This is a tribute to the late John Scott.

I cannot thank John Scott enough for the support and dedication he put into the Knowsley Youth Football team to get them ready for the Dallas Cup. It was there that I came across another man who as well as John impacted my life tremendously. It was a man by the name of Brian Harvey who was the head coach at Oklahoma City University . John had made contact with Brian about possibly playing some friendly games in Oklahoma before moving onto Dallas to play in the tournament. Brian always tells me that the one reason he met with John was the simple fact that he was in it for the kids and not for anything else. John committed so much time into football that it was a major part of his life. He was always at games in Huyton on Sylvester School Field to help Fairfield a team in which I played at the age of 16 because it was John that invited me out there. I was accepted immediately by the other lads through Johns help but it was at this time that he introduced me to the Dallas cup team.  I went through tryouts and everything else and made the team and eventually made contact with Brian Harvey. I played on the Knowsley team from 92-94 and it was John that influenced Brian to take a look at me for his school on a soccer scholarship. Brian told me he was interested and asked me in the summer of 94 to play for his American team in the Ian Rush Tournament.  With no way to get there and a scholarship opportunity possibly on the line again it was John that gave me the ride to to meet the team and play for the week. At the end of the week John picked me up and took me back home.  In the August of 1995 I moved to Oklahoma to play at the university and have barely looked back since. I still live here am working with a good job and have begun to coach which is now a big passion of mine. Without John Scott's help and influence I don't know where I would have been and am sorry that I never got the opportunity to thank him fully for what he gave me.  John Scott was a tremendous man and someone I will never forget. His commitment to the Liverpool-Knowsley International Youth Soccer Tournament became his passion away from the Dallas Cup and it is a tribute to him that the tournament is so successful. When I am back in I visit John at his grave and have thanked him to no end. May he rest in peace!

Tommy Riley
Oklahoma