Scott Hutchison

Friday brings the sad death of Scott Hutchison, the lead singer of Frightened Rabbit. Hutchison carved a successful career out of baring himself and his soul through his songs and his band’s live performances. Their very ‘human’ material resonated well with their audiences as it was so relatable to their own lives but equally made us all sort of glad that our s*** wasn’t quite as bad as his.

It was clear that he was a complex soul and often an unhappy one. A person who thought life had kicked him more than his fair share of times. He sang about being rejected, about being lonely, about his frustrations with himself and on songs like ‘Floating in the Forth’ he sung about suicide or in that particular case about not committing suicide in the Forth. Now it seems he threw himself off the Forth Road Bridge.

I have seen the band live many times and their unplugged gig at the Musician in Leicester in 2009 would probably make my Top 20 list if I ever made one. I last saw them last year, again in Leicester at the Handmade Festival, where he again rebuffed requests for some of their earlier, sillier, less serious songs. Now never to be heard in the same light again. RIP mate.

From that sombre news to tonight’s Championship Play Off Semi Final 1st Leg between Derby and Fulham. The play offs come just five days after the end of a tough season of 46 games with a return match a mere three days later. Which is madness because TV expects two knackered sides to put on a spectacular for them.

Tonight is the home leg with, bizarrely, L’s ex sat two rows in front of me and wearing an old Puma Derby shirt from the late 1990’s. The same kind as the one I bought L and took saucy pictures of her in. That makes me smile. As do Derby’s negative tactics and I think Fulham are totally flummoxed by us pretending to be the away side. Derby win 1-0.

(Friday 11^th May)

Gary Speed

With no events, a day off to recover from two nights predominately on the wine. Which is not often a good thing. The two nights that is, not the day off.

Daughter returns from the Skegness Music Festival... or whatever it’s more glamorous name is and we dispatch her back to Sheffield via the train.

In the evening I’m tempted into the gym, which is the second time this month and as I only need to attend once a month to get my ‘cashback’, it was actually unnecessary. 15k on the bike was sort of impressive but 1k on the rower is a bit meagre. Still it all keeps my fitness ticking over.

The whole day though is sort of overshadowed by the awful death of Gary Speed. I saw it first on the BBC website and just went cold. I had watched the guy not 24 hours earlier, as he put in a polished performance on Saturday’s Football Focus, which just made the news all the more shocking. He was only 42.

I don’t mean to belittle anyone’s death but I think it’s fair to say that because a lot of people in the public eye and in particular footballers are not the most likeable of people, the initial shock of their deaths is often followed by a general collective shrug of indifference.

Not so Gary Speed. His death has rocked people because he was a genuine nice guy and a footballer who simply got on with playing football and didn’t trouble the tabloids. If you wanted a role model he was it. When he became a manager, he simply got on with managing and with Wales he was starting to have some deserved success.

Simply stunned. RIP.

(Sunday 27th November)