Celtic’s entire first team pool and staff will attend Billy McNeill’s funeral today.
Last Tuesday morning it was announced that the club’s greatest ever captain had passed away after a lengthy battle against dementia.
Celtic Park has been turned into a shrine to McNeill with supporters laying scarves, shirts and flowers around his statue at the bottom of the Celtic Way.
Last Saturday’s win over Kilmarnock was an emotional celebration of an incredible life that touched so many people with today’s funeral a mixture of sorrow and celebration.
Neil Lennon is charged with the task of getting the current squad over the line to an eighth successive title triumph but will take time out from preparing for Aberdeen tomorrow to pay their respects to a club legend.
Lennon told the Daily Record:
I want the whole squad to be there. I want the playing staff and the staff to be represented there. I am sure it will be like a state funeral, with tens of thousand of people.
Last Saturday was inspirational and this will be the same. I think it will be good for the players to see just what Celtic means to the fans and vice versa.
After the mass at St Aloysius the cortege will pass through the city centre before reaching Celtic Park where thousands will gather to pay their respects.
