DURING his footballing heyday, they went in their thousands to see him play.

And yesterday, the people of Bolton were joined by the great and good of the footballing world to bid a final farewell to one of their own, Wanderers legend Nat Lofthouse.

As the funeral cortege arrived, a respectful hush descended and only the sound of a lone piper, against the backdrop of muffled peals of Bolton Parish Church bells, could be heard.

But as the pallbearers — Wanderers boss Owen Coyle, captain Kevin Davies, former players Ian Seddon and Syd Farrimond, Nat’s son Jeff and Brian Finney, son of Sir Tom Finney — carried Nat into the church, there came a burst of spontaneous applause.

Others cried “hooray”, cheering their hero to the last, before the respectful silence fell once again as mourners, including the current Wanderers first team squad, made their way into the church.

Many hundreds more stayed outside to hear the service broadcast on loudspeakers.

Inside, teammates and colleagues past and present sat alongside the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton and Nat’s old friend and England teammate, Sir Tom Finney.

Ever since his death at the age of 85, every superlative under the sun has been used to describe Bolton’s most famous sporting son.

But, as the 600-strong crowd of mourners packed into Bolton Parish Church heard more than once yesterday, Lofty — as he insisted on being called — would not have wanted the fuss, but would have enjoyed it in any case.

His greatest achievements and performances — the FA Cup finals of 1953 and 1958, his Lion of Vienna performance for England in 1952 — were played out in a wonderful video tribute to his life, soundtracked, somewhat fittingly, by a song the Houghton Weavers wrote in his honour.

During a moving, but often joyous service, current Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside described the first time he met Nat.

He said: “I was nervous but he put me at ease straight away in the way he did with everyone with a cheery ‘just call me Lofty, cocker’. I remember the Carling Cup final when we left the hotel and couldn’t walk more than a yard without someone coming up to him and asking for a photograph or an autograph.

“He was happy to sign every one of them and thanked people for asking. I asked him if he was okay or worried about the attention and he just said ‘I’ll be more worried when they stop asking’.”

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor spoke of the first Wanderers game he attended, with his scrapbook tucked under his jacket.

After witnessing the 6-1 mauling of Portsmouth, Mr Taylor said he waited for Nat to come out, hoping to grab an autograph in his treasured scrap book.

He said: “He signed it and my commitment to football, to Bolton Wanderers and to Nat Lofthouse was complete from that day on.”

The former Vicar of Bolton, the Venerable Alan Wolstencroft, himself a lifelong Wanderers’ fan, shared two stories, drawing laughter from those gathered both inside the church and out in its grounds.

He said: “Nat once told me about his first coach who told him he had three things — he could run, he could head a ball and he could shoot, but he told him ‘you couldn’t trap a bag of cement so don’t try anything fancy’.

“On another occasion, he was playing in a testimonial for a Grimsby player and had travelled there with Tom Finney. After the game, all the opposition players were presented with a box of fish.

“Nat opened his to find a box of fresh cod, Tomopened his and it was full of fresh plaice. Nat, quietly, queried >> BY ANDREW GREAVES andrew.greaves@theboltonnews.co.uk I was nervous but he put me at ease straight away “ PHIL GARTSIDE See our video of Nat Lofthouse’s funeral at this and asked why he had been given cod and Tom had been given plaice.

“The answer came back ‘he’s a lot better player than thee’!”

The crowds lined the street at the end of the service to applaud as his coffin as it was taken for a private family service and interment.

Leave your tribute to Nat