Tribute has been paid to Albion Rovers’ most loyal fan after he passed away last week at the age of 90.
Season ticket holder Matt Peat MBE attended his first Rovers game as a young boy during the Second World War and his final game came on Saturday, December 4 as Rovers lost a five-goal thriller to Forfar.
Peat was a shareholder in the club and also a member of the club’s memories group, where he would often fondly recall the days of the legendary Jock Stein strutting his stuff around Cliftonhill from 1942-50, before he went on to lift the European Cup as manager of Celtic.
Former Rovers chairman Ronnie Boyd has paid tribute to a true gentleman and community champion, who was awarded his MBE in 1996 for his services to the Boys’ Brigade.
Ronnie told the Lanarkshire Live Sport : “Matt was a gentleman. A very quiet, unassuming man but he loved the Rovers.
”Our last home game against Forfar was his last one and he’d taken his usual seat in the middle of the main stand. He had been coming to Cliftonhill since the early years of the Second World War.
“In his younger days he went to away games but he never missed a home game.
“He was a season ticket holder and a fixture at our games.
“We started a memories group recently and he and another member, John Smith, are the only two who had seen Jock Stein playing at the club.
“They would always talk about that as if it were yesterday.
“I think that always stood out for him as a Rovers fan. Matt was a link with part of the club’s history that is starting to go out of living memory now, unfortunately.”
The Peats are Rovers through and through and Matt’s love of the club will live on through his son Alistair and grandson.
Ronnie added: “He attended all our home games with his son and grandson, so they will continue the family tradition.
“Matt was heavily involved in the community and he was involved in the Boys’ Brigade down the years. And it was his community work that got him his MBE from the Queen as well.
“He saw coming to the Rovers as being a big part of the community and supporting his local team.
“He had that real community spirit and he’d been a loyal fan - unbroken - for 80 years or so.
“It’s a tragedy for the family and he will be missed around the club.
“Even although he was 90, it was a shock to everyone as he was attending games right until the very end.”
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