Those who had stabbed him were among the first to pen glowing obituaries.

But it didn't bother Laurence Grech - he was dead anyway now. The one time he had called sick, there was a queue behind his door wanting his job.

But that did not stop Karma. The printing machines had defied Hitler's bombs and Mintoff's thugs. But not the economic facts of life and now the printing machines of a competitor churn out the paper.

The building itself which had defied Hitler's bombs and Mintoff's thugs, formerly one of Valletta's landmarks, had been sold and pulled down.

The enterprise had moved to a posh location near the quadruple towers but then moved again while its rivals in rented and improvised locations withstood the test of time.

But for Laurence this is all past history now. What remains in people's memories is the gentleness and courtesy of the man, the steadfastness of his Catholic faith and the modesty of his family. Not for him the swanky villas of the nouveau riches of those who gorge on government handouts, the villas with pools, maybe in Outside Development Zones. 

The one time when he and I were on opposite sides was that Saturday in July when I happened to be Acting Editor and we heard through the grapevine that Laurence had refused to accept Daphne's article because in it she attacked Guido de Marco who, apart from being very important in Allied Newspapers, was also Deputy Prime Minister and on that day Acting Prime Minister.

Some days before, in testimony before the Court, it had been claimed that the Brigadier (head of the Armed Forces) had been told to resign because of his son's drugs involvement.

The Court heard that the Brigadier had gone to see Guido both as a friend and as Malta's best known lawyer who according to the testimony had agreed there was no need for him to resign.

I had autonomously written an editorial in which I challenged Guido to confirm or deny this testimony.

Anyway, when we heard through the grapevine what was happening in Progress Press I offered Daphne space on our paper for the article which Laurence had refused to accept. That was how Daphne switched over and became TMI's best opinion writer for many years even when later she came up with the initiative to have her own independent blog.

All that followed is now history - Guido's hour-long press conference on Monday, his daughter suing both me and Daphne and winning (we did not appeal) and of course Daphne's murder (which is unrelated to this Guido - Brigadier story).

I remember telling all this to Italy's present Foreign Minister, then Forza Italia head, Antonio Tajani as we chatted in our offices on the day of Daphne's funeral.

My point is that throughout all this my respect and friendship with Laurence and vice-versa never, ever, came amiss. It shows the man he was.

Rest in peace, Laurence. No more deadlines to keep or pages to count.

Hamrun buying up Nocerina 

Hamrun Spartans is considering buying the Italian Serie D club Nocerina.

This was confirmed by the Spartans chief after a much publicised visit by a Hamrun delegation to watch a Nocerina game.

I do not know how these things are done so I looked up Nocera. I found there are two - Nocera Inferiore and Nocera Superiore, in the sense that one is geographically above the other.

They are in the province of Salerno, a short distance from Naples.

Some YouTube posts give you the impression of a densely populated town with traffic gone mad.

Others give a different impression. The town has its own railway station, some three or four churches, the usual Via Garibaldi and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, a municipal palace which is far better than the local council building in Hamrun, and in the main street, not hidden away. And a pro-active council which organised a day-long marathon for its citizens - even a one km race for small girls. Much better, I think, than holding a chocolate festival.

I could not find anything about the football ground except that it can hold 10,000 spectators, far superior to Hamrun's 4,000.

But at least the Hamrun one can boast of having hosted Paolo Maldini sitting on its concrete stand with no airs whatever when one of his sons played for Hamrun. Beat that, Nocerina.

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