Rest easy Juan Hombre

THE Association is saddened to learn of the passing of John Mann, who was one of the most engaging characters across press boxes in his time with the Press and Journal, Courier, The Star and The Observer.

Our former president Jim Black knew him well:

JOHN MANN, who has passed away shortly after celebrating his 90th birthday, was a larger-than-life character; a man of rare wit, a shameless punster, and a colleague of genuine substance.

I first encountered John 51 years ago in 1970 when I was employed by a freelance sports agency in Dundee.

Back then I was a callow youth while John had acquired the status of local personality in his role as the Daily Express football writer on Tayside.

It would have been easy for him to have ignored the presence of the new boy on the block. Instead, John made me feel welcome from the outset.

John also schooled me in the ways of socialising at the bar of Mrs Hennessy’s public house, a stone’s throw from the Express and Daily Record offices and the hostelry of choice.

It was also as it happens the favoured watering hole of the noted local criminal lawyer John Boath, sometime provost Tom Moore and Baillie J L Stewart. Collectively that motley trio would not have looked out of place in Al Capone’s 1930s Chicago.

For all that Boath would have given Clarence Darrow a run for his money, Moore and Stewart were convicted of corruption as the main players in the second “sacking” of Dundee, which was up there with Oliver Cromwell’s assault on the city 300 years earlier.

While the Lord Protector and his cohort General George Monck were responsible for the deaths of a fifth of the population, Moore and Stewart took a wrecking ball to the city to line their own pockets.

But for all their bravado and big-time talk, the dastardly duo were no match for John when it came to verbal exchanges.

Born in Aberdeen, John left school at 15 and after submitting a match report of an amateur match to the Press and Journal he was offered a job by the local paper.

Following a stint of National Service in the RAF, in due course John progressed to The Courier, moving home to Dundee where he was based for the remainder of his life.

A resident of Broughty Ferry, John went on to work for the Express and, later, the Daily Star, retiring in 1990 after covering several World Cups although he continued to contribute match reports to The Observer.

I was fortunate enough to enjoy John and his late wife Helen’s hospitality on several occasions at their splendid home overlooking the Ferry and always found them generous and entertaining hosts.

On many other occasions John acted as my sounding board and a valued advisor who was always willing to offer sound guidance.

He was also held in high esteem by the football fraternity, most notably Jim McLean with whom he struck up a close relationship until “Wee Jum” took the hump over an Alex Ferguson-inspired prank the Dundee United manager believed John was responsible for.

I recall the self-styled Juan Hombre - John became a fluent Spanish-speaker in later life – probably saved my relationship with Wee Jum in the wake of the 1980 League Cup final featuring Dundee and Dundee United at Dens Park.

Having predicted a shock victory for my team on the back page of The Sun, I was made to eat my words when United coasted to a 3-0 victory.

Later as John and I made out way down Tannadice Street I was still in a rage when he suggested that it might be a good idea if I joined him in celebrating United’s success.

“Are you having a laugh?” I enquired. “I’d rather eat s...e!”

But John persisted, pointing out that I had better make my peace with Wee Jum by eating a generous helping of humble pie.

So, into Tannadice we trooped to be met with a grinning McLean who ordered me to toast his team’s victory by drinking out of the trophy – or never bother to return.

The champagne tasted like vinegar and the utterly insincere forced smile was so fixed it almost necessitated surgery to have it removed. But John was right. Wee Jum forgave me, I suspect on the grounds that I at least had the balls to face him after my bold prediction!

John was also a keen cricket fan who was capable of bowling a mean googly.

Never more so than the evening he reported a Dunfermline-Celtic match at East End Park and deliberately filed an incorrect result.

Dougie McRobb, who later went on to become sports editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, was the desk man that night when Celtic scored a last-gasp equaliser.

He remembers: “When John’s copy dropped it read that Dunfermline had won. But, according to PA, it was a draw, so I contacted John to try and establish the facts.

‘No, sorry,” he replied. ‘The equaliser shouldn’t have stood. It was a mile offside so I’m not having it. As far as I’m concerned Dunfermline won.’

“You couldn’t have made it up! But that was John for you. A lovely man and a superb journalist but a little off the wall at times, for sure.”

 John was also a man with the gift of being able to laugh at himself and life in general.

I still smile and cringe at the same time when I recall a classic “Mannism” delivered in the wake of the funeral of another close colleague several years ago.

As we were driving away from Dundee Crematorium John, grinning from ear to ear, turned to our driver, Brian Scott and quipped: “I’m wondering if there’s any point in bothering to go home?”

That was typical John. What else could we do other than laugh?

John is one of the last of a rare breed in a business that used to be full of fun and laughter in bygone times and his passing is also a stark reminder of one’s mortality.

Adios Juan Hombre.