Altrincham FC have led the tributes to former skipper and club legend Mark Maddox following his death from motor neurone disease aged 50.
Mark made over 300 appearances for the Robins between between 1996 and 2006. But in 2010, shortly after beginning a career in management, he was diagnosed with the terminal muscle wasting condition MND and told he had just two to five years to live.
The dad-of-three, nicknamed 'Mad Dog' due to his whole-hearted approach to the game, began a remarkable fund-raising and awareness campaign that would see him become the first person with MND to complete the London marathon, do a parachute jump and record an album with his band Last of a Dying Breed.
Speaking in 2013 he told Mancunian Matters: "When you are diagnosed everything is doom and gloom – and rightly so because obviously it's terminal.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk