Everton Football Club is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dai Davies.

A fine goalkeeper and enormously popular man, the warm and inspirational Davies died peacefully, aged 72, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The thoughts of everybody at Everton Football Club are with Dai’s wife Judy, his three children, Bethan, Gareth and Rhian and his family and friends.

Dai was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in June last year.

His family are asking for anyone wishing to make a donation to visit the JustGiving page created in Dai’s memory, with funds raised going to the Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham.

A statement from Davies’ family reads:

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of William David Davies (better known as Dai) today, Wednesday 10 February 2021. He died peacefully at home.

He was much loved by Judy, Bethan, Gareth, Rhian, Emma, Sally, Kate and his 12 grandchildren. He will live on in the memories we, and many others, hold dear.

Judy, his wife, said: “Dai was a great goalkeeper but also a wonderful human being with a beautiful soul. Ever the gentleman Dai had time for everyone and was hugely respected and much loved by so many."

There will be a small private funeral and at a future date a service celebrating Dai's life.

In his last few months, the kindness and support he, and us, have received from our friends and the staff at Nightingale House Hospice has been wonderful, and we thank them all.

As we do the staff who cared for him at both The Maelor Hospital Wrexham and The Royal Hospital in Liverpool.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in Dai's memory to Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham please go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daidaviesnumberone?utm_source=sms

Davies made 94 appearances in seven years with Everton after joining from Swansea City in June 1970.

Talking to the Club’s matchday programme three months ago, he admitted the outpouring of affection after his cancer diagnosis was publicised came as a complete shock.

Davies said: “It was absolutely incredible.

“I keep a low profile, so it is fabulous that people will put pen to paper – or finger to keyboard.

“I was really touched by all the kind words; hearing the memories people had from watching me play football, some said I changed their lives.

“Thank you to all the Everton fans who sent some lovely messages and to my ex-teammates who wrote nice things.”

Davies was capped 52 times by Wales and played for Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham before retiring in 1986.

His successor in goal for Wales and Everton, Neville Southall, talking last year, called Davies “a great guy, a really funny person and a top goalkeeper”, adding praise for his friend’s “incredible mental strength”.

Davies would retain his link to football through work as a match summariser for BBC Wales and BBC Cymru, a task he undertook with his customary humour, while employing an analytical mind to provide acute insight.

The job doubled as a means of sustaining the native language which was a passion and Davies part-owned a Welsh language bookshop for a time after finishing football.

He grew an enormous interest in alternative treatments and in the mid-1990s opened his Llangollen Natural Health Clinic offering alternative homeopathic medicine.

It was a measure of Davies' humility and stoicism that he considered himself fortunate his illness caused no physical pain.

“I chose not to have chemotherapy because the cancer was too far advanced,” he said in that interview last year.

“I am not scared of death, anyway.

“I am quite happy with my progress, plus the fact I have some real quality time with my wife.

“I am well aware I am a spiritual being, having a physical experience."