Nestled in the women’s team’s building at the Manchester United training ground was a sanctuary created by Jon Humble.
Using a metal wire frame, he decorated his kit room with the most colourful wall of signed football shirts, including former United players’ new clubs and their current ones’ international strips. A calendar marking the team’s fixtures adorned another wall, while a Busby Babes scarf hung above the door leading to the rows of players’ boots. He had framed versions of every United home shirt since the women’s team were revived in 2018 after more than a decade, mapping their journey.
Humble made the most of his small space, even when the women’s team were moved out of the building. He designed it as if it were a room in his own house, filling it with pictures of his family — he was a loving husband to Claire and a father of three — as well as core memories of the women’s team, from late winning goals to their historic 2024 FA Cup final triumph at Wembley.
“It was one of the first places I would go most mornings — a sanctuary away from the madness,” says Paddy Gaffey, a sports therapist who works at United.
Just outside his kit room, Humble put up a black United flag with the words ‘One Love’ printed on it in red. On the wall surrounding the flag were the black marker-pen signatures of players and staff, a running tally of all who had played a part in the club’s women’s team.
“That was his way of making people feel like they belonged,” says former United assistant coach Charlotte Healy.
Having started as kit manager for non-League men’s side 1874 Northwich, Humble spent six years among the kit staff at United, working with the men’s first team and men’s academy, and then the past three years as women’s kit lead. He joined Liverpool women’s team at the start of this season amid a large turnover of staff at United.
Tragically, Humble died, aged 44, last month from a short and sudden illness.
United women’s head coach Marc Skinner, Liverpool counterpart Gareth Taylor and former United Women assistant and now Tottenham Hotspur’s women’s head coach Martin Ho all visited him in hospital. The day after his funeral, which was attended by the Liverpool and United players, the latter’s captain Maya Le Tissier laid out a United shirt with ‘Jon’ on the back before their 1-0 Women’s Super League defeat at home against Aston Villa. Alongside his funeral order of service, the shirt now hangs in United women’s team building, surrounded by players’ signatures.
Humble’s shirt, with the order of service for his funeral (credit: Manchester United)
So many say “Big Jon” was the “nicest fellow you could ever meet”, “kind”, “caring” and “loyal”. He was, in Liverpool women’s managing director Andy O’Boyle’s words a “gentle giant” while Skinner described him as an “incredible human”, “the most humble guy” and a “brilliant ambassador for kit people”.
“People often say kit people are the heart and soul of clubs, but this was especially true with Jon,” says former United analyst and now Tottenham Women assistant Lawrence Shamieh.
(Poppy Townson – MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Humble was extremely dedicated, and had so much pride in his work. “He took his job as seriously as Pep Guardiola (the Manchester City manager does),” says Shamieh. “It became his personality,” adds Gaffey. “He was never (just) Jon, he was always Kit Man Jon.”
Though Humble did not take himself too seriously, he was a perfectionist, setting the bar for other departments. He was “Mr High Standards”, always ensuring staff and players followed the correct kit protocol, from matchday socks to travelwear. He took pride in how the women’s team represented the club.
If an academy player joined first-team training for the day, he needed to know. When Gaffey first started as a part-time external member of staff, he didn’t have initials printed on his various pieces of kit. He thought nothing of it. But the following season, Humble’s first year as women’s kit lead, Big Jon handed him all the gear with his initials on. Such a small gesture meant so much.
We are mourning the passing of our former kit lead, Jon Humble, at the age of 44 after a short illness.
Our hearts go out to his loved ones from everyone in the United family.
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) October 22, 2025
“It really mattered to him that when somebody came into our environment, they felt part of it straight away,” says Healy.
He was so much more than his job title, too. He always went the extra mile, ‘no’ was never an option, and the players adored him. “Their relationship was just so honest and authentic,” says Gaffey.
Humble’s room was right next to the players’ changing room, and he was on hand to help with any requests. From snoods in the cold and spontaneous coffee trips to printing extra shirts for family or friends, he would sort it. And that’s not as easy as it sounds. There are limited kit stocks to adhere to, but Humble was so organised that he would always find a way.
He knew players’ quirks off by heart: holes cut in one sock but not the other, different sizes, how many pairs of boots or shinpads, long or short sleeves.
“No one compares to you,” wrote Le Tissier on social media. Humble put up with Ella Toone’s boots, “the smelliest in the team,” he’d say, and would often drop off her tracksuit to her home whenever she forgot it on matchdays. He would tolerate Melvine Malard’s forgetfulness with his big smile.
“On every sideline, you were that caring presence, that steady support like a father to us all,” Malard, who called him Jonny, wrote. “I’ll wear the shirt as if you were the one who prepared it, printed it and made it ready, to shine for you.”
“The players would speak to him about any issues; from a trust point of view, he was like a therapist almost, and played the same role with a lot of the staff,” says Shamieh.
“He would give you a big bear-hug,” adds Ian Willcock, who was the women’s goalkeeping coach at United, also left the club this summer and now has the same role with Canada women’s national team. “When you needed one, you could go to him.”
Willcock (right) and Humble share a joke (credit: Manchester United)
Humble was hardworking, unpacking the kit van at 7am. “Good morning, sir!” was his traditional greeting, says Gaffey.
“The way he said it would start your day off right,” he adds. “It was so little, but I noticed that when he had gone to Liverpool, we didn’t have that anymore, the consistent person around the club.”
Although only at Liverpool for a short period of time, his attention to detail and diligence was noted straight away. “He was in his element at Melwood (the women’s team’s training ground),” says O’Boyle. “He just loved being around that environment.” They joked that it was rare to find someone so popular at Liverpool and United, given the clubs’ historic rivalry.
Shamieh and Humble (credit: Lawrence Shamieh)
Humble was a reliable and dependable figure who had a calming presence. He had a methodical approach, packing crates for matchdays with spare kit, whistles, stopwatches, pin badges, black armbands, whiteboard pens, magnets for the tactics board, hairdryers…he thought of everything.
Staff at United, however, will never forget the one time he forgot his own shorts.
He always wore shorts, whatever the weather, but he refused to wear another pair that day because they did not have the right initials on. Much to his colleagues’ amusement, he reluctantly put on his initialled tracksuit bottoms.
Willcock and Humble often travelled together in the van to matches and, with dance music blaring, they would set up an immaculate dressing room. Players’ boots, shin pads and flip flops were all aligned while their kit would be neatly folded. He had custom black mats made with the words Manchester United on, complete with the team badge, for players to place their boots on and avoid having to stand on a cold, wet floor after showering.
“Everything had a place, everything was like clockwork,” says former United physio Ash Pracy, now at Aston Villa. So proud of his work, Humble posted pictures of the finished product on social media.
Old Trafford – Always a pleasure! @ManUtdWomen v West Ham pic.twitter.com/Px9TkMmyGC
— Jonathan Humble (@BJHumbee) March 25, 2023
With physio tape, Willcock and Humble would stick pictures of players’ special moments from the last time they played that day’s opposition, celebrating a goal or making a big save, in the changing-room toilets or as the team walked out, so they were subconsciously primed with feel-good moments. They also put up individual posters above each player’s peg — Toone asked that a picture of her late father, Nick, be printed. Humble wanted the dressing room to feel like home wherever they travelled.
Such a haven was important for the staff, too. “You always knew you were ready for a game when you walked in,” says Shamieh.
The three trips to Wembley for consecutive FA Cup finals in 2023, 2024 and this May were highlights for Humble, especially when United lifted the trophy last year. “Kit Man Jon has set out a treat as usual,” former United goalkeeper Mary Earps said on the BBC’s coverage in May. “He’s the real deal,” replied ex-United midfielder Grace Clinton.
After a match, Humble packed up everything, drove back to the training ground, unpacked it all, put the laundry on and waited for the cleaned gear to dry. He worked round the clock and even though it was his day off, drove two hours to the women’s academy 2023 cup final in Loughborough, Leicestershire, to be their kit man.
Humble was, in Pracy’s words, “the glue” that held people at United together. He would galvanise staff, even with the smallest of gestures, such as posting a “Would you rather…?” conundrum in their WhatsApp group.
He would often pop up to Shamieh’s office once his work was done and take an interest in how the analyst devised game plans. “He asked really insightful questions for a kit man!” Shamieh smiles.
Indeed, Humble used to sit next to striker Rachel Williams on the bench. In January 2023, Reading were holding United to a 0-0 draw and before Williams went on in the 84th minute, Humble, who had noticed the goalkeeper coped well with low shots, said to her: “Whatever you do, just hit the roof of the net.” Three minutes later, Williams did just that, securing a 1-0 win and putting United top of the Women’s Super League.
Humble was always part of the crew to go for a walk or explore a city on away trips, and visits to Altrincham Market for a drink and nachos became a pre-match ritual. He made time for colleagues and checked in on them. Even through the tough times, Humble was a positive voice. When he was working, he was working, but Humble was always up for a laugh. Staff have treasured memories of trips abroad to Spain, Malta, Germany and Portugal and recall laughing at Big Jon descending a waterfall with a tiny blue rope during a visit to rockpools in Marbella.
At ‘Alty’ market (Credit: Lawrence Shamieh)
“People don’t realise how much you’re doing until you’re gone,” says Pracy.
“He really set the standard for what a kit department should be: the nucleus of the club, the heartbeat that kept everyone going,” adds Gaffey.
His last act before passing was to donate his organs. Giving somebody a second chance at life sums him up.
Humble by name, humble by nature.