JIMMY Calderwood the footballer was far from ever being one of Scotland biggest stars but he was a pioneer in his own small way.

In 1980, after eight years spent with Birmingham City, he moved to Dutch football and signed for Sparta Rotterdam at a time when few British players played abroad and when they did it didn’t tend to last too long.

Calderwood, however, stayed for 19 years in a country where he remains loved because he learned the language, even if the Glaswegian accent still came through, and also his personality made him an easy man to like.

And it’s his human touch which explains why Scottish football and beyond were united in their distress when this genuine character, an overused word but utterly applicable here, revealed he has been battling the onset of Alzheimer’s for two years.

For those in the media who have had the pleasure or working and socialising with Jimmy C, as almost everyone calls him, the news hit us all hard because as manager of Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Ross County he was fantastic to deal with.

He would always answer his phone, never didn’t call back and a laugh was never far away.

At any dinner, football hacks would gravitate towards him because they knew he’d get his round in and hold court into the wee small hours. Jimmy was and is one of the good guys.

His near two-decade stay, as player and a manager, in Holland meant he was hardly known by anyone when Dunfermline announced this Scot with a slight Dutch twang as their manager in 1999.

First impressions were of a clearly nice bloke who had a love for the sunbed, that year-round tan is a remarkable sight close up, but it didn’t take him long to show he knew football. He won promotion in his first season and in 2004 led Dunfermline to fourth place on the SPL and a Scottish Cup Final against Celtic which they lost despite being ahead at half-time.

That success landed him the Aberdeen job where he became a local hero. After years in the doldrums, Calderwood resurrected their fortunes – they reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup in 2008 – but too many bad results in cup competition meant he couldn’t quite win any silverware.

Spells at Kilmarnock, who he saved from relegation, and Ross County were less successful; however, Scottish football was always a better place with Calderwood in it.

His brave decision to speak about his condition will have touched everyone fortunate enough to have worked or met him. Jimmy C is now about to find out how many friends he has.