Former Leicester City team-mate Alan Young has led the tributes to Bobby Smith, whose funeral is being held today following his death from cancer at the age of 56.

Smith joined City in December 1978 in an £85,000 move from Hibernian and made his debut on the same day as Gary Lineker. It was New Year's Day 1979 and, ironically, Young was in the visitors' side that day.

A month later, Young went on to knock City out of the FA Cup with a hat-trick for Oldham and it was not long before he joined Wallace at Filbert Street and started a lifetime's association with Smith.

"I've got so many good memories of my time with Bobby at Filbert Street," said Young. "Jock nicknamed Martin Henderson, Eddie Kelly, Bobby and myself the 'The Four Musketeers' and we've lost one of our musketeers."

Smith was a chatterbox, said Young, and well-suited to his time as a publican and a taxi-driver following his retirement from the game.

Wallace died in 1996 and Young added: "Bobby will definitely be in Jock's Heaven X1 up there and I shall miss him a lot."

Smith made exactly 200 appearances for City, scoring 21 goals, and was the second top scorer in 1980 when City were promoted as then-Division Two champions. He played a leading role in their return to the top flight in 1983.

Lineker and Dave Buchanan also made their first City starts at a freezing-cold Filbert Street in a match which City won 2-0 in front of 12,757 supporters.

Smith and Buchanan both scored and club historian John Hutchinson recalled: "I remember Bobby's debut very well. It was a bitterly cold day and I was sitting huddled in the centre of the upper section of the Double Decker. There was a small crowd and lots of empty seats around me. To keep warm, I had a whisky hip flask."

Jock's team was in the lower reaches of Division Two. Bobby, with his distinctive perm, was one of three players making their debut, the others being 16-year-old Buchanan and a young Lineker.

"Bobby was all action and commitment, strengths he never lost while at Leicester, and both him and Dave scored that day. By contrast, Gary looked hopeless and it was some weeks before he had another chance."

Smith returned to Edinburgh for a further spell at Hibs in 1983, then again in the 1986-87 season, adding another 13 starts and one league goal to his tally in his second and third stint.

Lineker and Smith became good friends and regular golfing partners, and Smith's former Hibs team-mate, Willie Murray, said: "Gary would come up here when Bobby moved back north and they would play golf. They both loved the game. And usually they would play for a wee wager.

"That's the thing about Bobby, if there were two flies climbing up a wall he would have a bet on one of them. Although he will be buried in his suit, his lucky pen and bookie slips will be in there with him."

Smith completed his playing career with spells at Dunfermline in 1987 – winning the First Division title in 1989 – Partick Thistle and Berwick Rangers, eventually retiring from the game in 1991.

"It was impossible to spend any time with him and have a bad word to say about him,"

added Murray.

"We signed around the same time and were pretty close. He was a great bloke to be around, even over the last few weeks when, although he was suffering, he made it very easy for people to be around him. His happy personality was infectious."

Let us know your memories of Bobby Smith's time at Leicester City.