Allan Herron

Posted: August 16, 2024

During more than 50 years in newspapers, ALLAN HERRON, who died on August 13 [2024] aged 95, was front and centre at the biggest events where legacies were created that will live forever.
He joined in as Celtic celebrated their European Cup victory over Inter Milan – and Jock Stein gave him a lift back to the hotel on the team bus. He quaffed champagne with jubilant Rangers players at their hotel in Castelldefels after their historic Cup Winners’ Cup success over Moscow Dynamo, and was in the inner sanctum with Alex Ferguson following Aberdeen’s seismic win over Real Madrid in the same competition.

Allan covered the Scotland team at five successive World Cup finals from 1974 to 1990. He also covered the 1966 event and saw Craig Brown’s side open France ’98 against Brazil in the Stade de France.

From the 1950s with the Evening Citizen and then across the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s with the Sunday Mail, and finally the ’90s with The People, Allan became close to all the key protagonists of the day, and could pick up the phone to any of them – Stein, Shankly, Busby, Symon, Waddell, Ferguson, Greig, McNeill, Souness and Smith.
Allan was born on November 8, 1928 – the eldest son of Andrew and Elsie. Aged just 14, he joined the Evening Citizen in Glasgow, initially as a copy boy and then as a copy-taker. Allan was then trained as a sub-editor and his writing skills soon became apparent. It wasn’t long before he was given a position on the sports desk.

He covered golf extensively in his Citizen days, working out of the soggy tents across the tour, when he became close to the great Eric Brown who won the Ryder Cup and almost won the Open twice. Allan interviewed all the golfing greats – Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus – and covered the Open Championship and Ryder Cup throughout his career.
With The People, he continued to write powerfully, ghosting Richard Gough’s column, and realised his dream of going to the Masters, covering six tournaments until 1999. He achieved the ultimate joy of being selected from the press ballot to play the fabled Augusta National course.

Allan was also thrilled to cover the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and then Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. He covered world championship boxing, and interviewed famous cricketers – once saying that Ian Botham was the most interesting man he’d ever met.

Allan was also a trail-blazer as one of the first print journalists to adapt to broadcasting, working with Arthur Montford on STV’s Scotsport and then Archie MacPherson on BBC Sportscene, while also scripting shows for British Forces Broadcasting and working for Radio Scotland. He was a founder member of the Scottish Football Writers’ Association in 1957, and served as president between 1975 and 1978 when he managed to lure Prime Minister Jim Callaghan to his final awards dinner as the primary guest.

Allan is survived by wife Liz, son Lindsay and daughter Debbie and his grandchildren Lauren, Jaimie and Kyle.