Joe Royle has paid tribute to 'a great warrior and a great friend', the former Liverpool and England defender Emlyn Hughes, who died today.
Hughes passed away after a 15 month battle against a brain tumour, with Joe receiving the news this morning personally from the ex-England skipper's wife.
"Barbara rang me to tell me the news and my thoughts are with her and their family at this sad time," Joe told the Club website.
Emlyn Hughes
"He was a great warrior on the pitch and a great friend to me off it and he will be missed by so many people.
"Our families have been close for years and we had a fantastic time on holiday with them in Lanzarote a couple of years ago.
"I went to see Emlyn a few months ago when we played up at Doncaster and he was still fighting the tumour then but you could see that it was going to be a lost cause.
"But that was Emlyn, a fighter to the end and one of the game's and life's great characters."
Hughes, nicknamed Crazy Horse, made 657 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 48 goals as well as playing for Blackpool, Wolves, Hull, Mansfield and Swansea in a career that brought him 62 England caps.
He was also player-manager at Rotherham for a short spell and was awarded the OBE for his services to sport in 1980.
