Double-winner Mee dies at 82

Bertie Mee, who managed Arsenal's 1970-71 FA Cup and League championship Double-winning team has died aged 82. "He will be remembered as one of Arsenal's truly great managers and will be sorely missed by everyone at the club," the club said in a statement.

Mee's playing career with Derby County was cut short by injury and he trained as a physiotherapist. He joined Arsenal in 1960 and succeeded Billy Wright as manager in June 1966. In 1970 he led the north London club to their first honour for 17 years when Arsenal won the old Inter Cities Fairs Cup, beating Anderlecht 3-0 at Highbury in the second leg of the final after losing the first leg in the Netherlands 3-1. The following season Arsenal became only the second club in the 20th century to win the Double, emulating the performance of their arch rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, in 1961.

Mee stayed at Highbury until he retired at the end of the 1975-76 season. He later joined Watford as general manager and stayed as a director of the club until 1991.

Terry Neill, who took over at Highbury from Mee in 1976, said he had "the fondest memories" of him. "I could talk for hours about Bertie," he said. "He made me his captain, which I much appreciated. He gave you that feeling you were all in it together. He could be hard as well, as all managers should be."

Neill said he would put Mee in the same class as other legendary managers of the past such as Liverpool's Bill Shankley and Bob Paisley. "He laid the foundations and I think all the Arsenal managers since have followed that."