A DECADE after his death, the legend of football referee Neil Midgley lives on at the Little Hulton hospice which cared for him.

The top sports official, from Kearsley, died at St Ann’s Hospice 10 years ago today, at the age of 58, after a short battle with cancer.

He had only been diagnosed with the disease a few months earlier and his death devastated the football world.

Neil was such a popular figure that more than 850 people attended a sportsman’s dinner in his memory at Old Trafford football ground shortly after his death.

The event raised £45,000 which paid for a children’s conservatory in his honour at the hospice in Peel Lane.

A picture and plaque hang on the wall as a permanent reminder of Neil’s lasting legacy to help others with life-limiting illnesses and their families.

The care he received at the hospice in the week before his death left a lasting impression on his wife, Barbara, who has volunteered in the coffee shop for the past five years.

She said: “The way that staff treat people is just lovely, they’re always cheerful and the atmosphere is really nice. They let you come and go, it’s not like a hospital where visiting times are strict, it’s a relaxing place.

“When people hear the word hospice they think it’s where you go to die, but people do come out and go home. If people visited a hospice they would realise what a lovely place it is and it would change their perceptions.”

She added: “When I’m in the coffee shop, people come in and tell me they knew Neil or they recognise him, and they say really nice things about him which is lovely. It’s a pleasant place to work and it makes me feel like I’m giving something back.”

Neil joined the Eccles Referees’ Association in 1961 and was awarded a life membership in 1978.

He was a Football League referee from 1973 to 1989 and on the FIFA panel between 1981 and 1990, participating in 70 international matches in 57 countries.

The proudest moment of his career came in 1987 when he refereed the FA Cup Final between Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

Barbara went to all the UK games Neil refereed — luckily she likes football—but she was not able to travel abroad with him.

He was a Bolton Wanderers fan and she a Manchester City supporter, so she relished a 5-1 win against derby rivals Manchester United in 1989 which he refereed.

Neil retired from refereeing in 1992, initially becoming an assessor for the newly formed Premier League and for UEFA.

He became chairman of the Eccles Referees’ Association early in his career and served as president from 1983 to 1989, and from 1992 until his death.

In his honour, the association changed the name of its award for senior level Referee of the Year from the President’s Cup to the Neil Midgley Memorial Trophy, an award which Barbara presents each year.

One of Neil’s treasured possessions is an England International Cap given to him by Nat Lofthouse after he refereed Nat’s testimonial matches.

Barbara, aged 71, said: “We led a very busy life together and when Neil died it came to a sudden stop, which was hard to cope with. But I had, and still have, a lot of good friends and family who support me. I’ve kept myself busy with voluntary work and have taken up watercolour painting and piano.

“I do still miss him very much, but when people talk about him now, I don’t burst out in tears or anything like that, it just makes me proud that people still remember him so fondly.”