Acclaimed football writer who worked for the Guardian and the Observer, later moving to Sky TV

Patrick Barclay, who has died aged 77, was among the very best football writers of the last half-century. And as an all-round communicator on the game he was even nearer the pinnacle.

He spent 20 years on the Guardian and was shaped by this newspaper, and another six close to home on the Observer. In time he worked for every newspaper company at the respectable end of Fleet Street and built a new career as a pundit on Sky TV that made him instantly recognisable to supporters inside the grounds.