Football legend Jinky laid to rest

THOUSANDS of fans joined former players, rock star Rod Stewart and politicians to say their final farewell to Celtic and Scotland legend Jimmy Johnstone.

Hundreds attended the funeral yesterday of the player known as Jinky, who died on Monday, aged 61, after a four-year battle with motor neurone disease.

A crowd of 500 gathered outside St John the Baptist Church in his native Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, to pay tribute to the former player. And hundreds lined the streets as his funeral cortege travelled through Glasgow's east end, towards Johnstone's spiritual home of Celtic Park.

Several thousand people including supporters of Old Firm rivals Rangers greeted the arrival of Johnstone's family at the stadium with cheers and applause before the cortege headed to his final resting place.

Johnstone was most famous for the part he played in the Lisbon Lions team of 1967, when Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup.

Those who attended included Rod Stewart, a Celtic fan, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and current Celtic and Rangers managers Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish.

After the service, the coffin was carried out by four of the Lisbon Lions, to the sound of football anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.

Johnstone was laid to rest in Bothwell Park Cemetery.