LONDON: Everton's most successful manager Howard Kendall who led the club to two league titles in the 1980s, died on Saturday aged 69.

"It is with great sadness that Everton Football Club has learned of the passing of Howard Kendall," Everton said in a statement on their website.

"The most successful manager in the history of the Club and one of the greatest players to pull on the Everton jersey. He passed away in hospital in Southport this morning at the age of 69, surrounded by loved ones."

Kendall began his playing career as a defender at Preston North End in 1963 before he moved to Everton four years later.

He originally joined Preston as an apprentice in 1961 and three years later, aged just 17 years, 345 days, he became the youngest player to appear in an FA Cup final since 1879.

Second Division Preston lost a thrilling final 3-2 to West Ham United and although success alluded him that day, he gained plenty after moving to Everton in 1967.

He was again, however, a beaten FA Cup finalist in 1968 when Everton lost a dour final 1-0 to West Bromwich Albion.

Having been converted into a midfielder, he went on to win the top-flight First Division title in 1970 when the much-celebrated midfield of Colin Harvey, Alan Ball and Kendall -- Everton's "Holy Trinity" -- won the title by nine points from Leeds United in 1970.

Kendall was a hard-tackling robust midfielder with a deft creative touch and was widely regarded during his playing career as the best never to be capped by England.

He had played for England at every junior level from Schoolboy to Under-23 and had captained England to victory in the Little World Cup, as the youth edition was called then, in 1964.

He went on to play for Birmingham City, Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and a brief spell at Everton before moving into management at Blackburn in 1979.

He managed Everton in three spells beginning from 1981 to 1987, when he won two league titles, an FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

He returned to Everton twice more from 1990-93 and from 1997-98.

He also managed Athletic Bilbao in Spain, Manchester City, Greek side Xanthi as well as Notts County and Sheffield United, and ended his career with a return to Greece at Ethnikos Piraeus.