Only The Good Die Young

The various exciting scorelines of the day (such as Tottenham 6 Reading 4, West Ham 2 Man U 1, and Everton 1 Arsenal 4) have been overshadowed today by the death of the Motherwell captain, Phil O'Donnell, on the pitch.

At the age of just 35 it is obviously a tragic loss - to his family and the world of football.

I had a friend once I used to go running with. He was in his sixties and had run all his life. He was diagnosed with a heart problem and told to stop running. After much anguish he decided running was too important to him and he would run the risk.

I was running with him on the day he died. He keeled over and died fairly instantaneously, despite our efforts to revive him.

Sudden death is an awful thing for family and friends to come to terms with.

I don't know if it is possible to find any positives in such sad circumstances. Maybe his family and others can take some small comfort that both Phil and my friend died doing the thing they loved most.