Football writing great Ron Scott, 1947-2018

One of the greats of Scottish football reporting has died suddenly aged 70.

Ron Scott, who spent almost 50 years with Dundee publisher DC Thomson, was admitted to Ninewells Hospital on Thursday and died on Saturday.

One of the best-connected football writers of the past half century, he maintained personal friendships with many of Scottish football’s most prominent figures, including Sir Alex Ferguson, Walter Smith, Gordon Strachan and Jim Mclean.

Indeed, upon retirement in 2012 from his position as chief football writer with The Sunday Post, he was sent a personal video message of goodwill by Sir Alex.

Born in 1947, he started off as a teenager in DC Thomson’s process department in 1964.

He went on to make a name for himself as a junior sports reporter with The Sunday Post, where he remained for his entire 48-year career, also writing for sister titles, The Courier, The Weekly News and Evening Telegraph.

It was a career that saw him cover Scotland’s progress at the 1990 and 1998 World Cups in Italy and France respectively, as well as Euro 96 in England.

He also covered Aberdeen’s 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph and Dundee United’s route to the Uefa Cup final in 1987.

A warm, conscientious and gregarious character, he quickly rose to the top of the industry in a highly successful career.

Well-respected by colleagues and industry professionals, the former Morgan Academy pupil was regarded as one of the most knowledgeable Scottish football writers of his generation.

He was handed the prestigious honour of serving as president of the Scottish Football Writers’ Association, a position he held for three years between 2007 and 2010.

For much of his career, Ron wrote under the pseudonym of Bill Mcfarlane.

This only changed in the mid 1990s when reporters were given bylines in DC Thomson newspapers.

He continued writing about his beloved sport right up until his death, with his last piece of work being his Voice of Experience column in The Sunday Post yesterday.

He leaves behind wife Wendy, daughter Susan and brother Bruce.

Mr Scott spent his entire 48-year career with The Sunday Post.