Doncaster Rovers pay tribute to former boss who also managed Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Luton Town

Kinnear joined Rovers as assistant manager to former Spurs team-mate Dave Mackay in December 1987.

The club were relegated to the fourth tier at the end of 1987-88 during a difficult period in the club’s history at their former Belle Vue home.

Kinnear went onto manage Rovers on a caretaker basis following Mackay’s exit in March 1989 and stayed on until the summer ahead of Billy Bremner’s return to Doncaster.

Kinnear had been living with dementia since 2015.

A club statement read: “All at Rovers are saddened to have learned of the death of our former manager Joe Kinnear at the age of 77.

"One of football’s great characters, Joe first arrived at Rovers in 1987 as assistant to manager Dave Mackay.

"Following the departure of Mackay in 1989, Joe took charge of the team on a caretaker basis for the remainder of the 88/89 campaign - his first management role in English football.”

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After leaving Rovers, Kinnear’s managerial career prospered at Wimbledon.

He was named as Dons boss in 1992 and led the London outfit to a sixth-placed finish in the top flight in the 1993-94 season and guided them to the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup in 1997.

He suffered a heart attack before a league game against Sheffield Wednesday in March 1999 and stood down in June of that year.

Dublin-born Kinnear, who won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup as a player with Tottenham, also went on to manage Luton, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle.

He led Luton to promotion from the third division in 2001-02.

He took the Forest job in February 2004 and later replaced Kevin Keegan at Newcastle in 2008.

In February 2009, Kinnear was taken to hospital after feeling ill ahead of a match against West Brom and it was later announced he needed a heart bypass operation, leading to Alan Shearer taking the job until the end of the season.