There was standing-room only at the Southampton Crematorium for the funeral of Bill Ellerington, Saints’ England international full-back who later coached and scouted for the the club.

A major contribution to the over-filling of the crematorium’s East Chapel last Friday was the turn-out of 20 ex-Saints, including Bryn Elliott, Ellerington’s team-mate from the early 1950s.

Elliott, who turns 90 next week, now succeeds Ellerington as the second-oldest former Saint – after Stan Clements, who will be 92 in July.

So many of the other ex-players had been coached by Ellerington, while the four members of the 1976 FA Cup squad in attendance – Mick Channon, Hugh Fisher, Nick Holmes and Jim Steele – had benefited from his scouting reports, in collaboration with Ted Bates, during the cup-run and especially for the final.

The other 15 men spotted were Bill Beaney, Norman Dean, Mick Earls, Mick Ellard, Roger Fry, Tony Funnell, Gerry Gurr, Tommy Hare, Denis Hollywood, Cliff Huxford, Bob McCarthy, Brian O’Neil, Forbes Phillipson-Masters, Denis Pring and Ian White.

Ellerington’s widow, Rosalind, said how touched she was by that turn-out of footballers from her husband’s only club, but regretted that she didn’t get to thank all of them personally.

She has asked the Echo to pass on her thanks to them for attending and, indeed, to thank all the fans and family who packed the East Chapel to over-flowing.