Yesterday, on the 55^th anniversary of Lisbon, the single-most important trophy win in Celtic’s and Scottish football’s history, Hoops legends and trophy-winning club captains such as Roy Aitken, Tom Boyd and Callum McGregor gathered at Paradise alongside the Lions and their families.

The Celtic skippers of past and present waxed lyrical about what the Lions, as the first British and non-Latin winners of world football’s biggest club trophy, mean to them, the club and the Celtic support today, citing their significance even more than half-a-century after the truly momentous achievement.

Lisbon Lion himself, Jim Craig also spoke and the Celtic board were represented by Chairman, Ian Bankier and Director, Brian Wilson and they too spoke from the heart about the enduring heritage of the Lions.

Brian Wilson, who was an 18-year-old on the ground-breaking day gave a touching speech and said: “They never die who live in the hearts of those they leave behind – these are the words inscribed at the grave of John Thomson in Cardenden and, just as they are true there, so they will always apply to the Lisbon Lions, both individually and collectively.

“Indeed, it would be fair to say that awareness of what was achieved in Lisbon on May 25, 1967 is as alive today in the hearts of Celtic supporters as it has ever been.

‘As time lends perspective, the scale of that achievement becomes even more legendary, even more admired, even more astonishing in its audacity.’

“Never again will a team which came from within 30 miles of where it played touch such heights. That is an absolutely certainty which makes the Celtic team of 1967 so utterly unique in the history of football.”

Brian Wilson: Lisbon Lions were writers of social history