Newcastle Town to honour groundsman with 'Colin Spencer Tribute Day'

Jim Hannahin People

Past and present Newcastle Town officials and players will pay tribute to the club's groundsman Colin Spencer who died earlier this month.

Newcastle Town will use today's home game against Widnes to pay tribute to groundsman Colin Spencer, who died earlier this month.

The club has had the all-clear from the relevant football authorities to stage a 'Colin Spencer Tribute Day' at their Red Industries Stadium where the guests of honour will include Colin's family and former officials and players of the club.

Colin was highly regarded and respected during his 44 years of service to the club and Newcastle Town officials are keen to show their appreciation by dedicating today's game to him.

Newcastle general manager Geoff Eccleston said: "Colin served the club in various roles throughout his time at the club - manager, physio, groundsman, he was renowned for the quality of the pitch, kitman, washing the kit for the first team, reserves and youth team, cleaning the dressing rooms, making tea/coffee for guests and even unblocking the drains at times to name but a few.

"Colin even helped Stoke City out at Fulham when their physio was unavailable. Loyalty, professionalism etc saw Colin at the ground at 6am every day, sometimes not leaving until after a night game. He treated everyone with respect and, since his passing, tributes from all areas have flooded in to show how much he was thought of by all.

"Tributes have some from Staffs FA, Staffs County Senior League, Evo-Stik League and the North-West Counties League.

"When interviewed just over twelve months ago his reply to the question "how long will you keep on doing the pitch?" his answer was typical of him. He replied: "I've no intention of finishing. You'd better ask him up there," he replied, pointing to the sky.

"For Colin everything had to be correct - folding the strips correctly and putting them in the bags in the correct order and after the game put in the correct bags in separate piles, and the pitch cut to the correct length with the nets perfect for the referee's inspection. Anybody going on the pitch if they shouldn't would soon feel the wrath of Colin's tongue. Away trips saw Colin have the kit laid out in the right order just like a pro club with warm-up tops matching the kit numbers - the big bench coats only used when the weather was only fit for polar bears. He soon let any player know what he thought of them if they asked for one if he thought it was too warm before magically making them disappear.


You can read the original article from Stoke on Trent Live HERE

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