GABBY LOGAN was left fighting back tears as she opened up about a tender memory of her late father, football great Terry Yorath.
The BBC Sport presenter became emotional during a candid podcast chat as she reflected on her childhood and the moment she realised her dad wasn’t invincible.
Leeds United icon Yorath passed away in January at the age of 75 following a short illness, devastating his family.
Tributes flooded in for the former midfield hardman, who made 185 appearances for Leeds and carved out a reputation as a fierce competitor.
Logan later described him as “a warrior on the football pitch and a kind-hearted and generous man off it”.
Speaking on the These Three Things podcast with Deborah Thomas, the 52-year-old revisited her upbringing and the powerful bond she shared with her dad.
The Match of the Day host admitted she often felt the need to “protect” him when she was younger, a feeling that resurfaced in an unexpected way recently.
Logan explained how her son Reuben once discovered “horrible things” written about her online but chose not to tell her in a bid to shield her feelings.
The revelation left her “mortified” and determined to remind her children that it’s a parent’s job to do the protecting.
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She said: “That’s a horrible feeling as a child. When you realise your parent isn’t kind of up to it on some level.”
It triggered a vivid memory from her own childhood while Yorath was playing football in Vancouver.
With him based in Canada and the family preparing to join him, he phoned home with what seemed like a simple request.
He asked Gabby to buy her mum a Mother’s Day card, telling her there was money beside his bed to pay for it.
But there was one problem, it wasn’t Mother’s Day in the UK. It was the North American date.
Logan said the moment shattered her image of her all-knowing dad.
She revealed: “I remember getting off the phone and crying my eyes out.
“I thought, ‘Oh my dad… he doesn’t know.’ And I thought he knew everything.”
She even stayed home from school, pretending she had a stomach ache, because she felt so heartbroken for him being so far away and “out of the loop”.
Now, as a mum herself, Logan says she’s determined her children never feel they have to carry that emotional weight, insisting they don’t need to be her “saviour” and should never feel responsible for protecting her.
