Scotland set for O'Donnell farewell

Leading Scottish football figures will gather on Friday at Phil O'Donnell's funeral to remember an "outstanding human being".

Players' union boss Fraser Wishart was in constant contact with the Motherwell skipper, who held the role as the Fir Park representative for PFA Scotland, and former Motherwell full-back Wishart, who left Fir Park in 1989, a year before a teenage O'Donnell broke into the first team, revealed his former club-mate was thinking of others right to the end of his tragically short life.

The PFA Scotland chief executive said: "Not only was Phil an outstanding player, he was an outstanding human being. Scottish football is like a small village and at the moment everyone is struggling through a grieving process."

Wishart told Sky Sports News: "Phil O'Donnell was one of these guys who didn't have a bad word to say about anyone else.

"Football is a ruthless business, we all have people who don't like us, but I can genuinely say there is not one person in Scottish football who has a bad word to say about Phil O'Donnell. He was a gentleman, he respected his opponents, they respected him.

"He managed to play the game in the proper manner and still won league titles and international caps. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and his worries were about other people, about young players who leave the game, about the pressures being placed on referees."

Family, friends and colleagues will say goodbye to O'Donnell, who died aged 35 after suffering heart failure during Motherwell's game against Dundee United.

A requiem mass will be held at St Mary's Church in his hometown of Hamilton at noon, with Motherwell's fellow Scottish Premier League teams all expected to be represented, together with officials including Scottish FA president George Peat.

And thousands of fans of Motherwell and other clubs are set to line the streets as the funeral cortege makes its way to Bent Cemetery. A temporary shrine to the former Scotland cap quickly grew from the steps at the main entrance of Fir Park to cover the car park in front of the main stand.

The Motherwell Supporters' Trust are discussing a more lasting tribute to a player who scored his first goal for the club in the 1991 Scottish Cup final win over Dundee United.