BOBBY Campbell's death has been a tough one to take for all concerned. Even now, a couple of weeks on, my mind wanders back. It knocks you for six.

Bobby was always seen as the loud, mad Irishman but he had another side as well. He was respectful and conscientious – I saw him at Bryan Edwards' funeral, Yvonne Lawn's funeral and the fire memorial.

He was also at the launch of the former players' association and I'm just glad the club did that for the simple fact it gave 350 people the chance to say goodbye to him that night.

I think back to the fire, when he was the main man with the hospital visits. I'm sure Bobby can say that he carried us before the tragedy and in the aftermath. He was our leader both on and off the pitch.

So I'm sure he'll have been lying in his coffin seeing Stuart, Mega and myself and thinking "it's your turn to carry me now boys". For me, it was honour.

The one comfort that fans can take is that he was wearing his City shirt and there was a wee bottle of Irish whiskey next to him as well as personal tributes from his family.

But what a turn-out for Bobby, not just at the funeral but at the home match on the Tuesday. It wasn't only supporters and friends but ex-players as well.

Trevor Cherry was there, Terry Yorath and the likes of Don Goodman, Martin Singleton and Gavin Oliver had travelled from far and wide. People had dropped everything just to get up here for the big man.

And seeing the wake back at the club – he certainly went out in true Bobby Campbell style. It was a proper celebration of his life.

When you get together, everyone's got a different story of Bob. There have been a lot of tears but also a lot to chuckle about over the things that Bobby did because he was an absolute one off.

He always had it in for the wingers, Mark Ellis and myself. I remember one of my first games when we played Walsall at home. We came in at half-time and he felt there weren't enough crosses coming into the box. So he had a pop at me – and I turned round and gave him it back.

That was the one and only time I did that. Let's just say he hooked the back of my shirt to the dressing-room door and I was still wearing it! My feet were dangling and I learned my lesson pretty quick.

He had this line which he'd recite to us all the time: "Head, heel or toe, give it to Bo!"

There was another time when we played Wimbledon at Odsal. It was the proper 'Crazy Gang', Vinny Jones, Fashanu and the crew. They bullied teams and ruled by fear.

In those days, you never had the TV monitors all over the shop, so anything went. I turned round to the halfway line and there was Carlton Fairweather 'sparko' on the floor. No questions asked.

But were there any repercussions from the Crazy Gang? Not one. It was as if Bobby was saying "this is my gaffe, you play by my rules". Bobby would look after us. If there were any problems he'd be there, not just protecting himself but the rest of the team.

But that didn't stop him dishing out the stick like the time ten years after the fire when we had a big fund-raiser. It was a superb night and we were all there with the dignitaries; the Lord Mayor, Professor Sharpe, the families. The place was absolutely rammed.

Stuart had written a little poem about all the players. He'd gone through the whole team, saying a few nice lines on each, until he got to Mark Ellis.

"And on the left wing we had Mega; with his blond flowing locks he'd jink one way then the other and put in a fantastic cross to the far post…"

Suddenly all we heard was this voice at the back of the room in that distinctive accent shout "cobblers" – or something similar! The place was in uproar but that was Bobby and his perfect timing. It was hilarious.

When we were promoting the former players' launch, James Mason asked each of us about the best bit from playing for City. Bobby's answer was the Belle Vue pub – or church as he used to call it.

I didn't realise he was the Biblical sort at first. But after a few weeks I was introduced to "church" by Father Campbell. But that was Bobby, the life and soul. We'll miss you, big man.

* John Hendrie was talking to Simon Parker