A former regional daily journalist who almost made the grade as a professional footballer has died aged 67.

Tributes have been paid to Jim Rougvie, who worked at both Dundee-based newspaper The Courier and the Scotsman during his career.

During his career, he covered events including the Piper Alpha North Sea oil platform explosion in 1988, which killed 167 people, and the Dunblane school shooting.

However, prior to choosing journalism, Jim had considered a career in sport and had trials with Aberdeen Football Club.

An obituary on the Fife Today website reads: “The football world’s loss was journalism’s gain, however, and many a young reporter can tell of being steered by his hand as they started their own careers.

“With a flair for writing and a knack of sniffing out a story, Jim was recognised as having a rare aptitude for news reporting. He possessed legendary shorthand and would spin a yarn of having made Pitman’s famously quick methods even quicker.”

Jim, who died at home in Wormit, Fife, after a spell of ill-health, began his career in journalism as a reporter with The Courier in Dunfermline, then moved to Kirkcaldy.

He moved to the Cupar office of The Courier in 1977 then to Dundee in 1979 before moving away in the early 1980s to take up the role of Tayside reporter for the Scotsman, where he spent 20 years covering Tayside, Fife and further afield.

Jim later went freelance and worked for the Dundee Press Agency, before returning to The Courier until his retirement.

He married his first wife Liz in 1973, and the couple had two children, Charlotte and Nick. He married his second wife Eileen in 1993, although she died of cancer 12 years later.