Match of the Day host Gabby Logan has revealed the touching final moments she shared with her father Terry Yorath, the legendary Welsh footballer, who died aged 75 on Thursday.
The much-loved BBC presenter had to leave her hosting duties midway through Wednesday night’s highlights programme to attend to a ‘family emergency’.
The circumstances were initially unclear to viewers when Logan was replaced by Mark Chapman in the studio – but it emerged the following morning the 52-year-old had rushed from Salford to be with her loved ones in their grief.
Yorath enjoyed a stellar playing career at both club and international level, earning 59 caps for Wales, who he captained and managed, while also representing Leeds, Coventry, Tottenham, Vancouver, Bradford and Swansea.
A combative midfielder, Yorath won the First Division title with Leeds in 1974 and claimed runners-up medals in the FA Cup, European Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup.
‘To most he was a revered footballing hero, but to us he was dad; a quiet, kind and gentle man,’ Yorath’s children, Gabby, Louise and Jordan, said in a joint statement.
‘Our hearts are broken but we take comfort knowing that he will be reunited with our brother, Daniel.’
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Daniel, the younger brother of Gabby, collapsed and died aged just 15 from a genetic heart condition while playing football with his father at home in their back garden in 1992.
In a separate message on her Instagram page, accompanied by a series of cherished photographs, Logan said the support she had received had ‘meant the world’ at such a sad and difficult time for the whole family.
Logan, who is married to former Scotland rugby star Kenny Logan, joked that ‘all the attention’ was the last thing her father would have wanted – before opening up on the last moments they shared at his bedside discussing food.
‘Thank you for your messages of love and support today, it has meant the world to us. Our dad a warrior on the football pitch, captaining club and country, a kind hearted and generous man off it, would have hated all the attention. (Well most of it),’ she told her followers.
‘The stories that have been shared by strangers with us today have been enormously comforting. He touched so many people’s lives.
‘We knew he had limited time, but it is still a shock. Yesterday afternoon I sat by his bed in St James Hospital Leeds and we had a debate about whether roast potatoes were better with calves liver than mash potatoes.
‘That was the meal he’d decided he wanted when he went home, tomorrow. I left and went to work, he was looking forward to watching Newcastle v his beloved Leeds. He won’t go home tomorrow. But he is reunited with Daniel and that will feel like home.’
Yorath was serving as the assistant coach of Bradford at the time of the stadium fire that killed 56 people during a Third Division clash with Lincoln City in 1985.
The Welsh captain-turned-manager is said to have helped save multiple lives that day as he assisted in evacuating fans – including his own family – away from the blaze at Valley Parade.
‘I am sorry he had to deal with so much pain, the tragedy of the Bradford Fire was forever in his heart and losing Daniel defined the second half of his life,’ Logan continued in her message.
‘Thank you Dad for instilling your passion for fairness. Thank you for playing rounders, or making us race each other after dinner, even though Louise always beat me. Thank you for not making me pay you $1,865,986 after I kept losing at cards on double or quits, when I was 8 years old.
‘Thanks for teaching me the value of money by challenging me to eat a pot of mustard at dinner in return for £5 so I could buy a pair of shoes I wanted when I was 12 (even though mum was horrified). Thank you for giving me a life long love of sport. Thank you for being a relentless tease with a wicked sense of humour.
‘And to the wonderful staff on J16 at Jimmys who cared for him with such tenderness, you are all Angels.
‘I love you Dad.’
Wales head coach Craig Bellamy was among the countless high-profile footballing figures to pay tribute to Yorath, lauding the ‘immeasurable’ legacy his compatriot had left behind both as a player and a person.
‘The impact Terry Yorath had on Welsh football is immeasurable,’ Bellamy said.
‘Terry epitomised everything it means to represent Cymru as a player, and watching the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign with him as manager was the first time I experienced genuine belief that our country could qualify for a major tournament.
‘As a country, we have so much to thank Terry for what he did.’
Ashley Williams, Wales’ skipper between 2009 and 2019, said of Yorath: ‘He’s such an icon in Welsh football.
‘A footballing hero, such a big personality in Welsh football. It’s a huge loss.
‘He’s one of those massive names you hear about when you get selected for Wales.
‘He’s at the top of that list and you know you’ve got to live up to what he achieved.’
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