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Former Wales goalkeeper Dai Davies has died at the age of 72.
He had been in a hospice after being diagnosed with cancer.
Davies was at one stage Wales’ most-capped keeper, making 52 appearances for his country over a seven-year period.
His career spanned 17 years, starting at Swansea City, before moving on to Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Bangor City and Wrexham, where he ended his career in his second spell with the club.
Born in the Carmarthenshire village of Glanamman in 1948, Davies was a relatively late starter in the professional game as he focused on college work before joining Swansea in 1969.
He made his Swansea debut at the age of 22 in 1970 and was signed by Everton for £40,000 having played only a handful of games for the south Wales club.
The jump from Third Division football to the top end of the highest division – Everton were league champions at the time – was significant, with Davies admitting he found it hard initially to adjust to life at Goodison Park.
Nevertheless, Davies would spend seven years as an Everton player.
He made 82 appearances for the Merseyside club, many of which came in the 1974-75 season when they pushed hard for the title, only to lose out to Dave Mackay’s Derby County.
Davies, who had returned to Swansea on loan in 1974, left Everton on a permanent basis for Wrexham in 1977.
He helped the club to Third Division title success in his first season at the Racecourse before joining Swansea for a third time in 1981.
The return to south Wales meant a return to First Division football, with Davies racking up another 71 top-flight appearances as part of the John Toshack side that threatened to win the title in 1982.
Davies then moved to Tranmere Rovers, making his final Football League appearances for the Wirral club in 1983-84.
His last Wales appearance had come in 1982. He missed only six of Wales’ 58 matches during that seven-year spell, a run which made him the nation’s most-capped keeper until his record was surpassed by Neville Southall.
Davies was part of the Wales side that beat England 1-0 at Wembley in 1977, and the team who famously thrashed their nearest neighbours 4-1 at Wrexham four years later.
Having retired with more than 350 league appearances to his name, Davies returned to football with Bangor City in 1985-86, playing in their European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign and famously saving a penalty in an away tie against Atletico Madrid.
A second, brief stint with Wrexham followed, with Davies claiming the third Welsh Cup of his career before he finished playing for good.
Davies later ran a natural health clinic in Llangollen and worked as a pundit, often for Welsh language outlets.
He was a passionate supporter of the language of his homeland throughout his life, and was honoured at the National Eisteddfod in 1978.
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