PICTURES: Sheffield Wednesday themed funeral for husband of Waterloo Road TV star who died after cancer battle

Mourners sported Sheffield Wednesday shirts at the funeral of brain cancer dad Ross Blair as his Waterloo Road star wife led tributes.
Mourners in Sheffield Wednesday shirts at Ross Blair's funeral. (Photo: SWNS).Mourners in Sheffield Wednesday shirts at Ross Blair's funeral. (Photo: SWNS).
Mourners in Sheffield Wednesday shirts at Ross Blair's funeral. (Photo: SWNS).

The 32-year-old, who died on Saturday, was laid to rest in a blue and white coffin sporting the Owls badge while mourners wore Wednesday shirts sporting "Blair 18" at the funeral, held in Warwickshire yesterday.

His widow, actress Holly Matthews, a star of BBC drama Waterloo Road said: "I have lost my best friend... but he's done everything that he ever wanted to do."

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Hundreds of mourners gathered at a crematorium in Nuneaton to bid an emotional farewell to Ross, son of ex-Aston Villa footballer Andy and brother of current Doncaster Rovers' ace Matty Blair.

The funeral was a tribute to Mr Blair's beloved Sheffield Wednesday.The funeral was a tribute to Mr Blair's beloved Sheffield Wednesday.
The funeral was a tribute to Mr Blair's beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

The property developer died at Coventry Myton Hospice on July 29 after a three-year battle with a rare grade four brain tumour.

The father-of-two was given a 50/50 chance of surviving more than five years when he was diagnosed with a primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) in 2014.

Friends and family – including the couple's daughters Brooke, six, and Texas, four – packed out the crematorium and its grounds.

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In an emotional tribute, which was read out by funeral leader Tag McEntegart, Holly said: 'The impact Ross has had on my life has been incredible.

The emotional farewell was heavily football themed. (Photo: SWNS).The emotional farewell was heavily football themed. (Photo: SWNS).
The emotional farewell was heavily football themed. (Photo: SWNS).

'We have been best friends since we met.

'We spent our lives laughing and pottering around, always together.

'Throughout it all we have been together, and our mantra has been 'whatever it takes'.

'That is now what I will do with the girls – whatever it takes to get us through and thrive.

The coffin was decked out in Sheffield Wednesday colours.The coffin was decked out in Sheffield Wednesday colours.
The coffin was decked out in Sheffield Wednesday colours.
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'He once told me, that if he died tomorrow he would have done everything that he ever wanted to do.

'He said he had no regrets.

'He said: 'When I die, tell them that I was a good guy, that I was alright, that I was one of a kind.'

'I told him that he couldn't say he was one of a kind, because that had to come from other people, and he laughed."

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