Matt Maher: Paul Marston was 'Mr Walsall' and a legend of Midlands media
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.
News of his death last week, at the age of 90, prompted tributes from some of the region’s most recognisable media names - Pat Murphy, Adrian Goldberg and Dave Harrison to name just three - all of whom felt the benefit of Marston’s support and warmth in the earliest days of their career.
They were far from the only ones.
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.
Born in Aldridge, Marston's journalism career was underway before he'd even left Wednesbury Commercial College, where the headmaster tasked him with writing match reports on the school’s football team.
After cutting his teeth as a reporter on weekly titles, he joined the Express & Star for six years before then spending the bulk of his career at the Birmingham Post and Mail.
Forever a friendly face in the press room, the man nicknamed "Scoop" was nevertheless fearless when it came to getting the story.
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 Marston 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.
Football was not his only passion. Marston was also an avid follower and supporter of local theatre, writing reviews almost as regularly as he penned match reports. He was devoted to his wife, Jennifer, their daughters Bianca and Derinda and grandchildren.
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.
Paul Marston’s funeral will take place at West Chapel, Streetly Crematorium on March 20 at 10am. An online tribute page has been set up at paul-marston4.muchloved.com
