Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has paid his respects to former Blues striker Dalian Atkinson, who passed away in the early hours of Monday morning.

Officers were called to a home in Telford, Shropshire, at around 1.30am amid concerns “for the safety of an individual” and a Taser was used.

The man was given medical treatment but died around 90 minutes later, West Mercia Police said.

Reports claim the man was Mr Atkinson, aged 48, who came to prominence at Ipswich Town as a striker in the 1980s.

McCarthy, preparing for Town’s Championship clash at Wolves on Tuesday evening, said: “As a manager I remember him as a big, powerful centre-forward and to be losing him, for him to be passing away aged 48, is awfully sad.

“I think that’s the same for anyone in the football community, I describe it as a big tent the football tent, whether you are inside it looking out, or outside it looking in.

“That includes journalists and everybody in the football world and it’s just awfully sad when someone at such a young age...My thoughts are with his family and his real friends.

“There are aquaintances, we meet them all along, but he was a good player and I think TC (Terry Connor) spoke to him recently.

“I think he (Mr Atkinson) was an agent and that’s how close it is with us all, we talk to each other and speak to each other.

“It’s desperately sad for his family.”