"They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind."

It's the immortal words etched on Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson's gravestone.

They were apt then. They are just as apt every time the Celtic family loses another member.

The Celtic supporters were saddened on Monday night as the news filtered through of the passing of another great John 'Yogi' Hughes' due to a short illness. The original 'Feed the Bear'.

Hughes played for Celtic between 1959 and 1971 but became synonymous with Jock Stein's era that made legends out of Scottish footballers for their historical and monumental achievements.

Yogi scored a remarkable 189 goals for Celtic during 419 appearances. For a winger that's an astonishing total. He is one of only 29 men to score over a century of goals for the club.

He won 17 major honours - 7 League titles, 5 Scottish League Cups, 4 Scottish Cups and the club commissioned a European Cup winners medal after Hughes had played in the matches leading up to the final in Lisbon although he didn't feature in the showpiece itself.

Hughes once scored five for the Hoops against Aberdeen on an ice and snow-laden pitch in a pair of "white sannies" belonging to Billy McNeill.

He bagged two penalties against Rangers in the 2-1 League Cup final victory in 1965.

However, his finest moment in a Celtic shirt came in 1970 when he stooped to beat big Jack Charlton to head home the equaliser against Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final at Hampden Park in front of 136,505 fans.

It cancelled out Billy Bremner's opener for the English champions as Celtic won 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to march on to their second European Cup final.

However, Hughes did feature in the 2-1 defeat to Feyenoord in the 1970 European Cup final.

Celtic Way:

When asked what his greatest Celtic memory was, he said: "I don't really have one. I wouldn't want to be remembered for one goal or game, even that match against Leeds. You know what? I would just want it to be known that I was a Celtic man."

All of those Celtic men should be remembered

It's high time the club commissioned a statue honouring the great squad of players who helped the club achieve the impossible of becoming the Kings of European football.

They are national football treasures every one of them and the enormity of their footballing achievement is still hitting home to this day.

The passage of time slows for no man, not even football legends.

To borrow a lyric from The Pogues' song 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda': "But year after year their numbers get fewer,

"Some day no one will march there at all..."

This is why a statue to permanently salute this band of brothers at Celtic Park is long overdue. They are certainly worthy of being commemorated in stone, copper, bronze - it doesn't matter. No team is more deserving of a fitting epitaph.

It was former Liverpool boss Bill Shankly who told Jock Stein famously: "John, you're immortal," when Celtic won the European Cup.

It's now time for all of these great Celtic men -Jock Stein, Sean Fallon, the eleven Lisbon Lions, John Hughes, Joe McBride, Willie O'Neill, Charlie Gallagher and John Fallon to be immortalised.

This piece is an extract from today’s Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out at 4pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team. To receive our full, free newsletter including this analysis straight to your email inbox, click here and tick the box for The Celtic Digest