A true original... Bob is a great loss to the game
Sir Alex and Beckham join greats in tribute to the legendary MoS football reporter Bob Cass
SIR Alex Ferguson and David Beckham have led tributes from the football world to legendary Mail on Sunday journalist Bob Cass, who died last week after a long battle against cancer at the age of 78.
Bob’s unparalleled list of contacts and extrovert personality meant he often participated in major stories as well as reporting on them.
He was in the Sunderland dressing room after they won the 1973 FA Cup final at Wembley, sat next to David Beckham on the team bus after Manchester United had won the Treble in 1999 and was a go-between in the deal that took Howard Kendall back to Everton as manager from Manchester City.
He also led the award-winning Mail on Sunday coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and was one of the first journalists to see the bodies laid out in the aftermath of the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Forest.
His close relationship with Ferguson predated the Scotsman’s historic arrival at Old Trafford in 1986 and last night the former Manchester United manager said: ‘I knew Bob from my days in Aberdeen when he used to cover some games.
‘He had a great appreciation of football and of managers and that showed in the fact that all the managers he knew trusted him without question.
‘Bob always kept his word — something that is much harder in modern journalism with the intense competition from online media that traditional newspaper reporters face.
‘He was a fantastic guy and tough as nails as well; he had suffered with illness for years but, as many will testify, he never let it affect his enjoyment of life. Bob is a great loss to the game and to British football reporting.’
Beckham added: ‘I felt Bob was there at every point in my career. He interviewed me as a young player at United and at every other club I played for.
‘I even remember him sitting alongside me on the team bus after we won the Champions League title in 1999. That showed you the trust that people had in him.
‘He enjoyed life and never took himself too seriously but he was one of the best, most honest and dedicated journalists I knew. He will be sorely missed as there are very few like him, a true original. My thoughts are with his family.’
Bob, who worked for the Northern Echo and Sun newspapers before spending nearly 30 years with the Mail on Sunday until 2014, could count Sam Allardyce, Alan Shearer, Jamie Carragher, Gary Lineker, Harry Redknapp and Billy Bingham as his friends and wrote exclusives about all of them.
A particularly strong relationship was forged with former England international and Manchester City and Sunderland manager Peter Reid, one of the last people to visit Bob before his death on Thursday.
Reid said: ‘I first met him in 1976 when I played for Bolton in an FA Cup tie at Newcastle. We went to the Gosforth Park Hotel where Bob jumped on stage without warning and entertained the whole squad for 45 minutes. We were friends from that day onwards.
‘People trusted him. He didn’t write everything he knew but that way he got more stories than anyone else. He was the first journalist to find out I was signing Kevin Phillips.
‘Bob was sat round a table with Howard Kendall and myself after Manchester City had lost to Arsenal in 1990. News was breaking that Colin Harvey was leaving Everton and Bob asked Howard if he’d fancy it. He then made a phone call to chief executive Jim Greenwood and history took its course. We’ve lost a special man. Charismatic, funny and loyal. He loved football, and horse racing. I cherish our times having a glass of red together at Cheltenham.’
Colleagues at the Mail on Sunday recall Bob’s unique way of responding to a bar bore who claimed to know Sir Alex Ferguson. He would phone up the man himself and hand the phone over, at which point the ‘impostor’ beat a hasty retreat.
Bob is survived by wife Janet and three children. His impact on the world of football and journalism was highlighted when he started trending on Twitter in the hours after his death.
‘The old fella would love to have known that!’ tweeted his son Simon, also a respected journalist.
Bob’ s hometown club Darlington will hold a minute’s silence for him at today’s game against Marine.