LET no-one think that Blackburn fans are not generous to a fault. Last week I was in Malta, where the British High Commissioner is Vincent Fean, an otherwise fine diplomat who also has to carry the heavy load of being a Burnley fan.

Such is his standing among that deluded group that Mr Fean even gets a name check on the Burnley supporters' website, "Clarets Mad". Yet so profound is my regard for Mr Fean that I did not regard his Burnley burden as being good reason for not appointing him to a top job in the British diplomatic service.

It's been a busy time for Vincent and his team, what with a State visit by the Queen and a meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government.

But back to Burnley. It's odd, isn't it, that this team for some reason, seem to be able to claim a number of high profile fans from the world I inhabit. Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's former spokesman, is an obvious one. But Clarets Mad also boasts about Sir Bernard Ingham (who did the same job as Alastair, but for Margaret Thatcher) and the Lib Dem MP Phil Willis.

So I had a quick look at the Blackburn fan site, bluesandwhites.com, to see who they list as notable supporters of the world's greatest football team. I'm there, and I'm grateful for that. But it seems that when it comes to people in public life, we can't rival the Clarets. Which is, of course, a huge disappointment. There must be more of us out there (and after my visit to the US recently I think we can claim the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as a new found Blackburn fan -- she's got a Rovers' shirt at least!).

My visit to Malta also confirmed to me that your chances of meeting a Man United fan are much higher the further you are from Manchester. Malta is awash with them -- and not a Manchester accent to be heard.

The banter I enjoyed with Vincent, and with the Maltese Man Utd fans, is part of the fun of being a football supporter. It wouldn't be quite the same without that sort of friendly rivalry.

And nor would it be the same without the extraordinary sense of a football family which we saw over the weekend following the death of George Best. I think I saw Best play once (I'm not sure where and when). But I saw plenty of his games on television, and like everyone else I have sat and watched the video clips of his performances with a sense of awe.

So it was incredibly moving to see the huge respect shown for Best at football grounds all over the country at the weekend. The spontaneous clapping made it a very special sort of tribute for a very special player.

Football often gets a bad press, but it is this sort of response which shows that at the heart of the matter, beyond the rivalries, the touchline rows and the blazing back page headlines, there is enduring love for the game itself. Best was one of those players; his extraordinary balance and vision comes through on all the clips I've seen over the last few days. At times he simply seems to be on another level to the defenders he bamboozles and the goalkeepers he leaves floundering . I'm not sure if we'll ever see his like again.