By Martin Banks

Glowing tributes have flowed in for a much-loved veteran news and sports reporter in the West Midlands who has died.

Paul Marston had been one of the best known faces in local journalism in the region for decades.

He first worked for the Walsall Observer weekly before moving to the to the Express and Star at Wolverhampton and then joining the Birmingham Evening Mail, first on news, then football – and in particular Walsall football club.

Paul, who has six grandchildren, died aged 90 on Wednesday, February 25. A service was held at Streetly Crematorium.

Early life  and career

He was born in October 1935 and was raised in Aldridge. His future wife,Jennefer lived at the time opposite a greengrocer’s run by his parents Albert and Olive.

He went into military service for 18 months with the South Staffordshire Regiment for whom he also played football.

His love affair with journalism started early, at Wednesbury Commercial College, after the headmaster asked him to pen match reports on the school’s football team.

After a stint on the local paper in Walsall, he joined the Express & Star at Wolverhampton, then one of the biggest selling regional papers in the country, where he stayed for six years before joining the Birmingham Post and Mail where he was to remain for the rest of his long career.

He regularly filed match reports during and after games for the Press Association.

Football reporting became his professional passion and Marston became a familiar and popular face at grounds throughout the whole area.  He covered the 1966 World Cup in England and his byline, and face, became familiar to tens of thousands of readers of the then hugely popular Saturday evening Sports Argus.

He was so synonymous with Walsall FC that the family cat was even named after Tommy Coakley, the club’s manager from 1986 to 1988.

He also had a great passion for amateur dramatics  and regularly wrote reviews on local plays and musicals for both the Mail and Walsall Observer.

Outside of work, he was an accomplished golfer and also a long standing member of his local Great Barr Golf club. He was Masters champion in 1988 and also won the National Football Writers’ golf tournament in 2002.

Family tributes

Paul’s wife of 66 years, Jennefer, said: “He was wonderful. Paul had a good sense of humour. We travelled all over the place.He loved travelling, going to the theatre and time with family.He was very well thought of. They valued his opinions.

“He adored his family. We lost our first daughter very suddenly and then were blessed to have twin daughters.We have six wonderful grandchildren. All of them very sporty and one writes about theatre and showbusiness like Paul. And three great-grandchildren. We were married for 66 years and it’s terrible he’s died.”

Paul’s daughter, Derinda Fullerton, said: “Dad was the centre of every family event.He was a wonderful role model to us all, with his boundless energy and zest for life. I can’t imagine birthdays and Christmasses without him.”

His other daughter, Bianca Harrison, told this site, “The funeral was on 20 March and it was very attended, including ex Walsall players.

“We are all devastated, of course. His death has hit me very hard losing dad as I was extremely close to him,” added Bianca, who shared her dad’s passion for football.

His family recalled that Paul was once rang Alex Ferguson when Walsall were set to to play Manchester United but did not get through on the phone. To his shock, Ferguson called him back and gave him an exclusive for the Mail.

Walsall FC

Walsall FC paid tribute to Paul at a recent fixture against Notts County with Roy Whalley (Associate Director) providing an obituary in the matchday programme.

He wrote: “For a period of 50 years Paul provided match reports and news stories covering Walsall FC as a journalist for the Walsall Observer, Evening Mail, Sports Argus, Sunday Mercury and his regular columns in the Walsall FC match programme.

“Those were the days when supporters relied on local newspapers to keep them up to date with events at the Club. Many supporters will remember queuing outside their local newsagent on a Saturday evening waiting for the Sports Argus to arrive.Paul kept us all informed. Being the news reporter for a local club is no easy task. The Club want you to be a propaganda sheet for it while the newspaper editor wants stories that sell copies. Paul, referred to as ‘Scoop’ by his friend Mick Kearns, was a well respected journalist, who earned the admiration of generations of Saddlers supporters, former players and officials and will be sadly missed.”

“Paul carried out this balancing act with real skill, although inevitably there were times when relationships could  become strained. He used to tell the story of a time when  reporters travelled on the team coach to matches, he had upset Bill Moore about something he had written and got left on the car park at Rotherham as the coach moved off  without him.Walsall FC owes a lot to Paul Marston. In 1982 and 1986 when the Club was in danger of being taken out of the town by previous owners to play at Molineux and  then St Andrews, it was Paul who used his role as local reporter to give the Save Walsall Action Group (SWAG) the oxygen of publicity it needed to rouse the town’s people to successfully challenge the move,” said Whalley.

 “Similarly, in the early 1990’s when the Club was battling Walsall Council for permission to run a weekly Sunday Market at Bescot, he gave tremendous editorial support to the project, which was a financial lifesaver for the Club at the time.”

He said, “On a personal level from the time I joined the Club in 1986 until his retirement I could count on my first telephone call in the morning being from Paul Marston.I can particularly remember, when we had a big game at  Fellows Park and there was huge demand from the media for places in our tiny press box, Paul would come along to allocate places, deciding who was in the box and who had to do with a seat in the stand. Paul, referred to as ‘Scoop’ by his friend Mick Kearns, was a well respected journalist, who earned the admiration of generations of Saddlers supporters, former players and officials and will be sadly missed. “

 Other tributes

Ex-Birmingham Mail features editor Paul Cole told this site, “I was sad to read of Paul Marston’s passing – he was a ‘proper’ old school journalist, always conscientious and professional. I first worked with him while I was District News Editor of the Birmingham Evening Mail and he was a district reporter.

“Then, when I became Features Editor of the Mail, I knew him as a brilliant theatre reviewer. 

“Last, but by no means least, I knew him as an insightful football reporter and reviewer while I was Editor of the Sunday Mercury. I always enjoyed chatting with him, and remember his easy grin and wry humour. He will be greatly missed.”

In a tribute piece for the Express and Star newspaper, https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/matt-maher-paul-marston-was-mr-walsall-and-a-legend-of-midlands-media-5631175  Matt Maher, Chief sports writer at the paper, wrote, “Paul Marston might have earned the nickname “Mr Walsall” during more than 50 years covering the town’s football club yet his influence spread far beyond the press boxes at Fellows Park and Bescot.

“While generations of Saddlers fans pored over the millions of words he wrote on a club he covered from the 1960s, through to his eventual retirement in 2016, dozens upon dozens of fellow reporters, this one included, benefited from his guidance.”

He wrote, “Forever a friendly face in the press room, the man nicknamed “Scoop” was nevertheless fearless when it came to getting the story.”

He added, “Among his seemingly endless catalogue of anecdotes was the occasion the then Saddlers boss Chris Nicholl threatened to punch him in the face, after learning he was running the (very true) story of Martin O’Connor being sold to Peterborough.

“Even in the final years of his career, filing match reports from Bescot for the Press Association, he remained a resolute interrogator, as Dean Smith would attest.

“That was despite Paul having been friends with Smith since the future Villa boss’ earliest days with the Saddlers as a player. Smith, at least, usually got his own back for the tough questioning during their regular Sunday rounds at Great Barr Golf Club.

“For young journalists, speaking to Paul was an invaluable education. We’re all better reporters and people too for having known a true legend of the Midlands scene,”he wrote.

Further comment came from the Mayor of Walsall, Councillor Louise Harrison, who said: “I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Paul Marston at the age of 90.

“For decades, Paul was a trusted and respected voice covering Walsall FC, capturing the highs and lows of the club with honesty, insight, and genuine affection. Through his work with the press, he brought the story of Walsall to a far wider audience, helping to shape the club’s history as much as he reported it.

 “Paul’s dedication to local sport and his deep connection to our community will not be forgotten. On behalf of the borough, I extend my sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and worked with him.

 “He leaves behind a lasting legacy in Walsall’s sporting heritage.”

Nick Horner, a senior reporter at Birmingham Live, wrote, “Paul Marston was a celebrated news and sports reporter who was known across the Midlands for covering the Saddlers for decades.”

Personal memories

Former colleague Martin Banks says he will personally always very fondly remember Paul.

He says, “When I arrived at the Birmingham Evening Mail in 1989 I was totally new to the area but he “took me under his wing” and we soon settled into what was become a very fruitful and satisfying six years working together in the Walsall branch office of the paper.

“I will forever recall those early 7am starts when, before we got down to work, Paul would regale me with how he had done on the golf course in his most recent match. He loved his golf.

“He was great to work with not least as he helped me navigate myself around the rigours of working for a multi-edition, busy evening paper.

“We got on really well and, yes, although I’d been in journalism some years before arriving in Walsall, I did learn from him as well.

“He had a great reputation and an even more impressive list of contacts. I knew I would miss working with him when the chance arose for me to move to head office and become the paper’s chief reporter. I was not wrong… I did miss him and I think the same goes for a lot of young (ish) reporters who passed through that local office.

“I do wonder, now, if they make journalists like Paul anymore. I suspect not.”

• An online tribute page has been set up at paul-marston4.muchloved.compp