Two memories of Jack that I have shared before.
Firstly,I found myself sharing a lift with him at the Copthorne on a match day morning so I asked him if Bash was playing today.
His reply, "I don't know, I missed training because I was sick yesterday"
I'll tell you what, he played like he was still sick that afternoon too but fortunately that didn't happen too often.
Secondly, I met his mum Sharon on a cruise ship the day we won 2-0 away at Sunderland.
I was looking for a bar on the ship to watch Soccer Saturday so I could keep up with the scores and another guy at the bar who was asking the same question, noticing my blades polo shirt said in astrong geordie accent "I hope you stuff them Mackems today" and then added "I'm with Jack O'Connells mum,she'll be down in a minute"
Spent the whole afternoon in the bar with them watching the scores come in.
Sharon was a lovely lady but she was quite petite and I couldn't help wondering how someone so small managed to breed someone so big
The other point of note was that Sharon said she was devastated when she found out that the magic hat song wasn't the sole property of Jack.
A lovely lass with a lovely son.
Two great human beings and really sad that such misfortune should strike such lovely people.