Footballing legend Jimmy Hill has died at the age of 87 following a long-term battle with Alzheimer's disease.

During a career spanning six decades, Hill featured as a player, manager, chairman and pundit, most notably as presenter of the BBC's Match of the Day.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Hill's agent Jane Morgan said: "It is with great sadness that Bryony Hill and the children of Jimmy Hill have announced that Jimmy passed away peacefully aged 87 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Bryony was beside him."

While chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association in the 1950s and '60s, Hill successfully campaigned for the Football League's maximum player wages to be scrapped and was also instrumental in the decisions to award three points for a win and the right to a player's freedom of movement between clubs.

Hill's playing career began in 1949 when he joined Brentford as a 21-year-old before moving to Fulham in 1952 for a nine-year stint where he found the net 41 times in 276 league appearances. He then moved into his only managerial role, heading up Coventry City, where he won the Division Three title before guiding the Midlands side to the top flight for the first time in their history.

Hill reportedly spent his final years being cared for in a nursing home.