Bath and Manchester City club legend Tony Book dies
Bathonian Book won the Division One title with Manchester City in 1968
Former Bath City football player Tony Book, who went on to become a club legend for current Premier League champions Manchester City, has passed away at the age of 90.
Book, who was born and bred in Bath, played for Frome Town in the 1950s before joining the Romans, where he spent eight seasons and made 400 appearances, eventually joining Manchester City aged 32, following spells at Plymouth Argyle and Toronto in Canada.
Winning City's first ever player of the season award in 1967, Book became club captain later that year and led City to the Division One title in that second season, after beating Newcastle 4-3 on the final day.
Book missed the first half of the 1968/69 season with an Achilles injury but then, aged 34, returned in style to help City lift the FA Cup with a memorable 1-0 Wembley win over Leicester City in April 1969. He was also named as the PFA Player of the Year, an award he shared with Dave Mackay.
The Bathonian went on to win the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup, as well as the Charity Shield as a player with City, before becoming manager of the club in the 1973/74 season.
Such was his impact, Manchester United and England legend George Best labelled him his most difficult opponent.
As manager Book led City to another League Cup triumph in 1976, but later became a youth coach with the club and even Honorary President. Last September he was introduced to the crowd at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City beat Brentford, as part of his 90th birthday celebrations.
In a statement shared on Manchester City's website the club said: "Now we mourn but also celebrate the remarkable life and impact of man for whom Manchester City was embedded into his very soul.
"There will never, ever be another Tony Book."