Former England and Preston forward Sir Tom Finney has died at the age of 91.
Preston confirmed the "extremely sad news" Friday night, adding "Sir Tom was the greatest player to ever play for Preston North End and one of the all-time greats for England."
Finney played for Preston from 1946 until he retired 14 years later, scoring 210 goals in 473 appearances. He won footballer of the year in 1954 and 1957 — the first player to receive the honor twice.
He also scored 30 times in 76 appearances for England, putting him joint sixth on the all-time scoring list with Alan Shearer and Nat Lofthouse.
Finney was knighted in 1998.
Football League Chairman Greg Clarke said Finney was "quite possibly the finest player to have ever played in the Football League and was a true gentleman."
"He was also the epitome of the one club man with few people ever having contributed as much to a single team, their city or our competition," Clarke said. "He will be greatly missed by the English game."
Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:06 am