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The only thing that prevented him refereeing the biggest game in world football was Alf Ramsey's England team making the final of the World Cup in 1966 and five years later he was given the European Cup Final between Ajax and Panathinaikos but a car crash brought his refereeing career to an end.
Jack Taylor got that 1971 final and he then went on three years later to achieve what Finney had missed out on, a World Cup Final.
Finney was very much a referee of his time when there was little television scrutiny of every decision but he was a very respected referee throughout the game. He remained in the game working initially for his home town club Hereford United before going on to become secretary of Cardiff City.
He died on Tuesday in Hereford and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.
