Have a look at the Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles obituaries. Not a single one of them had massive as a precursor to the amount of appearances either of them made at their respective clubs.
I would have a bet that you will not find the word massive as a precursor to anyones appearances, as part of their obituary, apart for some strange reason, Colin Bells.
Whether you see it is a sly dig is up to you. It has definitely been placed in there by some smart arsed reporter, who thinks he is funmy.
It is just not the kind of language you would use and the fact it is not used on any other footballers obituary (who has made a large ammount of appearances) speaks volumes.