Alan Morgan

When speaking of the deceased there is an inclination to paint an overly cosy picture of said person. To balance things, it should be noted that he got on very well with Ardross.
 
Melendez.
was he! I thought that he was a great judge of character as well. Never mind, nobodys perfect.
 
I had been away from this forum for a while and made a reappearance which upset some of the regulars. For some reason I was accused of being a troll? Anyway, that's all water under the bridge now.

Alan and I had a bit of a disagreement and resolved it via PM. I then started getting really nice PM's from him, encouraging me to stick around and join in the competitions as they weren't a bad bunch on Talking Horses etc. He was a true gent and a very witty individual and he hated to see people falling out. He just wanted everyone to get on.

A few days before Alan passed away, I had a PM from him asking if I would do him a massive favour. I said if he wanted to borrow a few thousand quid, forget it, I was skint. :) Alan asked if I could go onto the Betfair forum and sign into the forum as someone was giving him a bit of stick and he wanted to respond via a 3rd party. Without hesitation I did it, and my name on Betfair is still "Alan's Mate". I have never sent another message on the Betfair forum, and never will.

I was very shocked and saddened when I found out a few days later Alan had passed away. I had never met him but felt as if I had known him for ages.

It was a delight to meet Alan's family at the race meeting at Lingfield albeit a sad occasion. I met his widow, Karen, who is a lovely person and they have some delightful children. During the race meeting Karen told me some very funny stories about Alan and their life together. It made the whole day extremely memorable and a great opportunity to put faces to names on this forum.
 
Having learned quite a bit about Alan from his nearest and dearest, and others, after he died, I believe that the description "lovable rogue" would be most appropriate.
 
Karen's language was far more colourful than that Brian, but yes, I think that may be an apt description of Alan but with (very) heavy accent on the "rogue"! :)
 
I take it the word "Troll" has a forum meaning behind it? rather than what I know it as a nasty little man who lives under a bridge & jumps out & scares people :lol:
 
Troll as in the verb meaning "to fish", i.e. posting something for the express purpose of annoying and antagonising others; analogous to baiting a line, dropping it in the water, and seeing if anything will bite.
 
I thought gnomes fished - they certainly do around many small garden ponds, when they're not busy wheeling their barrows and swinging their lanterns. Or that one might 'trawl' for a fish. Never understood why it was a troll - as Aldaniti says, it's usually a nasty little man who jumps out from hiding to scare you. Plenty around on Clapham Common and the like.

Alan was brilliant fun, everything that could be said about him has been, I think - at least, all the news that's fit to print! Much missed even now by those of us who looked forward to his witty postings and also his considerable knowledge of racing. How the hell this had failed to translate to mega-returns, I'll never know. Perhaps he played poker with Brian one night...
 
I still have a couple of photo's of Alan with another forum member. I'm awaiting their permission to put one up.
 
A forum get-together would be great. Courses generally do a good deal on booked, paid-up groups. Lingfield, for example, knocks £3 off the current £18 for Premier (as in Members) enclosure badges by that method. As it was, the cost spread among the fairly good number of forumites was very reasonable, and it's probably best to book a hospitality room for the day at whatever track is decided on, in case of bad weather and overcrowding in the public bars. Food wouldn't even have to be provided, perhaps just the cash bar and a Tote lady. There is such a selection of nosheries that it's perhaps easier for people to decide whether they're whizzing out for a burger, a hot pie, or just a sarnie, than try to cater for all tastes.

Hmmm... it's sounding better all the time! I've no problem with seeing what I can sort out for Brighton, Lingfield, Fontwell or Plumpton (not 'til September now) if there's a genuine interest in taking this forward.
 
We could extend our Brighton gathering in early August. It is a good enough card and the weather is usually decent. What do people think?
 
JonnAlan2.jpg


Alan with Krizon at Plumpton in 2004.
 
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