Nigel Marr Appreciation

We were saddened to learn of the death of Nigel Marr on 20 September 2016. Nigel enriched the lives of thousands, both young and old, through his passionate leadership of Liphook United Football Club over a number of years. He will be greatly missed by those who worked with him to ensure the smooth operation of the club, ever greater levels of enjoyment of The Beautiful Game, and, above all, Fair Play.
Here are some of tributes that have been paid to Nigel by his colleagues at the club.

I first met Nigel about 14 years ago when he brought his son Luke along to a training session I was running to set up the next U7s. I had seen him about the village helping out on events like the school fete, etc. Whilst at the session, and like many of you have done, he offered to run one of the teams. The following week he came along armed with new boots and whistle!! A new member of the L.U.F.C. family was born.

Nigel very soon became a friend and after a few happy years of taking this team, Martin Brine announced that he was stepping down as Chairman. I looked around the room and one person stood out above everyone. “So Nige, how about you put the boots and whistle in cold storage and do us the honour of becoming our new Chairman?” He jumped at this and started to sort out his new team. Martin Feast, Andy Bicknell, Neil Pirie, Denis Foster, David McCusker and many more all worked under his guidance to push the club forward.

After a year or so he persuaded Kev Adair and Tom Powers to take care of the mens team. They all sat down, Nige listened, gave them all the support he could and the rest is history. League titles, county cup wins, trips to Forest Mere and many more highs. The journey they all went on was amazing, the away trips were great, the only sad thing was he couldn’t help them progress any further!!

During his first year as Chairman I went to him and asked about our club running a small sided competition, something we had discussed before his chairmanship. Again he not only said “yes” but he was there right beside me to push it on. Now not only do we run our own tournament, it is one of the best, the rest is history, thanks Nige.

Sadly I have watched him deteriorate over the last few years but whenever I saw him his first port of conversation was always the football club.

He will be sadly missed by me and many more of the friends he has made along the way. Now where did he put that box!?!

Fred

Nigel held many posts over the years at Liphook United, culminating in him becoming Chairman, and he put as much energy and passion into each role as he could muster despite his illness. Not only did he live and breathe LUFC and make a great many friends here, he was also an ambassador for the club and the village (as a very prominent figure), being well known, respected and liked, by the Hampshire Premier Football League and North East Hampshire Youth League committees and clubs, and also the Hampshire Football Association – and I know he will be missed.

On a personal note, I had the privilege to take over the reins as Chairman from Nigel and during my time in the role I often used him as a sounding board and mentor – he was always positive, never critical and wanted only the best for the club. I will miss those chats and his advice, and will stay determined to perform as Chairman as he would have expected.

Our thoughts go out to all his friends and family at this time – the final whistle now blown for the real Chairman of Liphook United Football Club, Mr Nigel Marr.

Steve

I was fortunate enough to sit alongside Nigel for many years as Vice-Chairman and I can only endorse the comments made by Fred and Steve. Nigel was LUFC through and through, and instrumental in driving the club forward.

He became a good friend and it has not been easy seeing Nigel’s health deteriorate over the last few years. Over a coffee a week ago he still remained positive even with all of his health issues.

Rest In Peace Nigel
Martin