MX23RW : Thursday, December 19 01:49:54| >> :120:84408:84408:

Mourners gather for funeral of Celtic great Chalmers

Mourners gather for funeral of Celtic great Chalmers
© Reuters
Chalmers, who netted the winner in the 1967 European Cup final against Inter Milan in Portugal, died last week.

Celtic fans made their way to Parkhead for the second time in less than a week to say an emotional goodbye to another Lisbon Lion, Stevie Chalmers.

The funeral mass of the man who scored the club's most important goal took place at St Mary's Church in Calton, where Celtic Football Club was first established during a meeting in 1887.

Chalmers, who netted the winner in the 1967 European Cup final against Inter Milan in Portugal, died last week aged 83, days after Lions' captain Billy McNeill, whose funeral took place in Glasgow last Friday.

Both had been suffering from dementia in recent years.

On a cold and wet afternoon, several thousand fans applauded when the funeral cortege passed through the grounds of Celtic Park before going to a private cremation. Tributes to Billy McNeill were still evident amid a tide of mostly green and white.

Before the funeral mass Jim Craig, who also played in the famous 2-1 win in Portugal, spoke of a testing time for everyone connected to Celtic as his thoughts went out to Chalmers' wife, Sadie, and her family.

The former full-back said: "It has been a difficult week to lose another team-mate. Stevie was a very popular guy with everybody, fans and players alike, and at this time our thoughts are with Sadie and the family.

"We hope the public in general will remember him greatly as they will with that goal in Lisbon.

"First and foremost, he was a nice guy, great fun to be with and we all enjoyed his company and he worked hard for Celtic both as a player and later in his job there as well."

Celtic Park tribute as ' Stevie Chalmers funeral cortege passes through
Celtic Park tribute as Stevie Chalmers' funeral cortege passes through (Ronnie Esplin/PA)

Other Lisbon Lions, Bertie Auld, Bobby Lennox and John Clark joined Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell, chairman Ian Bankier and other members of the Parkhead board in attendance, along with interim boss Neil Lennon and the Hoops squad.

Some more of the great and the good from Celtic's history were also present including former managers Martin O'Neill and Davie Hay and former captains of the club, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken and Tom Boyd.

Also among the mourners were Chalmers' former Celtic team-mates John Hughes and John Fallon as well as Sir Alex Ferguson and another former Rangers player, keeper Peter McCloy.

Sir Alex Ferguson leaves St Mary's Church after Stevie Chalmers funeral
Sir Alex Ferguson leaves St Mary's Church after Stevie Chalmers funeral (Jane Barlow/PA)

McCloy, who became a golfing buddy of the Hoops striker, said: "He was a great player, one of those like a Duracell battery, he kept on running all day.

"A great team man. More importantly, he was a lovely man. We played a lot of golf together and he beat me at that too."

Glasgow-born Chalmers, who played for Celtic between 1959 and 1971 before spells at  Morton and Partick Thistle, scored 231 goals for the Hoops in total, putting him fourth in the all-time scorers list behind Jimmy McGrory, Henrik Larsson and Lennox.

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '1b192a15-5756-412e-a832-4b976e9362be');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Mourners gather for funeral of Celtic great Chalmers'});

ID:358631: cacheID:358631:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:7946:
Written by
P A
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Ex-Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho leaves The Lowry hotel on December 18, 2018
Read Next:
Monday's papers: Jose Mourinho, Bruno Fernandes, Wilfried Zaha
>
Read more about Stevie Chalmers Football
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Celtic1514104444043
2Aberdeen16104230181234
3RangersRangers1510232791832
4Motherwell168172226-425
5Dundee UnitedDundee Utd166642519624
6St Mirren176382228-621
7Dundee165472729-219
8Kilmarnock174581834-1617
9Hibernian173682129-815
10Ross County173681333-2015
11St Johnstone1742112032-1214
12Hearts1734101826-813


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!