Tom Ross Column: Birmingham City's Jolly Jack loved and admired by all

Aug 19 2009 by Mark Woodward, Birmingham Mail

THE sad and untimely death of Birmingham City’s former chairman and life president Jack Wiseman has cast a dark cloud over St Andrew’s at the start of this Premier League season.

In a sport where money, greed and ego share top billing, how refreshing to deal with an honest, warm, caring man like Jack who had qualities as a man and person that I would wish to have.

He was passionate about Blues and always cared about the club and its supporters, as his family have done for generations.

During the dark depressing days when the Kumar empire went broke, Jack was a key and influential member of the three amigos, along with manager Terry Cooper and club secretary Alan Jones who effectively saved the club from extinction.

He was also instrumental in engineering the sale of the club to David Sullivan, the Gold brothers and Karren Brady.

He was always ready, willing and available with wise words of advice to help them settle into club ownership and was particularly active in helping them build a relationship with the FA.

Jolly Jack was known worldwide due to his many roles with the FA, which included travelling with the England team as the FA representative, but more importantly, he was loved and respected by everyone he met.

He loved Blues as much as any fan ever has and was a genuine 18-carat Bluenose.