Warm tributes have been paid to St Johnstone legend Willie Coburn.
The Perth club’s Hall of Fame member passed away at the weekend after an illness.
Mr Coburn, 74, had been invited to join a host of former Saints stars and fans at McDiarmid Park on Tuesday night for the launch of an updated club history.
Now Tommy Wright’s players will wear black armbands against Celtic in Sunday’s home game and fans will have a chance to pay tribute to a local hero.
His former captain in the celebrated Willie Ormond team of the ’60s and early ’70s, Benny Rooney, said: “This is a sad loss. We had one of our regular team get-togethers recently at a McDiarmid game and Willie was missing. I didn’t appreciate how seriously ill he was so this has come as shock.”
Coburn made 324 appearances over 10 years for his local team after signing for Bobby Brown in 1962 from Crieff Earngrove at a time when he was contemplating emigrating to Australia.
He is fifth in the club’s all-time appearance list, scoring 15 goals.
More recently, Coburn also enjoyed a part-time role at McDiarmid, looking after all-weather pitch facilities.
Rooney said: “Willie was part of a team which picked itself, with John Lambie at right back and him on the left. He was up against world class wingers in Jimmy Johnstone and Willie Henderson and they never had it easy. He was able to handle them.
“But Willie treated every opponent the same. His greatest strength was his reliability. He just did his job week in week out.
“Willie has been a great servant to St Johnstone down the years, even after his playing days were over.”
A Saints spokesman said: “The club is deeply saddened to hear the news and the thoughts of everyone at McDiarmid Park are with his family at this time.”
Coburn was a team mate of Sir Alex Ferguson during his time at Perth.
Career highlights included an appearance in the Perth club’s 1-0 League Cup final defeat from Celtic in 1969 and he was an ever present in the 1971 Uefa Cup campaign which included a victory over Hamburg.
He also played in a 3-1 friendly defeat from Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
After leaving Saints Coburn had a brief spell at Forfar before turning to refereeing.