It has been a week of sadness at Ottery St Mary, as the club paid tribute to one of its own.
Described as a ‘true Ottery legend’ and ‘Mr Ottery’, Monty Perry will be greatly missed by everyone at Washbrook Meadows, and across the wider community.
“Monty started at Ottery as a young boy and he was part of the club since the 1950s,” said Ottery chairman Mikey Ringer.
“He has done every job possible at Ottery St Mary and has been a rock behind everyone at the club.
“He will be deeply missed by everyone in the community. Monty was well known throughout Ottery, always had a smile on his face and ready for a chat.
“It is a major loss. We know Monty hadn’t been well but he kept it very private, and sadly got worse over the past year.”
Ottery, like all clubs in local football, are now grappling with how to conclude the current campaign, with the possibility of a second voided season especially tough to take for a club riding high at the top of the Devon Football League.
“A questionnaire has been sent around by the FA and the options were to void the season, continue once the restrictions are lifted, roll-over this season to next, or any other ideas,” said Mikey.
“There are a mixture of views but we would like to see this season come to some sort of a conclusion, for obvious reasons, but how that can be done in a safe way, I don’t know.
“It would be a huge mental blow for us to have a second season voided season.
“The players, coaching staff, committee, volunteers, juniors, everyone has put in so much and you work toward an ultimate goal.
“To have that taken away again would be a massive mental hit.
“My personal view would be to roll the season over because we’ve still got over half the season left to play.
“Anything can still happen, teams at the top could drop right off and those nearer the bottom could have a great run. Anything is possible in football.”