Statue of Celtic legend Johnstone is unveiled

A LIFE-SIZE statue of the late Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone has been unveiled in his hometown.

Johnstone, known to fans as "Jinky", died in March 2006 at the age of 61, after a long battle with motor neurone disease.

Yesterday, a statue of the famous winger, who scored 129 goals for Celtic in 515 appearances, was unveiled by his widow Agnes and former team-mate Bertie Auld, at his hometown of Viewpark, South Lanarkshire.

A remembrance garden in tribute to the Lisbon Lion was also opened close by. Organised by the Jimmy Johnstone Memorial Committee, the opening ceremony was attended by friends, family and former players.

Phil Agnew, from the Jimmy Johnstone Memorial Committee, said: "We were all personal friends of Jimmy through the good and bad times and through his illness and we decided that Viewpark should honour him.

"We formed the committee to set about doing that and it was decided every penny raised would go towards building the statue, then it evolved to being a memorial garden and we think it will be a fabulous feature for Viewpark."