The funeral will take place at Dukinfield Crematorium at 2PM on Tuesday 3rd November followed by a wake at the Crossbar where John shared many laughs on a matchday.

Jack (John) Milne – 1937 to 2026

Everyone at Ashton United were devastated to hear of the passing of ex-Chairman, Director and lifelong Ashton United stalwart Jack Milne, known by everyone at the club as Gentleman John.

John passed away on Tuesday 13th October after a short stay in hospital, he will be sadly missed by everyone at the club. In the relatively short time, I have been at the club I have always enjoyed our conversations about football in the past, how the club used to be run and of course his unparalleled sense of humour. A sentiment shared by everyone I have spoken to over the last couple of days, everyone has a story to tell of their time with John.
Born in Aberdeen in 1937, John was in a show band before joining the Army rising to Regimental Sergeant Major and being posted all over the world. His route to Ashton came in the 1980’s (via Mossley FC where he was Treasurer) came on leaving the Army and joining the Army Pay Corp in Ashton.

I recently discovered that John was also regular contributor to the matchdays programmes and people would buy them just to read his articles entitled “A Glimpse Inside the Strange World of JM” and included his thoughts for the day which these days may not be considered to be “politically / socially correct” these days. He would regularly refer to his partner, Pauline, as “the memsahib” which apparently is an old-fashioned term used to refer a white foreign woman—especially the wife of a British official—of high social status living in India during the period of British rule. (Thank you Google!)

On one such occasion John writes “She’s a feisty little character is the memsahib, with muscles in all the places Cate Blanchett has curves”. A couple of his thoughts for the day include –
“Sex without love is an empty experience but as empty experiences go, its one of the best”
“A friend of mine wrote a book called “How to Attract Men”. Her main advice is to be naked and have a bar by your bed”

I can see I am going to have to up my game when it comes to programme articles, but I feel sure in today’s rather “woke society” I would not get away with some of the comments and stories John wrote.

John will be sadly missed by everyone at the club, and we send our deepest condolences to his daughters, his wider family and friends. Now we have details of the funeral arrangements and we have posted them on our social media pages and we hope many people connected to the club will wish to pay their respects.

RIP John – Once a Robin, always a Robin!!
Andy Clayton
AUFC General Manager & Director