MOURNERS paid their last respects to North-East football hero Ian Porterfield yesterday.

Football figures joined family and friends at the funeral of Sunderland's 1973 FA Cup-winning goalscorer, in Surrey.

The 61-year-old Scot, who went on to manage clubs around the world after his playing career, died last week from cancer, at a hospice in Surrey.

Tributes, including a minute's applause, were held before Sunderland's Premier League match against Reading, at the Stadium of Light, on Saturday.

Many of his Wembley-winning team-mates of 1973 attended yesterday's moving service, at St Paul's Church, in Bagshot, where Porterfield lived after he left Wearside.

Among those paying tribute was Sunderland chairman and former Irish international Niall Quinn.

He told the packed church congregation: "If you were born in the mid-Sixties, as I was, the '73 Cup Final was just massive.

"In Ireland, it was a really family day, and all the kids on our street came to my house to watch it on TV.

"Ian Porterfield was the hero of my boyhood and as I got older, I have just been in awe of him and what he did for Sunderland."

Until his death, Dunfermline-born Porterfield managed Armenia's national team. The deputy executive of the country's football federation, Armen Melikbekyan, said his death sparked national mourning.

He said: "Everybody in Armenia has been so shocked.

"Since he passed away, thousands of people have been coming to the federation with candles as a mark of respect."

The coffin was carried into church yesterday accompanied by a bagpiper playing Flower of Scotland, and left to Elvis Presley's version of My Way.

Other tributes were read by Dick Malone, a 1973 team-mate of Porterfield, Porterfield's daughters, Rachel and Claire, grandson Cameron, plus long-time friends Graham Brown and Tom Scott.

Several Sunderland fans attended the service, some in team colours.

Among them was Tom Vardy, a relative of one-time club sponsor Peter Vardy, of the former Reg Vardy motor company.

After the service, close family and friends travelled to Woking Crematorium for private cremation.

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