AT the height of his playing fame in the fifties, the mere mention of Tommy Banks’s name was enough to send the greatest footballers in the land running to the physio’s room for cover.

This morning, hundreds of Bolton Wanderers fans joined his friends, former colleagues and family to say a final farewell to ‘Our Tommy’ – the no-nonsense defender whose granite-like reputation on the pitch hid a heart of gold to those lucky enough to meet and know him.

Prince Philip meets Bolton Wanderers players Ray Parry, Tommy Banks and team manager Bill Ridding, before the 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the 1958 FA Cup Final Image: Newsquest

Folk who gathered at Bolton Parish Church had cheered him at Burnden Park, caught buses with him to the games, knocked on his door to ask if he could play football in the street, had listened to his wonderful tales, or laughed and sang along as he crooned to his favourite Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin songs with any audience who would gather.

They had watched him rise to the heights of England stardom at the 1958 World Cup finals, become the TV face of Gillette Razors, help abolish the maximum players’ wage, but never move his home or his sensibilities more than 500 yards from the Farnworth house in which he grew up.

Like his great former team-mate Nat Lofthouse, Tommy Banks had become a working-class sporting son of which the town was proud.

Tommy Banks (1929-2024)

During a moving and often joyous service, close family friend, Dr Kieran Moriarty, described how he had held down two jobs as a 12-year-old to help his mother and father but still made for an “angelic” choir boy.

Dr Moriarty told tales of Tommy’s football career, how he had turned down Sir Matt Busby’s offer to sign for Manchester United to sign for Bolton and then been part of the famous “£110 team” which lifted the FA Cup by beating the Reds in 1958.

After his playing days ended, he ran a newsagents and entered the building trade with his brother Ralph, still carrying bricklaying hods at the age of 65 and doing 100 sit ups a day.

After being diagnosed with dementia in 2022, he continued to fundraise for the Alzheimer’s Society with the help of his loving wife, Rita, raising thousands of pounds for the charity.

Among the former Wanderers colleagues at the service were Paul Jones, Neville Bannister, Paul Hallows, Marcus Hallows, Julian Darby, Albert Lord, Wyn Davies, John Thomas, Ian Seddon, John McGinlay, Des McBain, Simon Marland, Peter Nicholson and Gordon Taylor.

Brian Birch, the last surviving member of the 1958 team, was present, as was Bolton entertainer and lifelong Wanderers fan, Stu Francis, and former Burnley keeper Colin McDonald, who had played alongside Banks for England at the World Cup.

Wanderers’ club chaplain, Phil Mason, also paid tribute on behalf of the club.

“People like Tommy have taken our club, honed it, and made it what it is today, he told the service”

Mason also revealed a touching final exchange between Tommy and Rita.

“A few days before he died, Rita whispered: ‘I love you’ to Tommy.

“Tommy responded: ‘I love you more than anyone.’”