The former Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders, who led the club to the First Division title in 1980-81, has died at the age of 87.
Saunders, born in Birkenhead in 1932, also enjoyed a prolific career as a centre-forward, scoring 200 goals combined for Everton, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton from 1951 to 1967.
After retiring as a player he immediately went into management, initially with Yeovil, before spells with Oxford, Norwich – where he won the Second Division title in 1972 – and Manchester City.
He took over at Villa Park in 1974 with the club in the second tier. In his first season he took them to promotion and a League Cup final, where they beat Norwich.
His Villa side won the competition again two years later – defeating Everton in extra time of the replay – before winning the league title four years after that. He resigned due to a contract dispute with the owners towards the end of the following season, three months before Villa triumphed in the European Cup final, beating Bayern Munich.
Saunders later joined Villa’s bitter rivals Birmingham, followed by 19 months at West Brom, concluding with his sacking in 1987 – and remains the only manager to have taken charge of all three of the trio of local rivals.
In a statement Villa said Saunders died “on Saturday 7 December at 3pm” – adding that players would wear black armbands during their Premier League game against Leicester, which would be preceded by a period of applause.
The club’s current captain, Jack Grealish, was among those paying tribute online, calling Saunders an “AVFC legend”, while the former Villa striker Stan Collymore tweeted: “Sincerest condolences to Ron’s family and friends. [This was] the man who made many Villans fall in love with a club and a team that gave us the very best of days: Wembley, Old Trafford, Highbury, which all led to one special night in Rotterdam.
“Rest in peace, boss.”
