A north-east football fan died just five days before his favourite team played in a national cup final.
Paul Brown was on holiday in Benidorm with his wife Lynn last month when he woke up in the middle of the night struggling to breath and collapsed.
The 58-year-old father-of-one lived at Blackhills and worked as a lorry driver for Travis Perkins in Peterhead.
He was originally from Motherwell and died before he got an opportunity to watch his beloved Steelmen take on Celtic in last month’s Scottish Cup final.
Mr Brown will be cremated wearing a commemorative shirt that marks the Fir Park side’s 1991 cup-winning team and some floral tributes to him will be in the team’s claret and amber colours.
Last night, his wife of eight years Lynn said everything was going well on their break in the Spanish seaside resort until Mr Brown woke up during the night.
She said: “We went on holiday and everything was fine. He didn’t have any health problems.
“He woke up in the middle of the night coughing, landed on me and that was him gone.”
Mrs Brown said her husband had a good sense of humour and reminded her of a character from a popular BBC sitcom.
She said: “To me he was like a Scottish Alf Garnett who supported Motherwell instead of West Ham.
“He liked banter, he was funny, quick-witted and was a good host.
“Paul moved to the Fraserburgh area when he was 12 and was always a Motherwell fan.
“He never got to see them play because he died just before the final, but I think he would’ve been pleased because he didn’t want them to get hammered.”
Gavin Davidson, Mr Brown’s boss at Travis Perkins in Peterhead, said: “He was pretty popular with all of the customers.”
He is survived by his and his son Sean.
A celebration of Mr Brown’s life will held at The Almanythie Hall, Peterhead tomorrow at 11am followed by a private cremation.
