The worst fear of any son is imagining a world without a father; one who leads by example, offers strength in times of weakness and profound words where guidance is needed.

Sadly our fear was realised when our father, Edward Costley passed away recently; dad faced many battles in life and always came out fighting, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer no less than twice, and recovering from Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic.

Most recently our dad was diagnosed with Bulbar onset Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a form of the condition which prominently and very suddenly affected his ability to communicate verbally and lead him to have issues with chewing, swallowing and breathing - something we all take for granted. Severe muscle degeneration added further obstacles and made simple tasks like getting washed and dressed impossible, and yet, somehow this man found the strength to smile through it all.

Despite all the adversity he faced, he fought on bravely and never let the illness silence him. During these most testing of times, dad found solace in continuing to be involved in his beloved football; come rain, hail or shine, his passion for the beautiful game was embodied through all the clubs he worked with.

Dad's impact will be felt by all the clubs, associated staff, players and fans he met during his time and goes beyond his place within numerous football clubs he had the pleasure of being apart of; quite simply, he was widely known and respected throughout Scottish football - not just as a mentor, coach and physiotherapist, but as a man to aspire to.

Dad's passing is a tremendous loss to the greater footballing community, and will be dearly missed by all who knew him, or crossed paths no matter how fleeting. Please know, he gave his all in any way he could, until he could no longer.

For these reasons, and many more, we have set up this funding page to give our dad the funeral and send off he deserves, and would ask that any and all people that knew him personally share this far and wide. Thank you for taking time to read this, and we hope to see you all soon at what will be a celebration of his life.