TRIBUTES have been paid to a legendary football manager who has died aged 85.

Tottenham double-winning manager Bill Nicholson, who was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in 1919, died in a Hertfordshire hospital after a long illness.

He made his league debut for Spurs in 1938, but his playing career was interrupted a year later when he joined the Durham Light Infantry after the outbreak of the Second World War.

He eventually became a sergeant-instructor with the regiment.

He resumed his career after the war and won an England cap, before being appointed Spurs assistant manager in 1955, when he stopped playing.

He moved into the main job in October 1958 and remained there for 16 years.

By the time of his retirement, he had helped Spurs become the first club to achieve the double in the 20th Century, the first to win the League Cup twice, the first British club to win a European trophy and, with a UEFA Cup victory in 1972, the first British team to win two different European competitions.

His death comes only a month after that of another legendary figure in the game, former Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough,

Nicholson's tough-guy Scottish skipper, Dave Mackay, who lifted the FA Cup in 1967, urged Spurs to hold a memorial night similar to that organised by Derby in honour of Middlesbrough-born Clough .

He said: ''Bill is up there with the best managers. Nobody has done any better than him.

"I was at Pride Park this week for Brian Clough's memorial service and I hope Spurs do something similar for him because the man deserves it.''

Cliff Jones, one of the stars of Nicholson's all-conquering side of the 1960s, said: ''I would put him alongside the greats such as Brian Clough, Bill Shankly, Sir Matt Busby, and Sir Alex Ferguson."