Highland League club Nairn County have been left devastated by the passing of former assistant manager Ally Macleod at the age of 37.
Macleod had been diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a form of leukaemia, in 2011 and had undergone stem cell transplants to treat the disease.
While he rallied after the initial diagnosis and was back involved in football again, he sadly succumbed to the illness yesterday morning.
Macleod served as assistant manager to Les Fridge and won the 2011 Highland League Cup and 2012 North of Scotland Cup with the club.
He left in December 2013 to undergo his first stem-cell transplant and returned to the game in October 2015, as manager of Deveronvale.
Later, he was a coach during Grant Munro’s spell as manager of Brora.
Originally from Kinlochbervie, he worked for Scania Trucks as a sales executive in Inverness and lived with his wife Alanna and two dogs, Broony and Harry.
Nairn County chairman Donald Matheson said: “We are all absolutely devastated to have received this truly awful news. The thoughts of everyone at Nairn County go out to Ally’s family, friends and especially his wife, Alanna at this terrible time.
“Ally was a brave character who showed his fighting spirit when tackling this disease. He was a fantastic and intelligent coach who put so much into his football – he simply just immersed himself in it and was determined to be successful.
“He played a major part in the successes the club enjoyed during his time here and to have been a successful Highland League coach with various clubs, despite having never played football at this level, tells you all you need to know about his ability and hard work as a coach.
“He was always happy to chat away about football whenever he returned to Station Park as a spectator or an opponent and he never showed any signs of allowing the disease which was to claim his life getting the better of him or detract from his enjoyment of football. He will be sorely missed.”
