Former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town defender Trevor Cherry dies at the age of 72

Cherry - who would go on to manage Bradford City from December 1982 to January 1987 - enjoyed an exemplary playing career, which started at hometown club Huddersfield in the mid-Sixties. He was an integral part of the side that secured promotion to the old Division One under Ian Greaves in 1969-70.

The classy centre-half played for two seasons in the top-flight with Town before moving to West Yorkshire neighbours Leeds in the summer of 1972 - with Huddersfield relegated back to the second tier at the end of the 1971-72 campaign.

A boyhood Town fan, Cherry appeared 188 times in total for the Leeds Road outfit, making his debut at the age of 17 in 1965. He enjoyed a fine partnership with Roy Ellam, who subsequently joined him at Elland Road.

Cherry turned down rival offers from Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur to sign for Leeds for a fee of £100,000, with the lure of joining Don Revie's all-star outfit proving irresistible.

Brought in as the long-term replacement for Jack Charlton in the centre of defence, Cherry featured mainly at left-back early on in his career at Elland Road after Terry Cooper suffered a broken leg.

Cherry would become a mainstay of the Leeds defence for a decade and was part of the all-conquering side who secured the Division One title in 1973-74, making 38 appearances.

One of Cherry's finest hours arrived when he man-marked Dutch midfield maestro Johann Cruyff out of the game in Leeds's European Cup semi-final second leg at Barcelona in front of 110,000 at the Nou Camp in March 1975.

Leeds - who triumphed 2-1 in the first leg - held their nerve to draw 1-1 and become the first English team to reach the European Cup final in seven years following an aggregate win.

Cherry would endure disappointment in the final in Paris, when he was an unused substitute in an infamous 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.

In total, Cherry made 476 appearances for the club - succeeding Billy Bremner as captain in 1976.

Cherry's wonderfully consistent form was duly recognised by England and he was capped 27 times by his country, earning his first cap against Wales in Wrexham in March 1976.

His final England appearance came in the European Championship finals group match against Spain in Naples in June 1980.

The previous month, Cherry was bestowed with the honour of captaining his country for the only time - in a 2-1 friendly victory against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Cherry ended his playing career as player-boss at Bradford City in the early to mid 80s, after being appointed manager in December 1982.

He subsequently became a member of an exclusive band – someone to be held high in the affections of West Yorkshire's three professional clubs.

Cherry's time at Valley Parade saw City lift the old Division Three championship in 1984-85, with Cherry also putting a host of quality young players such as Stuart McCall, John Hendrie and Don Goodman on the road to stardom.

But that season ended in tragedy, with Cherry in charge of City on the day of the Valley Parade fire disaster that claimed 56 lives on May 11, 1985, with the Bantams having to decamp to Odsal and then Leeds Road in a hugely difficult time for the club.

Cherry was later sacked by City at the start of 1987 and promptly turned his back on football management to enter the world of business.

He went on to run a highly-successful sports promotion business – SLP Consultancy Ltd – back in his native Huddersfield for many years and also helped run a five-a-side football centre and was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Huddersfield in November 2005.