SFA back Mail bid to have Lions honoured

SCOTTISH football last night threw its weight behind the Scottish Daily

Mail’s campaign to have the Lisbon Lions formally honoured. The 50th anniversary of Jock Stein’s side becoming the first club in Britain to lift the European Cup falls this Thursday. While the club and its fans have marked the iconic achievement with a series of events throughout this season, the legendary figures who were reared within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow have scarcely received any recognition at government level. Billy McNeill and Bobby Lennox both received MBEs but an appeal for Jock Stein to be knighted posthumously was turned down by Gordon Brown in 2007 as rules dictate only a living person can be honoured. Following the Mail’s

appeal earlier this year for the surviving Lions to be properly recognised, two of the Scottish game’s powerbrokers now believe this would be an appropriate time for the situation to be reviewed. ‘Celtic’s triumph in 1967 remains one of the most iconic moments in Scottish sporting history,’ said SFA president Alan McRae. ‘For 11 men from the west of Scotland to defeat the might of Inter Milan in such style is a feat that will never be forgotten. ‘As the first British team to win the European Cup, they changed the course of the game’s history. The Scottish FA would fully endorse any campaign to honour these men.’ SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: ‘The Lisbon Lions are rightly celebrated given the magnitude of their achievement. ‘The 50th anniversary only adds poignancy and any honour that further commemorates one of the most special days in Scottish football history can only be fitting.’

Sportsmail has started the formal nomination process for the Lions to be recognised. If you are keen to support us, log on at www. gov.uk/honours. We thank those readers who have already taken the time and effort to write or email their backing. The official instructions state that while there is no deadline for receipt of nomination forms, ‘consideration will take 12 to 18 months’.