It is with great sadness that the club has to announce the passing of one its true supporters, Alan Taylor, on 23rd November.
Alan came to the club in the late seventies / early eighties, and was being an avid supporter of the club home and away (and up to last season he never missed a game). He did many jobs and roles around the cub including bizarrely, kitman and physio. One can only wonder what he brought onto the field to help aid an injured player. A Players No 6 and a snort of whisky perhaps!!!
In the last twenty years he has been part of our away team of diners who sit with the great and the good from around the game. Alan’s rules of simplicity to life were to enjoy and have fun and never be too serious, and he was much appreciated on these occasions, and I am sure there are many club officials around the leagues who will miss his company and be saddened by his passing. But not all the great and the good understood Alan’s self-deprecation. I remember vividly the per-match lunch at the newly opened and impressive Sandy Park, the home of the Exeter Chiefs, where their chairman Tony Rowe turned to Alan inquisitively, “so Alan what do you do at the club?” Alan true to his nature and a wink in his eye returned the question with a brisk matter of fact reply, “I’m the chief bog cleaner!” . The rest of the table enjoyed the quip which certainly broke the ice on the day. I’m not sure Tony Rowe ever understood.
Alan had three passions in life. His greatest passion was his previously deceased wife Silvy. He is survived by his two daughters Julie and Lesley and their families to whom we pass on our most sincere condolences.
Alan was a great Bolton Wanderers supporter and was always trying to find out how they did and were progressing each Saturday.
His passion though was Sedgley Park, and he will be greatly missed. It is hard to comprehend that I will not be able to hear him say over a packed pre-match meal “Painey, what’s the hair cut today” or “he’s wearing Harmony hair spray again” to the amusement of others.There are so many stories I could tell about the fun and madness Alan could bring to away days, but I will leave you with this one.
Some years ago, during pre-season, we played Caldy at Patton Fields in a friendly game. The sun was out, and when the sun is out Caldy is a great place to visit. Alan, always in a rush to get his first pint ordered and drunk was mithering me to hurry up and get it sorted. He sat down on one of the backless benches that our situated at the top of a hill outside the clubhouse and above the pitch. It is a steep incline as those who have visited will know.
Alan was holding court and after receiving his first pint relaxed into the pre match craic. I returned to the bar for the next round and turned around to see him after slipping off the bench, disappearing down the hill clinging desperately to his now empty pint, splashing all over the place and roaring with laughter as he reached the bottom of the hill. “Bloody hell” he boomed out “that’s a great pint it blew me socks off !!!!!”
Alan you will be sorely missed
Funeral details
11am on Wednesday 13th December 2023
Howe Bridge Crematurium
Off Lovers Lane
Atherton
M46 0PZ
