Ian Ridley 💙
@IanRidley1
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Writer, publisher. Founder @FDPublishing and @VBooks10 . Sport, politics, music, literature, life, inc my beloved, late Vikki.
Joined July 2011
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Thank you for all the love around the 5th anniversary of Vikki's death. I've felt that after the 1st year or two, the progression of grief to some acceptance is rarely written about. Tried to rectify that in my new short novel. And write a good story.
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My beloved, bright, brilliant wife Vikki Orvice passed away at 5am, able to defy the cancer no longer. I am bereft, empty, but grateful for her life and her love. Those who feel the breath of sadness, sit down next to me.
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@peterjamesuk
Once next to someone on a sunbed reading one of mine, asked him if he was enjoying it. He said yes, very much, and asked if I'd read it. Chuffed, I said that I'd written it. He checked out my pic on the inside back cover. A life highlight. Go on, ask him if he's enjoying it.
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Well, that was emotional. They came, Vikki. Oh, they came. Proud of you, as were the village, your family, friends, colleagues and the sporting good and the great. Goodnight my Saturday girl.
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Really don't understand how this government and its scientists could have got it so wrong that in a month they have gone from believing that big gatherings did not make a difference to spreading the virus to saying that social distancing will be needed until the end of the year.
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This is utterly masterful, both in content and delivery. Like a lawyer in a movie who rips up any closing speech he might have prepared just to speak from the heart. How dare they indeed. Bravo
@mrjamesob
. 👏
'An administration built entirely on lies and the bogus charisma of one of the most fraudulent individuals ever to inhabit public life in Britain, has come to an inevitable and inglorious end.'
James O'Brien's unrelenting farewell to Boris Johnson.
@mrjamesob
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How about this?
@Arsenal
have produced a personalised programme in V’s memory today.
#ARSSHU
#twitterblades
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It is possible to admire Gareth, believe that he had a great tournament as the right man for the job, and also to think he might have handled the second half and managed penalties a bit better. He'll probably feel that himself. Football, life, is not binary but nuanced.
#ENG
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Guess what Vikki? Those classy people at
@Arsenal
have invited me to the Directors Box to watch your beloved
@SheffieldUnited
today. I'll try not to embarrass your memory by shouting too loudly for Blades.
#twitterblades
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“Just to say I miss you, baby…”
Merry Christmas, my darling. And to all who grieve. It never goes away, but it becomes more mellow with memories.
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathOfSadness
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Thought all my friends at
@WomeninFootball
and beyond might be interested in this - one of the scarecrows in our village festival today. It's catching on all right...
#Lionesses
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@peterjamesuk
For anyone wondering, it was in Thailand, Christmas 1998 and the book was Addicted with
@TonyAdams
. This was the inside back jacket pic and I wished I still looked like this. The reason I recall it so well was because I don't think, sadly, it has happened since.
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A year today since my magnificent V passed and I posted this. It's been the longest, shortest, saddest year of my life. 1/3
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The saddest bit today is wanting to show her, to say: "Look, Vikki. This is what you meant to everyone" but she can't see or hear. I think and hope she knew. From me for sure. Anyway, tell someone today what they mean to you while you can.
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I've been preoccupied with logistics this morning and just got back to Twitter, Facebook etc. I am overwhelmed, but comforted, by the outpouring of love, respect and admiration for my Vikki, also by email, text and DM. Thank you all so much.
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Well, that was emotional. They came, Vikki. Oh, they came. Proud of you, as were the village, your family, friends, colleagues and the sporting good and the great. Goodnight my Saturday girl.
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So, a thread about my day - Vikki's day - at Arsenal v Sheffield Utd today. First, huge thanks to
@Arsenal
,
@AFC_Foundation
and
@AFCCommunity
for a special, special day. Starting with this plaque in the press room...
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Well, well V, your obit's in the Telegraph. Who'd have thought it? Not only above the fold, but double column top of page too. You'd have liked that.
#MissingYou
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Wonderful tribute by
@KatharineMerry
and minute's applause for my Vikki at British Indoor Athletics today. Thanks to
@BritAthletics
.
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Watching sad, shocking scenes at Royal London Hospital on BBC news. In village shop today, I asked a bloke on his phone to wear a mask. Said not mandatory, told me I needed to wake up to the hoax when I said 100K dead. This is what NHS is up against.
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I miss Vikki even more at these times. All grieve differently; for me, less raw and intense now, sting replaced by ache. Warm memories are punctuated by random tears. I walk again, but with a limp. May those who grieve walk, however slowly, this Christmas.
#TheBreathOfSadness
🧡
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Three years today since I, we, lost Vikki. My favourite picture of us. In all honesty, she didn’t always look at me like this, and I didn't always deserve her looking at me like this, but I'm grateful someone captured it once when she did.
#MissingYouV
#TheBreathofSadness
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After much thought, and consultation with a number of writers, publishers and sports people, I have decided to decline the £3,000 as prize for being on the shortlist of the
@BookiePrize
on moral and ethical grounds. This statement explains in detail.
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So farewell then, Peter Hill-Wood, old school Arsenal and proud of it. Here's how the chairman broke the news to
@TonyAdams
that Arsène Wenger had been lined up as manager (from Addicted)...
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I'm going to like and RT a few tributes to Vikki briefly. Will do more as and when. She would be amused that I've picked up several hundred twitter followers on her coattails, and would have told me that I'll lose them as soon as I start tweeting about Non-League football again.
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They probably won't shout about it so I will on their behalf... I've just found out that
@AFC_Foundation
have made a £500 donation to
@royalmarsden
in Vikki's memory. My thanks to them. Good old Arsenal.
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Three months today since we lost V. I say we, because so many have shared that loss, if maybe not quite my pain and sadness. A year ago today, we were walking amid bluebells, she keeping on keeping on despite having just started new chemo. Enjoy it while you can.
#MissingYouV
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Stratford station 1 hour after athletics finished tonight. Good luck West Ham fans.
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Nice exchange between Clive Tyldesley and Ally McCoist on Amazon Prime on the
#WBANEW
game:
Clive: When do you think our friends on Match of the Day will have this one pencilled in for?
Ally: Tuesday.
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I now officially have a
@Cambridge_Uni
degree, a Master of Studies, and just had to have the throwing of the mortar board pic. Lovely to have my kids there. A most precious day. Thanks to
@Cambridge_ICE
staff,
@Selwyn1882
, my cohort and for support on here. And, of course, V. 🧡
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Vikki would have been 57 today. Honouring it with a poignant memory of her 56th - afternoon tea at Claridge's. Despite everything, that trademark smile was never far away.
#MissingYouV
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Winter, spring, summer or fall,
All you got to do is call...
Five years today since I - we - lost Vikki.
#Grief
has taught me much, as did she. Here's a 🧵that I hope will help me today and maybe some others, from the rawness to a some kind of acceptance.
#TheBreathOfSadness
🧡
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Four years ago today.
"For who knows,
how my love grows?
And who knows,
where the time goes?"
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathOfSadness
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Went to Vikki's grave today to do a bit of gardening. Felt like she stopped by to say hello. And to check I was doing it properly.
#birdwatch
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We laid Vikki to rest 3 years ago today. It was the warmest February day in the UK on record at over 20 Celsius. And the emotional and spiritual feeling that day of her funeral from all who knew and loved her was the warmest I have ever known.
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathofSadness
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It would have been our 10th wedding anniversary today. This lovely picture, taken by
@alexridley5
, will feature in my book out next month on Vikki, love, grief and cricket.
#TheBreathOfSadness
#MissingYouV
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Accepted that PL footballers should make gestures and sacrifices, given that the game has so much capacity to make a difference, but it would be more credible if Hancock and Co were also calling out bankers and other buddies they've made rich in the past decade.
"Take a pay cut, play your part"
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock has urged Premier League footballers to take a pay cut and make a contribution to help in the battle against coronavirus.
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One of these days I'm going to stop crying and start tweeting about these tossers running Brexit and those tossers ruining football. Today is not that day though.
#MIssingYouV
.
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Can't think of the Olympics without thinking of V. She covered five and going to be strange not having her ring me several times a day as I'm watching. All the best to all her friends and colleagues covering the Games. Raise a glass to her.
#Tokyo2020
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Some people just lift you by being in their presence. And
@TonyAdams
has never lacked presence, on or off the pitch. Lovely lunch, at which we celebrated him recently reaching 23 years sober. Proud to have been a friend all that time. Thanks for your continuing support big man.
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Just sitting on her bench on this beautiful day, doing a crossword, having watered the new turf and wild flowers that are now coming through. Play-off bank holiday weekends always bring back the happiest memories of our wedding…
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathOfSadness
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This Olympic Stadium empty for athletics... Why didn't they just bus in kids from the favelas to include and inspire them?
#Rio2016
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Some good news today. A couple of months ago I applied to
@Cambridge_ICE
at Cambridge Uni to do a Masters in crime and thriller writing, run by the brilliant
@sophiehannahCB1
. Today I heard I've been accepted. I am chuffed and I know Vikki would approve and be chuffed for me too.
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Even in the pain of her last few weeks, Vikki was talking with her Sports Editor about this, to help an aspiring woman sports journalist. All credit to Shaun Custis and The Sun for fulfilling her wishes.
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Every Friday I bought two long-stemmed roses for the living room and I ain't stopping now.
#MissingYouV
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I wrote a piece on Vikki, me, cancer, love and grief for a new media outlet that I admire called
@tortoise
. It helped. And I thank them for asking me. The article is now free to read.
Vikki Orvice was a star: a pioneering woman reporter in the male world of tabloid sports. Her death this year aged just 56 was a huge loss to her profession. And it plunged her husband
@IanRidley1
into a world of grief. His words speak for themselves:
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A lot of people have asked me about Vikki's last message that she asked me to read out at her funeral. Well, here it is, published on the
@WomeninFootball
website....
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Funnily enough, this quote didn't make the edit for BBC News at Ten.
Container of fish cost…
Before Brexit: £3K
After Brexit: £14K
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I'd rather they asked them to pay more tax.
Government asks Amazon to consider making
@EmmaRaducanu
’s historic US Open final free to air.
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I make no apology for posting this again. It says much about Gareth. He sent it for the dinner we put on in Vikki’s memory to raise money for
@royalmarsden
.
#England
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I'm not sure the NHS on Merseyside will watch this and appreciate the magic of the FA Cup.
VIDEO: Players from 8th tier
@marineafc
arrive at their stadium to face Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham in the
#FACup
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OK (drum roll maestro please) - The
#CelebrateVikki
dinner at
@HomeOfCricket
on Weds night raised... A MASSIVE £103,000 FOR THE
@royalmarsden
. Thank you to the 400 who attended and all who donated and bought those amazing auction lots and raffle tickets.
#VikkiMarsden
👏👏👏
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Early night... Off to beautiful downtown Bramall Lane tomorrow for the first time since Vikki died, for
@SheffieldUnited
v
@NorwichCityFC
. Odd feeling. Looking forward to it but could be a bit emotional. Good memories, but reminders too of all that is lost.
#COYB
#twitterblades
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I'm going to get round to replying and retweeting. Such love and wonderful words deserve response. Just bear with me while I do over the next day or two. In the meantime, thanks to the
@SUFC_tweets
fan who simply said: "RIP Blades Lass." She would have liked that.
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I don't get out a lot these days, especially Saturday nights, but when I do... Thank you
@TonyAdams
and
@Mrs_katjones
!
#Strictly
@bbcstrictly
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You've lost the dressing room, Boris...
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@RevRichardColes
@peter_c_randall
Richard, I find comfort, faith and hope in your everyday tweets, in your grief - to which I relate - and your recounting of the mundane, in which there can be spirituality. Somebody once told me that God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts.
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Moving day. Emotional leaving the house we shared for 15 years and where I’ve lived for 20 but the time is right. This will be the last thing to leave with me and the first to go on the wall in the new flat.
#TheBreathOfSadness
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It would have been Vikki's 60th birthday today. Miss you like crazy, my darling.
#TheBreathOfSadness
#SayTheirName
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For the first time in months, certainly this year, I've written today. All praise to the Gods Who Vanquish The Blank Page. Not too much, around 1,500 words, but it's a start. It made me cry but then pretty much anything and everything can make me cry just now.
#AmWriting
#NewBook
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It was 34 years ago today when I decided that I'd drunk too much, too often, for too long and was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Sobriety has given me an amazing life and thanks to all who've been part of it. For anyone struggling - there is hope. It can happen.
#ODAAT
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Six months ago today since she passed and still she casts a long shadow. Her love remains in our home, mine grows stronger, and the memories are so thick I have to brush them from my face. Rest well, my fish called Vikki. X
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It was a month ago today that we laid my golden girl to rest. Pleased to report that those who attended Vikki's funeral donated a splendid £1,487.50 to the
@royalmarsden
. Thanks to you all.
#MissingYouV
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This 'how it started/how it's going'... is it still a thing?
1: With newly born daughter Alexandra on a snowy night in Feb 1986.
2: With grown-up daughter
@alexridley5
today. Oh, and her newly born daughter.
Hello, Amelia Elise. Sorry Vikki's not here physically to welcome you.
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Just caught up with the BBC Athletics team's tribute to Vikki. Thank you
@GabbyLogan
, Steve Cram and
@paulajradcliffe
.
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Thank you everybody for all your best wishes and such lovely messages yesterday for my daughter
@alexridley5
's wedding. It was the loveliest of days. And I know V was there.
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Arsenal (even Chelsea) fans: If you buy this book by
@TonyAdams
you will find instructions of how to get to Baku and back by train and car (including how to deal with gun-toting Turkish border guards). Ridiculous value at £3.
#OpportunisticPlug
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Loving these Tories now denouncing the South Yorks police force whose brutality and incompetence they encouraged and covered up in the 80s.
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OK,
@GarethSouthgate
has had some - fair - questioning about how he handles people in the wake of the Sterling-Gomez affair. Personally, I'll go with an
@England
manager who takes time to treat people like this. Thanks for this message last night and good luck tonight Gareth.
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Thanks for all the Twitter love today on the first anniversary of Vikki’s passing. In fact, thanks for a whole year of it. It’s helped a lot. Only had one real troll, and sounded like the poor bloke was suffering from an untreated case of grief.
#MissingYouV
#TheBreathOfSadness
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My pilgrimage today took me to Lake Como, and Bellagio, where we had lunch once upon a time. Today I lunched alone and though in splendour still, the view across the table was less captivating this time. Lone selfies just ain't the same.
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathOfSadness
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It's 33 years today, exactly half my life, since alcohol gave me up. Thank you to all - so many - who have loved and supported me through that time. For those struggling, I can tell you that sobriety hasn't always been easy but it has always been worth it.
#ODAAT
#Rebirthday
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Vikki and I sat with
@dinaashersmith
at the
@SportSJA
awards last Dec, V having invited her. One a golden girl now to the world, one ever to me. Wish V could have seen it. Thank you Dina for coming to the funeral and bravo on your brilliant gold. 🥇
#WorldAthleticsChampionships
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Those who came to Vikki's funeral will remember our lovely little village church, which she so loved. It has a beautiful new, hand-carved door, officially opened today.
#MissingYouV
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Aspiring female sports journalist? Vikki would want you to give this a go. It's a great initiative in her honour and memory, one she urged her employers to establish just before she died and one they graciously agreed to.
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One day people will cotton on that it's less the manager, and more the structure and system in English football. Has been for 25 years.
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Thanks to all for your good wishes today. Means a lot. Like real life, Twitter can be nasty when the nobs take over. I've found it a great support and comfort the last few months. Like real life when the good people speak up.
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Match of the Day will doubtless tell us that the
#MCITOT
VAR decision is right. Just as the Wolves handball was last week and the City offside decisions at West Ham were right. So that's all right then. Technology rules. And the game is losing another slice of its soul.
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One ex Liverpool insider told me recently that it started going wrong after Brendan Rodgers had his teeth whitened.
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Anyone else do something that's not on the to-do list, then put it on the to-do list retrospectively just for the satisfaction of crossing it off the to-do list?
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Today I say a prayer for my daughter, as did WB Yeats; today I walk the wedding aisle with her. I wish my other favourite woman could be there physically, but I know she will be spiritually. It is a day to count blessings not list regrets. To be in the present, not the past.
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OK a few thanks. To
@renniegrove
, who helped me cope and made Vikki comfortable in the last days of her life. To Bibi, the lovely
@macmillancancer
nurse with me when V died. Wonderful, compassionate professionals.
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Happy wedding anniversary, my darling.
Picture by the late, great Observer photographer Mike King. Hope he and V are covering the all-time-greats athletics meetings at the Elysian Fields stadium.
#MissingYouV
🧡
#TheBreathOfSadness
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The man who was so worried about his young child's well being that he justifies driving 260 miles to escape lockdown took the kid on a 30-minute drive to Barnard Castle to check if his eyesight was good enough to drive?
#DominicCummngs
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Well, nobody can say the Premier League is not doing its bit for Non-League football. £14.95 pay per view? That should help drive people to a local game where fifteen quid buys you admission, a snack and a drink.
#EPL
#NonLeague
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We said goodbye to this fine man today. One of the greatest of all football writers, authoritative and witty. A privilege to have been a colleague of his for 10 years on
@guardian_sport
. Rest well David.
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