Keith Eddy, who captained Watford to the club’s first-ever Football League title, has died at the age of 77.

The defender, who was skipper when the Hornets were crowned Division Three champions in the 1968/69 season, passed away in Oklahoma, USA, where he and his wife Jacqueline settled after he retired from playing.

Eddy joined Watford from his hometown club Barrow for £1,250 in the summer of England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, signed by the then manager Ken Furphy.

He quickly established himself in the side assembled by Furphy which included the likes of Stewart Scullion, Duncan Welbourne, Tom Walley and Barry Endean, which took the club to never-before-seen places, such as the Second Division and an FA Cup semi-final.

Eddy played in all 46 league games as Watford won Division Three, and scored eight goals, most of them from the penalty spot.

The following season saw Watford reach the FA Cup semi-finals, but that was to mark one of Eddy’s biggest regrets – he missed both 1-0 quarter-final win over Liverpool and the 5-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Chelsea due to injury.

Many older fans would cite Eddy as the club’s greatest captain ever, his lack of pace but composure and commanding presence earning him the nickname ‘Steady Eddy’.

He left Watford in the summer of 1972, joining Sheffield United as he simply could not turn down the chance to play Division One football and therefore complete the full set of appearing in all four divisions.

He made a total of 274 appearances for Watford, scoring 31 times.

During his six seasons at Vicarage Road, Eddy converted 18 of the 19 penalties he took, missing just one against Swindon in 1969.

After more than 100 outings for the Blades, Eddy moved to America in 1976 and joined New York Cosmos. He took over penalty duties from none other than the legendary Pele, who missed one, and duly scored all eight he took.

At the end of that season he was named in the MLS All-Star team.

After retiring in 1977, Eddy managed Toronto Blizzard for two seasons before setting up the Tulsa Soccer Club in Oklahoma, which now has more than 100 teams.

Former Watford Observer sports editor Oliver Phillips described Eddy as “a lovely, admirable man”.

Oli relayed a story from Eddy’s former manager at Vicarage Road: “Ken Furphy, up until then Watford’s most successful manager, had returned from the USA during a break, where he managed New York Cosmos. He could not wait to tell me an anecdote as we sat down in the Watford Observer canteen. 

“He told me: “We were playing this match in Texas, and Pele wins a penalty, takes it and misses. At half time, Keith Eddy, who is captain of the Cosmos, comes into the dressing room and tells Pele: ‘From now on I take the penalties’.” I had to laugh, and he laughed with me. Keith, a £1,250 Watford buy from Barrow, is taking Pele, at that time rated the greatest-ever player in football, off penalty duty. 

“Sadly, he has gone but I remember him fondly on a personal and footballing level. 

“He was Mr Cool, unhurried throughout so much so that Tom Walley dubbed him Fast Eddy, after The Hustler film character. 

“He once told me that he managed to complete a whole game at a walking pace. He was a superb reader of play, great in midfield, but even greater in central defence, playing off the centre half. 

“He kept his cool taking penalties at which he was the most successful of any frequent Watford penalty taker, yet ironically, he failed once during the run-in to Watford’s first-ever promotion to Division Two. 

“I have related the anecdote about arriving at Shrewsbury late on a Saturday afternoon for the evening game. Everyone grabbed their bags and headed for the bus exit. Not so Keith: he was playing me at chess. 

“He remained unflurried as we played the game to a finish. Even when coach George Aitken returned and called him to join his colleagues, he said he would be there in a minute. Later, he thanked me for the game, grabbed his bag and sauntered off the bus, still unhurried, to join his colleagues.  

“He took a brief look at the pitch and continued his long-striding walk back into the dressing room, where he picked up a programme, lit up a cigarette and chilled out. 

“Keith told me once: “I used to try and avoid watching Tom Walley, who was wound up like a spring before games and would be going through all sorts of exercises. I closed my mind to it.” He was a great captain and a superb calming influence on his colleagues. 

“He is one of those people you know is bound for heaven. But he won't be there yet. He’ll take his time.”

A few years ago, Eddy was interviewed by the watfordlegends.com website (a great treasure trove of such interviews with former players) where he said: “My memories of Watford are pretty good. My wife and I lived in Croxley Green and I loved the whole area.

“Obviously winning the Third Division in the 1968/69 season was a highlight. I think we beat Plymouth 1-0 at home to decide it and I remember feeling great relief more than anything else and was delighted to have finally done it. We had been at the top all year but had begun to stumble a little bit towards the end but we got there.”