The world of Merseyside sports journalism has long been home to mavericks and brilliant eccentrics. None, though, could quite compare to Len Capeling.
The legendary former Daily Post sports editor, who passed away on Friday at the age of 79, carved a niche as one of the industry's most unique operators, a journalist whose acerbic wit and forthright views made him an unforgettable presence.
Not for nothing was his multi award-winning weekly column taglined 'love him or loathe him, you can't ignore him'.
True to the claim, Len was impossible to dismiss, whether tearing apart another abject performance - more often than not reserving his fiercest prose for his beloved Everton - or demanding more from his staff in pursuit of greater standards. Fools were not suffered gladly, but unswerving loyalty was given to those who shared his core beliefs.
"Len Capeling was a brilliant, maverick sports editor," says Phil McNulty, now BBC Sport's chief football writer. "He was eccentric, could be divisive and outspoken, but above all Len was relentless in making the paper’s sports pages the best they could possibly be.
"No-one was prouder or more protective of the Daily Post than Len. If you were on his staff he expected you to be fiercely competitive – anything less and the phone call would come in ominous tones: 'Philip? Leonard…'
"Len was fearless, whether it was a member of the company’s management board once unwisely telling him they did not like a back page headline or if it was a high-ranking executive from one of the city’s football clubs ringing to register disapproval. He would listen and if they had a point he would accept it. If he did not accept it, they were told forcibly.
"For someone so naturally gifted, Len was a reluctant columnist and those of us who press-ganged him into doing it watched with envy as he then regularly swept up at award ceremonies.
"Len was a superb boss. He was endlessly supportive to those he felt were fair with him and even if mistakes were made by his staff, he always stepped forward to take responsibility. He was also hilariously funny, with the deadest of deadpan humour forged in an unlikely career as a stand-up comedian before turning his hand to being an outstanding sports editor."
That previous life had seen him take on the stage name Tony Miller as he performed on cruise ships, in cabaret clubs and small halls. But it was when putting down the mic and picking up the pen he found his real vocation, eventually becoming sports editor while also finding the time to write weekly film reviews.
"When I moved to the Daily Post in 1987, Len was my sports editor," says David Prentice, who went on to become sports editor of the Liverpool ECHO. "And his near insane drive for perfection was a culture shock. I quickly learned he was even prepared to put his health on the line in pursuit of better sports pages.
"He once insisted on filing his weekly column from his hospital bed just hours after coming round from open heart surgery. When the surgeon who had performed the life-saving procedure demanded that Len rest, the stricken hack replied: 'I am the sports editor of the Daily Post. I wouldn’t expect you to understand. It’s a pressurised job. You wouldn’t know what pressure is'.
“It wasn’t a quickfire gag. And you couldn’t argue about the drugs in his system causing him to hallucinate because Len believed it."
Back in those days, the Daily Post served as Liverpool's - as well as North Wales' - morning newspaper, with the ECHO the city's evening counterpart. Both were housed in the same office space on Old Hall Street, leading to intense competition between the two. It brought the best - and occasionally, as was the case with the fake back page drawn up to suggest Ian Rush was joining Everton, the mischievous - out of Len's competitive spirit.
"For Len, the Daily Post sports desk was the most important department in the region," adds David Prentice. "The Liverpool ECHO was the enemy. We might have shared the same building but to Len the Post was the quality, high end product to a brash, boorish neighbour. It made for lively working days.
"As well as sports editing, Len wrote. He wrote brilliantly. His weekly column was a mini-masterpiece. And no-one was safe from his waspish one-liners.
"But he was more than just a hatchet man. He was constructive, too. He first noted John Aldridge’s desire to return home from Real Sociedad and suggested what a good fit he would be for Tranmere Rovers. It was a suggestion followed up by Rovers, with record-breaking consequences."
Then there were the scrapes with Merseyside football's high-profile figures. Ian Herbert, now at the Daily Mail, says: "I was deputy editor when Len's battles with Joe Royle, then Everton manager, reached their peak, and some of the fallout would be delegated my way.
"'Where’s Rasputin?' I remember Royle demanding to know down the phone one day. Royle was invited into the boardroom, as I recall, and things were smoothed over.
"Len had an incredible charm, too. An expectation that his reporters prosecute sport with the same forensic zeal made for some extremely fine chief football correspondents. Reporters were not the only ones who owed their start on the ladder to the Daily Post. Len gave Alan Hansen his first column. The Professional View we called it. Mark Lawrenson, likewise.
"Len also showed great understanding of North Wales sport with the launch of the Monday Welsh Sport supplement that he championed. It wasn’t just the big two clubs for him. He left his mark in many ways."
Former Daily Post and Liverpool ECHO editor Alastair Machray says: "Len was a proper journalist. Slightly mad but an example to us all in terms of dedication and determination.
"Of course, he was a truly brilliant writer with a real gift for, and love of, words and the print medium. I was really fond of him and admired him enormously."
Paul Joyce, now of The Times, was another who, like myself, Len had taken under his wing towards the end of his career. "Len was cutting as a columnist," he says. "He was fearless (and feared) and, as a young reporter working for him, he was the sort of sports editor you wanted. Someone who would back you to the hilt whenever a club tried to apply pressure.
"Privately, he might tell you got this or that wrong which helped you improve but he always stood up for his reporters. I will be eternally grateful to Len (and Ken Rogers) for giving me an opportunity when the Daily Post and Liverpool ECHO competed for stories."
Oliver Holt of the Mail on Sunday, Brian Reade of the Mirror and Simon Jones of the Daily Mail were just some of the many other young journalists who benefited from the wisdom and work ethic instilled in them by Len, who waved farewell to the sports desk in 1999 and retired to the Lake District, the base from where he continued filing his weekly column well into the next decade.
"Len was a magnificent mentor, as he was to so many others in his own somewhat unique way," concludes Phil McNulty. "I loved working for him and had total respect for him. He will be sadly missed."
