Mr Adamson, who worked for Leeds firm Armstong Watson as a restructuring and insolvency partner and died in June last year aged just 53, was a well-known figure in the Yorkshire business community.

Before his death, he had been involved in leading the administration of the region’s tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire, with e-commerce company Silicon Dales buying its key assets including its brand name, Yorkshire.com website and the rights to host the Tour de Yorkshire cycling race.

Before joining Armstrong Watson in 2018, Mr Adamson had been a partner for financial services firm Mazars.

In his memory, 250 people, including family, friends, colleagues and business partners, attended a charity sporting dinner at Elland Road on February 9.

The event, hosted by former Leeds midfielder Andy Couzens, and with guest speakers former Leeds goalkeeper Nigel Martyn and ex-striker Jermaine Beckford, raised a grand total of £18,000 through a silent auction, prize draw and ticket sales in aid of Beat Autism.

Mr Adamson’s granddaughter Emilia, four, was diagnosed with autism in 2021. His daughter, Emilia’s mum Lauren Adamson, explained how much support the family had received from the charity over the last couple of years.

Lauren said: “Dad was a massive support and he took the time to research autism and understand Emilia’s needs. When she received her diagnosis, he’d said, ‘I’m going to dedicate my life to that little girl’, and he definitely did that. Dad was an unbelievable man with a massive heart and he will never be forgotten.”

Beat Autism supports families through school visits, groups, coffee mornings and stay and play sessions.

Founder Sharon Firth said the funding will allow the charity to set up a new home-schooling project for children who can no longer attend mainstream school and to continue running its pre-school stay and play sessions for another two years. It will also be used to buy new equipment.

Sharon said: “We really cannot thank everyone enough who helped to set this event up and kindly donated. I was speechless by everyone's kindness and the amount raised.

“£18,000 will allow a small charity like us to do incredible things for the children we support. So many children will benefit from this amount of funding and we really are so grateful.”

Armstrong Watson chairman and close colleague of Rob, Mike Kienlen, said: “It was a great evening in memory of a wonderful man. Armstrong Watson were really happy to support a very worthwhile charity who have done so much to support Emilia.

"The amount raised far exceeded all our hopes and I'd like to thank all those who were there for their very generous support."

Thousands raised for autism charity as Leeds United heroes turn out in memory of 'wonderful' grandad