One of John-Luke’s favourite holiday activities was to collect football shirts from the cities and countries we visited. Many a happy hour was spent in sports shops trying to figure out what the mime for ‘replica shirt’ was! He would wear these to play five a side football, or when he went running. John-Luke also loved fantasy football - organising leagues, talking about stats, he was a proper FF geek. He ran the league at work and always made a special effort to send round a weekly update, no matter how busy he was. He would get so annoyed every week when he felt he’d made good transfers but not get the results he wanted. He’d say to me ‘that’s it, I’m giving up’, but he never really would. I wasn’t bothered about football, and although I did dabble in FF a little I couldn’t maintain a level of engagement that was required for success! But one interest we shared over the last few years has been the sport of strongman. Inspired by seeing Swindon man Laurence Shahlaei on World’s Strongest Man one Christmas, it was something we both really got into and went to see live shows several times. Our claim to fame is that we once saw Mrs Shahlaei in Tesco. We also went to see the sumo wrestling when we were in Japan in 2019, which was an amazing experience and so much fun.

When I met JL in 2005, one of the first things he said to me was “do you play football?” He said that to every new starter we came across for the next 15 years. Anyway, I said yes and the rest was history. Once a week we would trundle down to Southwark to play in the mini-league there. We were the worst team in the league. I’m fairly sure it wasn’t due to his customary cigarette on the way to the match either. We were just pretty shit. However, we kept playing. Every week. Largely because JL kept organising it, and kept us all together. He would love to try and set tactics before the game, during the game and after the game. However, we would inevitably lose. Sometimes very badly… But we would always come back and play the following week. I genuinely believe, it was because JL made it so easy to have fun with it. He was so good at bringing people together. Even guys who didn’t like each other much. I think I can confidently say that mine and JL’s favourite 5aside incident was the “Class Warfare is Rife” email. After being on the end of yet another severe defeat in the changing rooms one teammate was arguing with another until one said, “fuck off back to your basement” (he worked in the filing registry on the lower ground floor). The next morning, the team received an email, from said basement worker, with a long speech displaying his disappointment at what was said to him. JL’s favourite line in that speech was when he stated that he thought “class warfare is rife”. Any mention of this and John-Luke would piss himself, without fail. This line sustained us both for the next 15 years. I was happy the football team were able to get John-Luke a gift last year for his milestone birthday. With hindsight, I am now ecstatic about that. He seemed really pleased with his vintage Tranmere FC top. I was happy because he deserved something nice that he’d enjoy.

I think John-Luke would be amused that he's still beating me at fantasy football this season. I have kept the little manager of the month trophy with my FPL team name on it that he went to the trouble of making for people each month.

JL, as I called him, will always be remembered as a true gentleman! I came to know JL during my time at English Heritage (2002 – 2007) and, I must admit, in those years I developed a bond with colleagues within the organization on a level that is yet to be compared elsewhere – work colleagues became an ‘extended family’.

Back then, the lads at work were seriously into 5-a-side league football, and if you happened to be a passenger on the train as we commuted from the Savile Row (London) office to the football venue, you would not think for a second that we were closer to the bottom of the league than the top; the raw passion and enthusiasm with which we discussed team tactics and post-match analysis was second to none.

JL was always the very gentle, calm, not-far-from-a-laugh kind of guy within the office and had a somewhat similar demeanour on the 5-a-side pitch; I say ‘somewhat’ as JL happened to be our top goal scorer! Our team tactics in a nutshell was simply ‘don’t let them get near our post’ and ‘PASS THE BALL TO JL!’ My memories of JL are purely fond ones – he was a true team player both at work and at play.

I first met John-Luke back in 2004-5 when I joined the sports and social five a side team. We hit it off immediately, and he seemed to enjoy the fact that we were such an awful team. We had such a laugh and I always stayed in touch with him even after he made the big move to Swindon.

John-Luke introduced me to fantasy football and I quickly became pretty obsessed with it. Whenever we talked the conversation would almost always come back to fantasy football. Agonizing over our transfers and captains, celebrating successful decisions and sharing the pain of mistakes. No matter how much I talked about stats that most people would have found incredibly boring, I always knew he was interested.

JL eventually got me supporting Tranmere FC… some feat considering I support their Merseyside rivals Everton! But that was testament to his affect and charm on people. He used to use the club’s hastag #COYSLW (come on you super lily whites). I used to get the letters wrong, which really annoyed him, so I once posted on one of Tranmere’s Instagram post #COLESLAW. It was very childish, but it really tickled JL and was exactly the kind of silliness that shaped my friendship with him.

John-Luke, his mum and I were at Wembley for the League 2 playoff final, featuring our beloved Tranmere. Worryingly they were being outplayed by Newport and were clinging on, 0-0 after 90 minutes. We three got up out of our seats, stretched, looked hopefully at each other - hope and Tranmere were always intertwined - and rearranged ourselves, with John-Luke in the middle and our coats on our laps. Extra time was no better, and with about 5 minutes to go before the inevitable penalties I felt John-Luke’s hand slowly and firmly clasp mine under our coats. We remained locked together until with a minute to go, Tranmere scored! As one we leapt up celebrating wildly with the rest of the Tranmere fans. Needless to say, being men, we never spoke of it again!