Gabby Logan has shared a statement on social media after the death of her father, Terry Yorath. She and her siblings announced on Thursday morning that he died at the age of 75 after a short illness.
The BBC Sport presenter was presenting Match of the Day on Wednesday night, hours before the family’s announcement. Logan left midway through the Premier League highlights programme, with her co-host, Mark Chapman, stepping in as a replacement, who explained that she had departed due to a “family emergency”.
In a statement shared by Gabby on Instagram, she said: “Rest in peace dad. Our hearts are broken. Your love and legacy lives on.” She later added: “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).
“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. 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.
“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.”
Daniel is Yorath’s eldest son and fourth child, who died in 1992 just before his 16th birthday after collapsing while playing football with his father in the family’s back garden.
A post-mortem examination found he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood by thickening the muscle. His eldest son died weeks after he signed for Leeds United. That is the same club for which Yorath played 198 times and won the First Division title in 1974.
Leeds said in a statement on Thursday morning: “Everyone at Leeds United will remember Terry fondly on and off the pitch, and we are devastated by his passing. He will always be a club legend, and we offer our sincerest condolences to his friends and family.”