Together for Tommy
Old Firm legends mourn Gemmell
CELTIC legend Tommy Gemmell was carried on a final journey “back to Paradise” by his Lisbon Lions team-mates yesterday.
The Hoops hero – who scored in two European Cup finals including his club’s famous 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in 1967 – died, aged 73, after a long illness on March 2.
And thousands of fans joined Tommy’s friends and family to celebrate the life of a defender who “performed with a swagger” to reach the pinnacle of European football.
Motherwell-born Tommy was remembered at a moving ceremony as an “ordinary bloke, who did extraordinary things”.
Supporters lined the streets outside Celtic Park to applaud the funeral cortege as it left for Daldowie Crematorium in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.
Hundreds of club scarves, jerseys and flowers had been tied to railings and many scarves were thrown on to the street in the wake of the procession.
At Daldowie, fellow Lisbon Lions Bertie Auld, Bobby Lennox, Jim Craig and John Clark waited in the rain along with ex-Rangers player Willie Henderson to act as pallbearers.
They then entered the chapel to strains of What a Wonderful World.
Tommy, who also had 18 Scotland caps, had requested a humanist service and there was tears and laughter as the twice married father of two was remembered as the “life and soul of the party”.
Craig sounded close to tears as he told the congregation: “In the dressing room, Tam was popular and easy to get along with.
“His confidence helped create a positive atmosphere and whatever he took part in, he gave it 100 per cent.
“The last few years of his life have been tough.
“That once powerful frame began to weaken and Tam was eventually confined to his bed – a situation that such a strong athlete must have found very difficult to cope with. Yet as his strength waned, I never once heard him complain and frankly the way he dealt with whatever came his way was a lesson to us all.” Later outside, he added: “When I first arrived at Celtic Park, there used to be a little bottle in the corner of the basins in the toilet. “I tried it and it was brandy, because the nerves were fluttering at that time before big occasions and you needed something to settle the nerves. “Tam didn’t need that. He was fine. The life and soul of the party in the dressing room and outside the dressing room as well.”
Tommy married wife Mary, 64, in 1986 after they met on holiday in Majorca. He wed first wife Anne in 1967 and they had two children, Karen and David.
He is also survived by a brother, David, and two sisters, Moira and Anna.
As well as scoring against Inter as Celtic became the first British club to lift the ultimate club prize, Tommy also scored in the 1970 European Cup final in Milan when Celtic lost 2-1 to Dutch side Feyenoord.
Tommy’s death came days after the family of Billy McNeill confirmed the Lisbon Lions skipper has dementia, and shortly before the 50th anniversary of Celtic’s greatest triumph.
Football writer Alex Gordon, a great friend of Tommy, moved many to tears with a poignant eulogy in which he spoke of the “swashbuckling” defender.
He said: “I never once heard him complain. He would say, ‘Why should a living man ever complain?’
“I was in awe of the courage, strength and character of the man.
“The world has lost a good man, Celtic lost a favourite son, football lost a legend and I lost an exceptional
friend. He didn’t want to leave Celtic. It was only a matter of time before he returned to Paradise and he managed that this morning.”
Football figures from present and past were among 200 mourners.
They included Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and chief executive Peter Lawwell.
Former Hoops player and manager Davie Hay and former captain Tom Boyd, as well as ex-players Danny McGrain, Dixie Deans, Frank McGarvey, Davie Provan and Andy Walker also turned up to pay their respects.
Eddie Gray, who played for Leeds United and was a former Scotland team-mate of Tommy, was present.
Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson and administration chief Andrew Dickson attended on behalf of the Ibrox club.
Comedian and Celtic fan Tony Roper paid his respects, along with businessman Willie Haughey.
The service, led by humanist Linda Britton, was broadcast live on YouTube and featured one of Tommy’s favourite songs, Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
A wreath of white flowers beside the coffin bore the emblem of the Lisbon Lions.
His death means there are only seven Lisbon Lions left – McNeill, Auld, Lennox, Craig, Clark, Willie Wallace and Stevie Chalmers.
Tommy left Celtic in 1971 for Nottingham Forest after a 10-year spell, in which he scored 63 goals in 418 games and won six league titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups.