Ray Wilson, one of England's 1966 World Cup-winning heroes, dies aged 83

Ray Wilson, a key member of England's 1966 World Cup winning squad, has passed away at the age of 83.

Wilson played a crucial role for England in their victorious World Cup campaign and started the final at left back as the Three Lions beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley.

During his club career, Wilson featured for Huddersfield, Everton, Oldham and Bradford.

He is the fifth member of England's World Cup-winning squad to have passed away after Alan Ball, Bobby Moore, Jimmy Armfield and John Connelly.

Huddersfield released a statement expressing their devastation at the news and describing Wilson as arguably the most successful and best-known player in the history of their club.

Wilson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2004 but still attended Huddersfield home games until very recently.

He made 283 appearances for the Terriers between 1952 and 1964 before joining Everton, where he won the FA Cup in the same summer as the World Cup.

Wilson's later career was spent with a season apiece at Oldham and Bradford, where he had a ten-game spell as the Bantams' caretaker manager in 1971.

Everton paid tribute to their former player, describing Wilson as 'unquestionably one of the finest footballers to wear the royal blue jersey.'

Ex-Everton manager Joe Royle, who played alongside Wilson at Goodison Park, described his former team-mate as a 'world class player'.

'He is a World Cup winner and played in the last England team that had four, maybe five, world class players,' said Royle. 'He was certainly one of those.

'He was the best of his kind at the time. And he was a top guy, always there with a smile or a helpful word. I played a few reserve games with Ray and it was like listening to a maestro. He knew his stuff.'