Tributes paid to St Mirren and Thistle hero

SCOTTISH football has lost one of its doyens in Jimmy Bone.

- BY SCOTT BURNS

The Partick Thistle and St Mirren legend died on Monday at the age of 75.

Tributes flooded in for the former Hearts, Celtic and Arbroath forward who also managed St Mirren, Airdrie, Zambia's Power Dynamos, East Fife, Arbroath as well as Stenhousemuir.

Livingston's head of operations Brian Rice worked closely with the former SFA coach.

And he believes when it came to knowledge of the game and experience, Bone was right up there with Sir Alex Ferguson, the late Walter Smith, Archie Knox and Alex Smith.

Rice said: "I've known him for a long time and he's always been a great pal. He'll be sadly, sadly missed.

"Anything you needed to know about football, you just phoned Jimmy.

"There was a group of them - Jimmy, Alex Smith, Dick Campbell and Alex Ferguson.

"Andy Roxburgh,

Walter and Archie were part of it as well. They were all in great company and they were always there for you."