Sir Bobby Robson has led the tributes after the funeral of former Fulham and England midfielder Johnny Haynes.
Robson joined Sir Bobby Charlton, Alan Mullery, George Cohen and England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson to pay his respects at the service in Edinburgh.
“He was a wonderful passer of the ball, one of the best I’ve seen and I’ve been in football 50 years,” said Robson.
“I’ve seen a lot of great players but in that sense he was unsurpassed. He was a valued friend.”
Robson admitted his “distress” at the loss of Haynes, who died last week at the age of 71 after being involved in a car crash.
“The service was nice, very distinguished and George Cohen spoke especially well about Johnny,” Robson said.
“We’ve lost a great friend, a great chum and he was a maestro in footballing terms.
“It’s distressing. It’s a long time since I was so distressed about the death of anybody to be honest.”
Eriksson said: “I came to pay my respects to a great football player, he was a former England captain with 50 or 60 caps so I respect that.
“I have heard a lot about him and many say that (Roberto) Mancini played like him so he must have been a genius.”
The first player to earn more than £100-per-week, Haynes was described as the David Beckham of his era.
The inside forward made 594 appearances for Fulham and won 56 England caps.
Haynes was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary last Monday after an accident on Dalry Road and died a day later.
The Craven Cottage club held a minute’s silence in honour of “The Maestro” before their 2-0 win over Liverpool on Saturday.
Haynes had a spell as player-manager of Fulham after Sir Bobby Robson was sacked in 1968 and during his career turned down moves to Tottenham and AC Milan.
His former Fulham and England team-mate Cohen added: “He was a maestro. A considerable footballer and, more importantly, a kind, generous man and an acknowledged gentleman.”
