A football club has been left devastated after vandals damaged a sign dedicated to their late former chairman. 

The sign has been in place at the Turton FC’s home ground, Thomasson Fold, for several years and acts as a tribute to Ernie Charnock, who spent 52-years volunteering at the club and sadly died in July, 2018.

The current club chairman, Pete Gray, described the vandalism as “hugely upsetting” and said that all at the club are struggling to understand why anyone would cause “such reckless damage”.

He said: “The club were obviously devastated to find out that we’d had some vandalism, which on its own is bad enough, but the fact that it was vandalising a sign that’s there in memory and recognition for a club legend in Ernie Charnock who’d done 52 years with the football club makes it even worse.

“The sign that’s been damaged was paid for by all the players when Ernie passed and they wanted to do something as a thank-you to Ernie for everything he’d done for the club. 

“So, when we saw the damage, the pictures were shared with the players and they were obviously very upset and quickly said that they’re going to look to replace it.

“Fortunately, this isn’t something that we’ve had a lot of at Turton, but to be on the receiving end of it is hugely upsetting and disappointing for the volunteers who give their time up for nothing at our football club.

“I know Ernie himself would be devastated by any kind of vandalism up at the club.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

Gray added that he called Ernie’s son, Simon Charnock, to inform him of the damage before he saw it on social media.

“This is also very upsetting for Ernie’s family. I let the family know before they saw it on social media. 

“What it does show is the level of respect that is still held for Ernie, as the immediate reaction from everyone was to have a whip round and get it put back as quickly as possible.”