Mansfield Town

As a mark of respect, there will be a minutes silence before this afternoon's match with Fleetwood Town in remembrance of the late Sir Tom Finney.

Sir Tom, who sadly passed away last week, was one of the true greats of the English game.

He made over 400 league appearances for Preston North End between 1946 and 1960, and was also capped by England.

Born in Preston, in the street next to the Lilywhites’ Deepdale stadium, Finney was nicknamed the ‘Preston Plumber’ after completing an apprenticeship with his family's plumbing business.

He was linked with a move to Italian side Palermo in 1952, but then-PNE chairman Nat Buck quashed the deal, saying: "If tha' doesn't play for us, tha' doesn't play for anybody."

Finney twice won the footballer of the year title, in 1953-54 and 1956-57, and was twice a runner-up in the league with North End, as well as playing in the 1954 FA Cup Final defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

In total, he scored 187 league goals for the club, but in 1961, a year after he retired, the Lilywhites’ were relegated from the top flight and have not returned to that level since.

On the international scene, Sir Tom won 76 caps and scored 30 goals for England, placing him joint-sixth on the all-time list with Alan Shearer and Nat Lofthouse.

Football League Chairman, Greg Clarke said: “The Football League was deeply saddened to learn of Sir Tom's death and he was quite possibly the finest player to have ever played in The Football League. 

“He was a true gentleman and also the epitome of the one-club man with few people ever having contributed as much to a single team, their city or our competition.

"He will be greatly missed by the English game".