West Brom to honour England fan who died in Bulgaria by placing shirt on his seat at The Hawthorns

WEST BROM will honour the England fan who passed away in Sofia, Rob Spray, by placing a Baggies shirt on his seat for Tuesday night’s match with Barnsley.

The 32-year-old died while in custody ahead of the match on Monday and his family are still waiting for his body to be returned to the UK.

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Spray was a season-ticket holder in the Birmingham Road End at The Hawthorns and a shirt signed by his family and friends will be placed on his seat ahead of the match.

The club have invited his parents Jillian and Malcolm, as well as his sister Katie, to be the club’s special guests at the match at this sad time.

Manager Slaven Bilic said: “It is very sad and we have sent our condolences.

“The club are trying to help the family get information about what happened there.

“It’s very sad for a young man to lose his life. He was a big West Brom fan so the club are trying to help the family.”

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died following an incident in Sofia.

“Our staff are in contact with the UK and Bulgarian authorities.”

The club’s matchday programme will also feature a tribute to Spray.

The circumstances surrounding Spray’s death are still unknown – and his family aren’t happy with Bulgarian police’s suggestions that he was found in a helpless condition caused by taking drugs.

His sister Kate told The Telegraph: “We want to know why it was put out in the public that the death was drug related.

“He’s an HGV driver for DHL and they get tested. He was tested the other week for drugs and he passed.

“He doesn’t take drugs, he couldn’t afford to because of random drugs testing and he loved his job. We don’t believe that there would have been any drugs.

“We’ve heard they brought him round and then apparently he has become aggressive,” she said.
“But I can see him waking up and thinking ‘where the hell am I?’

“He’s 6ft, 3in and I don’t know whether they thought he was a threat to them, but it’s so out of character for them to say that. He was a gentle giant.”