Tuesday 30 April 2013

Davie Milne - RIP my friend

The man in lower centre of this photograph in the blue cap sporting the grey goatee is Davie Milne. It was taken by someone in the crowd (thank you @stilladdicted) at the New Den on 1st December and was the last match Davie attended following his beloved Charlton Athletic.

His addiction was not an ordinary one. Spawned from his boyhood admiration of Sam Bartram, a keeper he modelled his own game on, he followed Charlton Athletic for over 50 years from his home town in Elgin, north-east Scotland, 600 miles from the Valley. With work, young children and no-one he knew in London, it wasn't until we had returned to the Valley in the 90's that he finally made his first trip down south. 

He came down on many occasions after that and I was fortunate enough to get to know him over a pint in the Royal Oak and establish that my Grand-father had taught him physics at school. He absolutely loved everything about being at the Valley and standing amongst fellow Addicks. Charlton Life greatly enriched his sense of belonging and fed his craving for news and views between the games he could get to. He was at the Greatest Game with his wife and daughter (a keen Addick herself) and he brought a number of his friends down over the years. He drove the same distance as us to be at Carlisle for our promotion game last season and I am so pleased he was able to share that great experience with us.

Davie died suddenly of a heart-attack on Saturday on the tee at Spey Valley Golf Course (another love of his). I will miss his pre-season phone call when, with never ending enthusiasm, he would be asking me what our new signings were looking like and whether or not this would be our year. RIP Davie.

6 comments:

  1. Sad day

    A lovely fella Davy

    RIP my friend

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  2. That is really sad news mate. RIP Davie.

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  3. that`s sad mate. he was a good man. when i was in Lossiemouth with you we went to his house in Elgin. his wife done us all dinner. he was trying to get me to drink whiskey. he had a vast collection if i remember rightly. a lovely evening, even though i found the Doric accent hard work!RIP Davie

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  4. A nice epitaph for Davie - thanks Dave.
    I has a call on tuesday night from fellow Addick Mike Whelan, who now resides near Elgin,to infrom me of Davie's passing. This is very sad as he was a lovely man and I used to send him the club handbook every season so he could keep up to date with his beloved Addicks. I will miss having a drink with him on my occasional trips to Elgin to see both him and Mike.
    RIP Davie, you will be missed.

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  5. Terribly sad news. Davie was a lovely, kind, caring man with a mischievous sense of humour – whenever we met and whatever we were discussing, he always managed to remind me that I had missed The Greatest Game!

    A rare man fa’ll be sair missed…

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  6. Thank you all for your kind words. David, thank you for a beautifully written entry about my dad and thank you for coming up to his funeral.
    He will indeed be sorely missed x

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