SO LONGDER KAISER

Revolutionary German swept all before him

- MIKE WALTERS

UNTIL Franz Beckenbauer invented the libero's beat on a football pitch, the only sweepers in town cleaned the streets or chimneys with a brush.

But the finest German footballer of them all didn't just conceive a new position which tacticians have adopted for nearly 60 years without ever matching its innovator's command of his orbit.

When Beckenbauer tidied up at the back, his supreme elegance and majestic calm set him apart from every other player of his craft.

In a nation blessed by a 24-carat poacher in the box, Gerd Muller, and Lothar Matthaus threading passes from midfield like golden ribbons, his greatness was one in a bullion.

Beckenbauer, one of only three kings ever to win the World Cup as player and a manager, has died aged 78 after fighting Parkinson's disease and dementia.