GREEN blazers and silver hair marked eight men out from the crowd as Ronnie Simpson, the former Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper, was laid to rest yesterday.

The Lisbon Lions were among 400 mourners paying tribute to their modest team-mate, who started his senior career at 14 and became an overnight legend 22 years later.

He died last week from a heart attack at the age of 73, the second Lion to pass on, Bobby Murdoch having died three years ago.

Billy McNeill, former Celtic captain, who led the tributes at St Ninian's Church in Corstorphine, Edinburgh, joined fellow Lions Jim Craig, Tommy Gemmell, John Clark, Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox, Steve Chalmers and Bertie Auld. The ninth survivor, Willie Wallace, now lives in Australia.

Simpson was husband to Rosemary, father to Carol and Stuart and grandfather to their children.

To many at the funeral he was friend and neighbour, one-time keeper with Hibernian who used to run a sports shop in Rose Street.

To the footballing world, however, he was the last line of defence against the mighty Inter Milan when Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967.

McNeill, the skipper of that famous side, recalled: ''That was a wonderful year for Celtic, but for Ronnie Simpson it was absolutely magnificent.''

The year began with his first international cap as the Scots humbled World Cup holders England 3-2 at Wembley. The unexpected result led to the side going down in history. His first Scottish Cup winner's medal followed before he was voted Player of the Year.

But the highlight was the European final in Lisbon when underdogs Celtic beat Inter Milan 2-1. There was a particular moment during the game that left McNeill with one of his most abiding memories of the goalie.

''He delighted in showing us that he could play the ball as well as we could. But this time he got lost about 30 yards out of the goal and back-heeled the ball. The rest of us nearly collapsed with fright, but he assured us he knew where everybody was.

''He was exceptional as a player, as a colleague, and a friend. He was also a very clever man with a sharp sense of humour, and an elder member of the team whom the rest of us could always look to for advice.''

Other Celtic stars of the more recent past, like Paul McStay and Danny McGrain, joined some of the current team at the service, along with John Greig and Willie Henderson, former Rangers players mourning a Scotland colleague who often broke their hearts on domestic business.

Perhaps the highest professional accolade came from Gordon Banks, England's World Cup goalkeeper, who suffered that 3-2 defeat in 1967 but became a firm friend and fellow adjudicator on the pools panel, which was convened whenever bad weather decimated the fixture list.

''He was a joy to be around and a joy to play against, a terrific goalkeeper - one of the best Scotland ever had.''