Man City goalkeeper Trautmann, famous for playing on with broken neck in 1956 FA Cup Final, passes away aged 89
Legendary Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann has died at the age of 89, it has been announced.
Trautmann, who is understood to have suffered two heart attacks this year, passed away on Friday morning at his home in La Losa, near Valencia.
The former German prisoner of war will always be remembered for helping City win the FA Cup in 1956 despite playing for the last 17 minutes with a broken neck.
YouTube - Bert Trautmann 1923-2013
A Manchester City statement read: 'Bert Trautmann, one of the greatest Manchester City goalkeepers of all time and a true Club legend, has passed away aged 89, his son has today confirmed.
Perhaps there is no greater tribute than that of the one Lev Yashin once gave of Trautmann. The Russian keeper, regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper of all time, said, when asked to name the greatest goalkeeper ever he replied 'There have only been two world-class goalkeepers. One was Lev Yashin, the other was the German boy who played in Manchester: Trautmann.
'A true legend in the true sense of the word and a wonderful ambassador for not only his country, but Manchester City Football Club.
'Bert will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him and the football world in general.'
He went on to make more than 500 appearances for City and then had a brief spell in management before working for the German FA to promote football in countries like Burma, Tanzania and Pakistan.
Trautmann retired in 1988 and set up home in Spain with his third wife Marlis. In 2004 he was honoured with an OBE to go with his Iron Cross.
Trautmann drew on his unique experience in an interview with MailOnline last year when he condemned FIFA for refusing England players to wear a poppy on their shirts against Spain.
He said: ‘I would have ignored FIFA completely. They should have stayed out of it and let the FA do what they wanted, as long as Spain agreed.
'I always wear a poppy when I'm in England in November. Who objects to it? It doesn't cause offence to anybody. Germans have no problem with it.
'It's important to remember what happened in the past.’
Former City goalkeeper Joe Corrigan paid tribute to Trautmann, saying: ‘My dad told me about this magnificent goalkeeper City had called Bert Trautmann and thereafter I started to collect clippings about him and wanted to find out everything I could about this German.
‘Bert became my hero and though I didn’t get to see him play that often and only saw grainy clips of him on Pathe News bulletins at the cinema, even as a kid I knew he was special.
‘In later years I would meet Bert and discover for myself what a terrific guy he was and when I was having a difficult time in City’s first team and conceded a goal from the halfway line, he made a point of finding me after the game to offer some words of comfort.
‘Bert was a fantastic man and was one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time and I’m proud to have called him both a friend and a mentor.’
Ex-Arsenal stopper Bob Wilson tweeted: 'Sad news. My hero #BertTrautman, the gt Man C gk has died. Amazing man who helped bring our warring countries closer together. Thank u Bert'
An amazing life. RIP Bert.