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Hundreds of mourners gathered to say goodbye to lifelong Liverpool FC fan Brian 'Gino' Gianassi.

Around 700 people, including family, friends and former work collegues, attended St Mary's Church in West Derby for his funeral on Friday.

Brian, from Old Swan, died in Tenerife three weeks ago, aged 60.

A coach from Barnes Travel, who Brian had worked for as a travel steward to Reds' away matches for roughly 30 years, was specially provided for his mates.

One of his best friends, Tony Evans, said Brian will be “sorely missed”.

He said: “Brian was a man who commanded respect from people of all ages. The younger lads who went the match would always listen and look up to him because he was a great person and he always looked after them.

"Very loyal fans would class him as a legend. He was home and away in England and Europe for many years. He was very well-known and he was always good-humoured. He'll be sorely missed because he was a brilliant man.”

Barnes Travel owner Robert Saunderson said Brian was his company's most popular steward.

He added: “Fans would always ask to go on Brian's coach because he was so likeable. My own son travelled on his coach and girls and ladies would want to go on Brian's coach because he looked after them.”

Mate Peter Nicholson said: “Brian loved his fun bus and he considered the people on it to be his family. There were many characters on his coach and we've got great memories of travelling on it.”

Such was Brian's popularity, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers sent a letter of condolence to his family when he died.

The letter read: “On behalf of everyone at Liverpool Football Club, the directors, players and staff, I would like to offer our sincere condolences to all Brian's family and friends … Nothing I say will recompense your loss, but I extend my deepest sympathies and want you to know that all our thoughts are with you and the family at this time. With sincere feelings, You'll Never Walk Alone, Brendan Rodgers.”

Brian, who was a Reds' season ticket holder, had started watching Liverpool with his dad at the age of six when the club was in the old second division.

His first European final was at the age of 12 and he went on to witness the Reds win all five of their European Cups and three Uefa Cups.

He grew up in the city centre's Huskisson Street and attended St Saviours infants and juniors.

At 11, his parents and brother Ronnie moved to Oceanic Road, Old Swan.

He attended Highfield school from 11 and left in 1968.

Brian started work at Ford, Halewood, in 1973 and he took redundancy at the Jaguar plant three years ago.

He was a regular in Tuebrook's Flathouse pub in the 70s and 80s, where he would turn up every weekend telling his mates the latest stories of the matches of Railway FC from Binns Road. He became the chairman of Pumptec FC in 2011. His last away game was the Reds 3-1 win at Sunderland.

After the service the gathering went on to Anfield Crematorium and later celebrated his life at St Cecilia's on Green Lane.