English football "bade farewell" on Thursday to former Preston North End and England winger TOM FINNEY, "who died this month aged 91," according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. Thousands "lined the streets of Preston in north-west England and applauded his cortege as it passed Deepdale stadium, home of his only club." The city "came to a standstill for his funeral," and the service at Preston Minster was attended by 600 mourners, including former English footballers BOBBY CHARLTON and JIMMY ARMFIELD and former Scottish footballer TOMMY DOCHERTY. Docherty, who played more than 300 games for Preston, told the congregation that Finney was "the greatest player I have ever seen. When I see LIONEL MESSI on the television playing for Barcelona I think maybe you could be as good as Tom" (REUTERS, 2/27). The LONDON TIMES reported former England footballer TREVOR BROOKING, who represented the FA at the service, described Finney as "one of the most genuine individuals you would ever be likely to meet." Brooking: "Everyone admired and respected him." Football League CEO SHAUN HARVEY, who was also among those at the service, said, “The great and the good of football have come out to say farewell to Sir Tom Finney -- a man who was a genuine legend of our game.” Finney was nicknamed the "Preston Plumber" -- his father insisted he train as plumber and he "continued working in the family business throughout his career: useful extra income in the days of the maximum wage for players." Regarded "as one of the true greats of English football, his record of caps and goals came despite having lost six years to the war'' (LONDON TIMES, 2/27).
