So just when it did not seem possible that 2020 could get any worse we learnt of the passing of the our daughters football team manager - Andy Newbold. The loss is truly devastating. Andy was a top bloke and such a great manager of the girls with a wealth of experience, always positive getting the best out of the girls in every game. He was the current chair of the Loughborough Foxes and so much more.
Many of the girls playing now played for his first team from around 2012.
He steered the team to success in almost every season with the high point coming in the all conquering 2017-2018 season (League. league and county cups) when the team only failed to win once and that was a tight draw that flattered the opposition. In some ways the following season saw Andy at his best welding together remaining players from the winning season with new players making up around a third of the team. But for covid the revamped team would surely have been East Midlands champions at u17, last season.
He was just as pleased when any of the girls played for other Foxes teams with many breaking into the Foxes ladies teams over the past 18 months.
To go some way to explain Andy's way I recount comments from one of the teams the team played recently. Despite being hammered 6-0, the opposition player did not mind, because Andy's team (being managed by two other brilliant parents) were so nice. This also built resilience when they were struggling and underpinned the way he succeeded in encouraging the girls to play (with a smile on their faces)!!
Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sharron and their 3 young children!!
The Mason Family
Mr Richard D Mason:
04/12/2020
