Ken Hancock, the goalkeeper in the Town side which won the Second Division title in 1967/68, has died, aged 87.
Staffordshire-born Hancock joined the Blues in December 1964 for £10,000 from hometown side Port Vale, who he had helped to the Fourth Division title in 1958/59.
Hancock went on to make 180 appearances for Town before incoming boss Bobby Robson sold him to Tottenham for £7,000 in March 1969.
He made only six appearances for Spurs before moving on to Bury in July 1971 with Pat Jennings the established number one at White Hart Lane.
He returned to Vale as a part-time coach in July 1975 and managed local non-league side Leek Town in 1978 and was later their chairman, and was also on the Leek and Moorland League management committee.
Hancock co-founded Port Vale's Ex-Players Association and was for a number of years a regular at Town’s Ex-Players’ Dinners.
In later years, he worked as a background artist featuring in TV shows, among them 2006’s Sorted, in which he coincidentally appeared as a member of the ‘Hancock Gang’.
Hancock’s song, in which Town fans would claim that the 6ft 1in tall keeper was ‘better than Yashin’, is perhaps the most well remembered of that era.
Vale are holding a minute’s applause in the 59th minute of their home game against Gillingham this afternoon.
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