Wigan family pays tribute to 'loving and caring' Latics fan

Tributes have been paid to a “lovely, supporting” Wigan man ahead of his colourful funeral.

Lee McClarence died on January 9 following a short fight with pneumonia. He was 45 years old.

His family are planning a send-off that Lee would have been proud of, and ahead of their final goodbyes, his family paid glowing tributes.

Lee’s cousin Nikita said: “He was always a big supporter of Wigan Athletic. He always loved to go and have a drink with his friends in the pub. He was just a lovely, supporting person who’d do anything for anyone.

“He’d go out of his way to make anything happen for you, and help you if he could. He had one child, Bradley, who lives in London.

“He doted on his brother and sister, and all his nephews and nieces. He had a hard time recently, with all his health issues. But besides that, he just kept a smile on his face and kept going. He was one of the most loving and caring people you could ever come across.”

Lee’s family have planned to make sure his final journey is a fitting goodbye for a die-hard Latics supporter. Mourners will be turning out in the club’s blue and white colours as the procession makes its way from Scholes to Ince Crematorium.

The idea follows on from a similar theme which was put together for Lee’s dad Graham, who died last May at the age of 82. A lifetime fan of Wigan Warriors, Graham was given a rugby-themed procession.

Friends and family members lined the streets wearing Wigan Warriors’ famous cherry and white colours, which made its way to Ince Crematorium after setting off from Sullivan Way in Scholes – the street where Graham once lived, which is named after rugby legend Jim Sullivan.

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