Shock as former Ireland hopeful and Everton legend Howard Kendall dies aged 69

Everton's most successful manager of the modern era is sadly no longer with us.

The club have confirmed the sad news that Howard Kendall, who led the club to the FA Cup in 1984 and the following season finished 13 points clear of second-placed Liverpool, to claim the  league title, has died. The club also went on to win the league title in the 1987/88 season while Kendall was also a success in Europe, having guided the Toffees to a European Cup Winners Cup title in 1985. He has two further spells in charge of the club, leaving in 1987 and managing for a spell with Atletico Bilbao. He returned to Everton in 1990 and in 1997, with his final spell in charge notable for helping the club only just avoid relegation on the final day. Everton issued a brief statement on his passing a short while ago. https://twitter.com/Everton/status/655326593980600320 He was also a manager of Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and his final job was Ethnikos Piraeus in their 1998/99 campaign. The Englishman became a person of interest for Irish football fans after the end of the Steve Staunton era when it was widely reported that he was interested in taking over as Republic of Ireland manager. https://twitter.com/RTEsport/status/468844022 However Giovanni Trappatoni eventually took the job and he remained in retirement. Tributes to the 69-year-old have been paid from throughout the football world   https://twitter.com/LFC/status/655335103430660096   https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/655326348769120256 https://twitter.com/fizzer18/status/655325540027617280 https://twitter.com/kennethdalglish/status/655333020946272256 https://twitter.com/MCFC/status/655330724468277248 https://twitter.com/Robbie9Fowler/status/655331847711404032 https://twitter.com/whufc_official/status/655330520587509760 https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/655326404343672832