FOOTBALL fans’ champion and lifelong Aston Villa supporter Buck Chinn is battling cancer, it was revealed today.

Buck, the former Villa Shareholders Association chairman, and father of Birmingham historian Carl Chinn MBE, has been diagnosed with stomach cancer.

The 74-year-old, who lives in Moseley, is set to undergo chemotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital within the next fortnight.

Birmingham Mail columnist Carl thanked well-wishers for their messages of support and said his dad was “receiving the best care possible”.

He said: “We have been very humbled by the support, we have had huge numbers of phone calls and cards and messages.

“He’s doing OK, he’s very upbeat, my old man. He is one of those typical Englishman of his generation who take it all on the chin.

“He is a positive man whose glass is always half full, I couldn’t ask for a better dad.”

Carl also paid tribute to the care great-grandfather Buck had already received since his diagnosis.

“We as a family deeply appreciate all of the people who work in the NHS,” he said.

“We believe passionately in the NHS and dad is receiving the best care possible at the QE, as my mom has too when she has been treated at Selly Oak Hospital.”

Bookmaker and avid Villa fan Buck founded the Aston Villa Democracy Group in 1982, following the resignation of manager Ron Saunders in January that year.

The group campaigned for supporters’ rights, including the presence of a democratically elected fan on the Villa board. Buck then became chair of the Villa Shareholders Association, where he took up the cause of small shareholders and season ticket holders.

He stepped down as chair in May 2004 at the age of 72.