Tributes have begun pouring in for the celebrated sportswriter Patrick Barclay, who has died at the age of 77. Barclay, a former Evening Standard columnist, was one of the most respected writers of his generation and worked for numerous publications, including the Guardian, Times, Sunday Telegraph and Independent across the course of his career. Former England captain Alan Shearer wrote: “Such sad news. RIP Paddy.” Robbie Fowler, the former Liverpool and England forward added: “A great man...RIP Patrick.”.
Barclay joined the Guardian in the 1970s, before moving to the Independent as its football correspondent following its launch in 1986. He then worked for the Observer and Sunday Telegraph, before becoming the Times’s chief football correspondent in 2009. The Standard was the last newspaper Barclay worked for, writing a regular column, while he also appeared regularly on Sky Sports’s Sunday Supplement.
Manchester United, Everton and Fulham were among the Premier League clubs to pay tribute, with the latter posting on X: “We’re so sorry to hear this sad news about Paddy. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family and all who knew him.”. The Sports Journalists Association expressed its “deepest condolences”, saying: “We share in the sadness of his family, our friends at the FWA, and all who knew Paddy. An SJA Sports Writer of the Year Award winner, he will be greatly missed by us all.”.
The Premier League have also issued a statement, saying: “The Premier League is greatly saddened to hear of the passing of the football writer Patrick Barclay. “Patrick was one of the doyens of football journalism in the UK, writing on the Premier League from its inception in 1992 for The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph and The Times. “He was also the author of biographies on Sir Alex Ferguson, Herbert Chapman and Jose Mourinho.
