- A service to celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Charlton will take place on Monday
- The Manchester United and England legend passed away last month at the age of 86
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Manchester United have invited representatives from all Premier League clubs to attend Sir Bobby Charlton’s funeral.
The club and England legend passed away last month at the age of 86 and a service to celebrate his life will take place at Manchester Cathedral on Monday.
Mail Sport understands that United have contacted each of their top rivals with an invite to what promises to be an emotional event.
It is expected that each will send a senior official to pay their respects to Sir Bobby, who won the World Cup and was revered around the planet.
Final details are still being worked out but it is also thought that, in what will be a fitting spectacle, members of United’s youth teams will form a guard of honor when the funeral procession arrives at Old Trafford. It then pauses beneath the Trinity statue – of Sir Bobby and former team-mates Denis Law and George Best – for a moment of poignant reflection.
A service to celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Charlton will take place at Manchester Cathedral
There was applause for a minute during the Manchester derby at Old Trafford the day after his death
The procession is then escorted from the stadium to the cathedral in the heart of the city center. Every living United captain has been invited to the service, which will not be broadcast. Around 1,000 are expected to attend, including players from all eras at United, including the Class of 92. Other greats from across sports, such as Sir Ian Botham, are also expected.
There will be a number of eulogies from family members, those who worked alongside Sir Bobby at United and current staff.
Since news of Sir Bobby’s death broke in the early hours of October 21, tens of thousands have signed books of condolence.
The next day there was a minute’s applause during the Manchester derby as Sir Alex Ferguson wrote a moving, thousand-word eulogy in the match programme.