Sir Tom Finney, who has died aged 91, was perhaps the most complete English footballer of all time, yet he failed to win a single major honour for either club or country.

In the era of the maximum wage and before players enjoyed freedom of contract, there were many single-club players. So integral did Finney become to Preston North End football club, north-west England, staying there from the age of 14 until retirement at 38, that when he went the club virtually went with him, relegated to the second division in the English football league, never to return. His brilliance inspired and often carried the team.

Bill Shankly, an established right-half for Preston when Finney joined (and later manager of Liverpool), said of his friend: “Tom Finney would have been great in any team, in any match and in any age ... even if he had been wearing an overcoat.” It was classic Shankly hyperbole, though few who saw Finney play would disagree with the sentiment.

Finney had a glittering career, but little silverware to show for it - the price he paid for loyalty. The only medals he collected were for the 1941 Wartime cup (not regarded as a full football honour), when Preston beat Arsenal 2-1, and the 1951 Second Division championship.

He even remained loyal to Preston when the Italian prince Roberto Lanza di Trabia made him an unimaginable offer to play for his team, Palermo, in Sicily. The prince had seen Finney play for England while they were touring Italy in 1952, and was so impressed he offered him a 10,000 pound signing-on fee, wages of 130 pounds a month plus a bonus of up to 100 pounds a game, a Mediterranean villa, a sports car and unlimited travel to and from Italy for his family.

Finney appeared in three World Cups, though none was truly satisfactory. The imperious English Football Association had not entered the first three tournaments, held before the war, and had its comeuppance when it deigned to enter in 1950 in Brazil. England beat Chile in their first game, but then lost 1-0 to the US, a team of part-timers. The team then lost their final group game, also 1-0, to Spain, and were knocked out.

In 1954, in Switzerland, Finney helped England reach the quarter-finals and scored their second goal when they lost 4-2 to Uruguay. Four years later, in Sweden, he was injured in the opening match against the Soviet Union, which put him out of the rest of England’s disappointing tournament. Despite his injury, Finney stayed on the field to put away the penalty that gave England a 2-2 draw.

Blessed with exquisite balance, skill and tactical intelligence, he played the game with a grace - or indeed good grace - given to very few: he was never booked, sent off or even ticked off by referees. Stanley Matthews may have been the British public’s favourite, but to purists Finney was the greater all-rounder.