TRIBUTES have been paid to a much-loved Wanderers fan who has died at the age of 93.

Phyllis Leyland was a well-known face to generations of Whites followers, renowned for her passion and loyal support.

Mrs Leyland also worked as one of the club’s lottery agents for several years and was continuing to do so right up to the current season.

Having inherited her Wanderers-mad ways from her father, she went on to convert her younger relatives to the Whites' cause.

Her great-nephew, Steve Baker said Mrs Leyland’s death had come as a shock to many people who knew her.

He said: “Even though she was 93 and would have been 94 in March, she was still going to the games every week and was still very active. She was the same lady everyone knew from over the years.”

And he added that his great-aunt, who lost husband Gerrard after just 11 years of marriage, was a real ‘character’, well known at both the Macron and Burnden Park.

Mr Baker said: “She had been going to watch Wanderers since the age of eight or nine , so for round about 85 years.

“She has been a season ticket holder for decades, and now sits up in the Nat Lofthouse Stand with a group of friends.

“And she worked for years as a lottery agent, I remember she had a kiosk in Bolton town centre back in the 1980s when I was a young boy I used to go and spend time with her there in the school holidays. She got to know a lot of people through selling tickets.

Mrs Leyland, also became friendly with some of the players — including one of her all-time favourites, John McGinlay.

“She was on good terms with some of them,” said Mr Baker. "And on occasions like end-of-year dos would end up chatting with them.”

Mrs Leyland, who was also a big fan of Nat Lofthouse and David Lee, was part of the wild celebrations after the Whites defeated Preston North End to win promotion to Division One in 1993.

“That game must have meant a lot to her,” said Mr Baker.

And when Wanderers left Burnden Park for the Macron, she embraced the dawn of a new era. Mr Baker said: “She adapted really well, over the years she just accepted change — managers and players coming and going.

One story that captures her larger-than-life character involves a Liverpool manager’s visit to Bolton.

Mr Baker said: “We were waiting outside Burnden Park before a game many years ago when one of us noticed Roy Evans, the Liverpool manager. Auntie Phyllis put her handbag on the ground and went walking over to him. She tapped him on the shoulder and said ‘you’re not taking any of our players’ — because, at the time the newspapers were saying that big clubs were looking at players like Jason McAteer and Alan Stubbs. As soon as she found out he was the Liverpool manager she went over and told him quite forcefully he wasn’t having any!

"He was fantastic and just said ‘don’t worry, I’m not here her for that, I’ve just come to see the game.”