LOCAL football is mourning the death of one of its best-loved characters.

Former AFC Totton chairman Bob Devoy, pictured above, died of a heart attack on Friday night at the age of 60.

Devoy's devotion to the game kicked off in the 1970s when he started up the Tyro League side Freedom United.

After a tough first season when his under-age team earned 'brave boys' medals for conceding 144 goals and scoring just three, Devoy's young guns went on to win a league and cup double two years later.

From there the team progressed into the Southampton Boys' League before moving on to Awbridge where they won the Hampshire Youth Cup.

The bulk of those players followed Devoy to Hampshire League side New Milton where, alongside co-manager Tony Morris, he steered them to promotion and Bournemouth Senior Cup glory.

Devoy then joined Wessex League outfit AFC Totton, where he spent five years at the helm as chairman before stepping down at the end of the 2000/01 season, partially due to ill health. He and his wife, Lady, were given a special presentation from the Testwood Park club and Devoy was made a life vice-president.

His son Stuart, a Southampton Senior Cup finalist with Brendon, was happy to share his dad with the countless footballers who loved and respected him - Pete and Ian Bush, Seamus and Patrick McManus, Eddie Holdaway, Richard Labram, Paul Brown, Gary Rose, Paul Sheath, Dave Fear, Stuart Ritchie and Alex Totten among them.

Stuart said: "There will be a lot of old football friends who will miss him. Dad got on so well with every footballer he came into contact with. He was like a father figure to them and brought through a lot of kids whose dads wouldn't take them to football.

"He had a heart attack six years ago, but this has come like a bolt from the blue. He had got himself so fit after that it was untrue. He did a lot of charity bike rides for Wessex Heartbeat and rode from here to Cornwall."

Devoy, who lived in Millbrook, was a docker for most of his life and then became an electrician's mate working for Southampton City Council.