A number of former Tottenham Hotspur players have come forward to pay tribute to goalkeeper Ray Clemence, who died on Sunday aged 72 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Clemence won five league titles, three European Cups, two UEFA Cups, the FA Cup and League Cup during 14 years at Liverpool before joining Spurs in August, 1981, aged 33.

He went on to make 330 appearances with Tottenham until his retirement due to a knee injury in March, 1988.

He won the FA Cup at the end of his first season at White Hart Lane.

Following the news of his death, his former Spurs teammates offered their memories of playing with the keeper.

Ossie Ardiles, who spent seven years with Clemence at Tottenham told the Spurs website Clemence was “a remarkable man” who would be missed.

“Ray was a brilliant man. Of course, a legend, everything in football, but more than anything else, he was a remarkable man,” said Ardiles.

“Right from the beginning from when he arrived at the club, he gave us a toughness. The team was good, yes, but Ray gave us that steel we didn’t have. He was brilliant on the pitch and off the pitch.

“He will be sorely missed. We’d see each other all the time. We lived close together, so we’d go to games together, taking one car, he’d normally drive. We were all close, not just me, but all the legends from that era. It’s very, very sad. Luckily, I had the chance to say goodbye, and he retained that sense of humour until the end... true to himself until the very last moments.”

Another teammate Gary Mabbutt also spoke to the Spurs website and said Clemence was a fighter right until the very end.

“I came to Spurs from Bristol Rovers, joining a club full of international stars,” said Mabbutt.

“I was staying at the Ponsbourne Hotel on my own, obviously a bit lonely, and one day, after training, Ray said, ‘Mabbsy, come around my house, come for tea, meet my family’. I’d only ever seen him play for England or Liverpool or Spurs, and that said everything about who he was as a person, despite everything he’d achieved, he was so humble.

“I learned so much from him. He gave me such a good education in the game at that level. Throughout his career he was one of the best goalkeepers in the world and he took that same attitude into his coaching.

“Believe me, if you were doing something wrong, he would tell you, you’d never get away with making a mistake in a game, he’d let you know about it and make sure you didn’t do it again. He was one of the best talkers, you could always hear him bellowing instructions, even when we were attacking, making sure we’d stay alert.

“He was a fighter, and he certainly fought his illness all the way. We’ll all miss him.”