Leading Scottish football figures will gather at Phil O'Donnell's funeral on Friday to remember an "outstanding human being".

Players' union boss Fraser Wishart was in constant contact with the Motherwell skipper who held the role as the Fir Park representative for PFA Scotland.

And former Motherwell full-back Wishart, who left Fir Park in 1989, a year before a teenage O'Donnell broke into the first team, revealed his former club-mate was thinking of others right to the end of his tragically short life.

The PFA Scotland chief executive said: "Not only was Phil an outstanding player, he was an outstanding human being.

"Scottish football is like a small village and at the moment everyone is struggling through a grieving process."

Wishart told Sky Sports News: "Phil O'Donnell was one of these guys who didn't have a bad word to say about anyone else.

"Football is a ruthless business, we all have people who don't like us, but I can genuinely say there is not one person in Scottish football who has a bad word to say about Phil O'Donnell.

"He was a gentleman, he respected his opponents, they respected him.

"He managed to play the game in the proper manner and still won league titles and international caps.

"I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and his worries were about other people, about young players who leave the game, about the pressures being placed on referees."

Family, friends and colleagues will say goodbye to O'Donnell, who died aged 35 after suffering heart failure during Motherwell's game against Dundee United.

A requiem mass will be held at St Mary's Church in his hometown of Hamilton at noon, with Motherwell's fellow Scottish Premier League teams all expected to be represented, together with officials including Scottish FA president George Peat.

And thousands of fans of Motherwell and other clubs are set to line the streets as the funeral cortege makes its way to Bent Cemetery.

A temporary shrine to the former Scotland cap quickly grew from the steps at the main entrance of Fir Park to cover the car park in front of the main stand.

O'Donnell's widow Eileen has visited the tributes and the couple's four children left their own emotional farewell to their father.

The Motherwell Supporters' Trust are discussing a more lasting tribute to a player who scored his first goal for the club in the 1991 Scottish Cup final win over Dundee United.

And Trust chairman Martin Rose hopes the family can find solace from the solemn tribute of the supporters who will pay their respects on Friday.

He said: "It's very difficult from their point of view when someone suffers suffers a bereavement in such a public process.

"The family have already acknowledged the strength and support they have received from the tributes from the various sources."

O'Donnell's death following the failure of his left ventricle in his heart has raised more questions about the pressures footballers are being placed under.

The tragedy follows similar incidents in recent years such as the death of former Manchester City player Marc-Vivien Foe and Sevilla's Antonio Puerta.

Wishart plans talks on the subject with his colleagues at world players' union FIFPro, and he will look into introducing more rigorous medical checks on players in Scotland.

"The demands on the players' fitness and bodies are much much more than when I played," said the 42-year-old former Rangers full-back.

"We have to investigate the demands on them physically and also what they put into their bodies in terms of supplements and drinks to keep up their fitness.

"But at the moment we just have to go through the grieving process in Scotland."

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