The Guardian’s former
Football correspondent, who has died aged 83, was beloved for his wit, craftsmanship and knowledge
![David Lacey never wasted words – he used them to enrich the reader | Richard Williams](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/74fe162839e316597767d91bfb136dfa01ab62fc/0_23_2048_1228/master/2048.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=c5aa17eaa2f77f2adca2e3e7c2ac97df)
When David Lacey closed the lid of his laptop at the end of the 2002
World Cup final in Yokohama, an era was ending. It was the last match of his 30-year run as the Guardian’s football correspondent, and he concluded his report on Brazil’s 2-0 victory over
Germany with a paragraph that could not have been more typical.
“Presumably the Emperor of
Japan was suitably impressed,” he wrote. “Brazil’s object had been all sublime and Germany’s defeat was widely regarded as a source of innocent merriment. It was not a bad way for Japan to start the rainy season.”