was no-one to fill the vacancy.
“My two girls were brought up around [the club] and follow Bacup home and away,” she said.
“I used to push Billie-Jo up here in a pram. My dad and his friend Pete used to come up on a Friday and have a game of dominoes. It was funny because he used to call it the Friday club. Brent would be cleaning the lines for the beer and my dad would have a few pints.
“We had nobody on the gate anymore and I said ‘do you fancy it? You can have a few pints sat on the gate’, and he said ‘go on, I will have a go’.”
Raymond leaves daughters Debra, Pauline, Alison, and Elaine, and son Dougie, wife Shirley, brother Abe, and his eight grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren, with whom he loved spending time.
Debra added: “My dad’s personality was straight to the point; he said what was in his head and was straightforward. There were no grey areas; he would just say it as it was. You knew where you stood. It is a close family and we are going to miss my dad; he was the king of the family and he was our man.”