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Tributes paid to Stanley stalwart

17/11/2008

TRIBUTES have been paid to Accrington Stanley’s former secretary Phil Terry who died last week after a battle with cancer.

Phil, 70, was well known around Accrington Stanley after being secretary for 14 years as the club rose from non-league into the Football League.

He retired from the post after 14 years in 2006 but the former factory worker still attended games and wrote for the match-day programme.

"Phil will be sadly missed," said Stanley director Frank Martindale, who has known Mr Terry for 20 years.

"He kept records of every player ever to play for Accrington Stanley and always got them to sign something so he had a note of them.

"He was a supporters man – if ever anyone asked him a question about Accrington Stanley he would go home, look through his books and find out about them and come back with the answer.

"He was even writing his programme notes until the end – there were four pages from Phil in last Saturday’s programme for the Tranmere game. He loved doing it.

"Up until the last couple of months, he attended as many games as he could – be it youth or reserve games. He had an in-depth knowledge of non league football and knew the rules of the game inside out.

"He was a fantastic man and went above and beyond the call of duty for the club."

Accrington Observer sports editor Dany Robson said: "Phil was always ready to help. I used to ring him with all kinds of Accrington Stanley queries and he would say "ring me back in five minutes" and would look through his books and have the answer.

"He was so enthusiastic about the club and meticulously kept all the facts and figures."

Mr Terry, who was married to Sheila, died at his home in Colne after spending some time at the Royal Blackburn Hospital. There was a minute’s silence for him at Accrington's clash with Tranmere and Stanley season ticket holder Brian Pilkington, who also died last week.

His funeral was on Friday 14 November  at Sacred Heart Church, Colne, followed by burial.