I AM a long-time reader of The Bolton News and Marc Iles' articles and Twitter feeds are the first place I go to get updates on my club.

This week has been very sad for me and my family as my stepfather Pete McLoughlin, known as Maggie, passed away after a sudden heart attack aged 59.

He was well known at the match, if not by name then definitely by sight – he had been saying 'all right' to people for 40-odd years without knowing their names.

This man was a super fan. He loved Bolton Wanderers – that club was his life.

He would proudly tell anyone who would listen he hadn't missed a home league game in almost 40 years.

He went to every European match in the good days and many lower-league midweek night matches in the bad days.

He took me to my first game as a kid and up and down the country, making me love the club too.

His house is full of memorabilia, a shrine to his club – some incredible artefacts from the last 50 years and longer ago.

He owns a brick next to Lofty at the stadium and his loft is full of boxes of programmes he has collected over the years – his friends will fondly remember him for making sure they never got bent.

I write to the paper for two reasons. Firstly as a tribute to the man I admired growing up, the cleverest man I knew and a man who taught me a lot.

Secondly, as a reminder to our fans all over the globe that the club transcends managers and players, the club is more than owners and debts, the club will live on long after we do.

I wanted to remind people to love the club like 'Maggie' did and it will come through the bad times as it always has done...and even if it doesn't we will still be there cheering them on in League One.

If he was still here, you could be sure Maggie would be.

RIP Pete McLoughlin (aka Maggie)

Kris Harwood

via email