Sir Bobby Charlton is the greatest footballer England has ever known… but was also a man of humility and humanity

They came to say goodbye to the greatest footballer these shores have ever known, although it was Sir Bobby Charlton, the man – an individual of humility, self-destruction and basic humanity – who was remembered on Monday when brilliant sunlight illuminated the city’s cathedral that life had become.

Memories brought some of the great and good football players to tears when they talked about him. A former Manchester United chief executive, who helped guide the club through years of glory, briefly broke down as he spoke of his ‘dear and loyal friend’ Sir Bobby, ‘no surname necessary’.

It was left to a young man who knew him as a grandfather, imbued his childhood with laughter and fun and completely forgave his rather average football skills, to paint the most vivid picture at a service commemorating a sportsman the likes of which we may not see. again.

For William Balderston, Sir Bobby was the one who went out to sleigh with him one Christmas day and, after seeing him crash into the snow, grabbed the sleigh, ran back up the hill and flew back down ‘at speeds that I can still do’. I don’t quite believe it.’

And then handed the sled back, as if to say, “If I can do it, so can you.” This was the grandfather who cooked breakfast on weekends, launched elegant pool dives on holiday and told his grandchildren the ‘Jelly and Custard stories’ using characters he created for his two daughters.

There seemed to be rarely any football talk between the two, even though Sir Bobby was the 1966 World Cup winner and had a totemic presence in the biggest story British football has ever known: Manchester United winning the European Cup just ten years after the unspeakable horror of the Munich disaster.

“Not even once was there any subtle bragging about his achievements or any hint of pride,” his grandson said, his testimony taking us light years away from the ego and absorption of the modern game. ‘He was a very private and modest man.’

That’s not to say he didn’t possess an extraordinary, competitive instinct that led him to extraordinary success on a football field and stuck with him almost to the end. His grandson talked about the cards and the dominoes.

A friend told the story of a mixed doubles tennis match. Sir Bobby trudged with a less-than-average partner, urging him to “just hit the ball, man!” Hit it!’, before taking a leading role in securing the set from a 5-1 losing position. He just stood at the net and smiled at the end. So typical of the man that he didn’t beam.

Munich was barely mentioned in the hour of reflection after Sir Bobby was carried into the cathedral with white roses and lilies on the coffin, although the crash, which killed 23 people on a snowy runway in February 1958, never left him released more. .

Bouquets were laid under the Munich memorial on the Old Trafford ground on Monday with messages for ‘a great player and an even greater man.’

Across the concourse of the Old Trafford stadium, where the bronze ‘Holy Trinity’ statue of Sir Bobby, George Best and Denis Law stands opposite a statue of Sir Matt Busby, their mentor and motivator, a dozen beautiful statues were unveiled on Monday. black and white images depict the life and glory of the legend, whose funeral procession arrived at the stadium on its way to the cathedral.

One of these was the young Charlton who ironed his own United jersey in the early years. Another depicted him, sweaty, holding that European Cup after victory against Portuguese side Benfica, on a London evening of unbearable heat.

And there was the image with the greatest resonance: of Charton in waistcoat, tie and smart trousers, juggling a football in a backstreet as a group of enchanted schoolboys looked on. It was shot in Ashington, his home village in Northumberland, a few weeks after Munich. He had repaired there to cope with the death of so many friends and there were calls for interviews with him. Appearing for this photo was the most he could bear.

Those who knew him best were aware of the toll the crash had taken, although Sir Bobby was of that generation disinclined to express their feelings. Sir Alex Ferguson, steeped in the club’s history, was certainly aware of it. He took his place early in the cathedral and was engaged in conversation with others, no doubt recounting the man’s crucial role in his extraordinary era of success.

Sir Bobby’s quiet influence and wise counsel have helped the former United manager in so many ways. It was he who advocated the recruitment of the Scot. He who argued that he should be given time during his difficult formative years in Manchester.

He who influenced David Beckham’s decision to sign for United after the teenager attended one of the legend’s football summer schools. It was he who, over the years, inconspicuously entered the dressing room and shook hands with the players, in moments of triumph and desolation.

“Bobby’s sound advice was always welcome – never forced – but you knew he was always there and available,” said David Gill, CEO during Ferguson’s best years. ‘In his calm way, Bobby helped me learn the game, how to behave in victory and, more importantly, in defeat. Outwardly polite. Inwardly, bitterly disappointed.’ Gill broke down as he said this, pausing for a moment before regaining his composure to speak of a man of “unwavering humility.”

So much of modern United must have been baffling to Sir Bobby, who belongs to a different, kinder and less ruthless era, yet stands for something that Manchester United are more desperate than ever to move on from. The club’s ‘Megastore’, which continuously played black and white images of Sir Bobby, sold £140 ‘Holy Trinity’ Paul Smith garments, alongside United brand hair straighteners, sunglasses and children’s slippers.

That would probably have amused the man who, as several speakers in the cathedral reflected, was always impeccably dressed – a man who would never leave the house looking less than immaculate. “Who always had a handkerchief with him,” said friend John Shiels.

Sir Bobby’s old group of brothers is getting smaller and smaller. His old friend Denis Law, the last of that Holy Trinity, suffers from the dementia that Charlton also suffered in the last years of his life, and was too weak to be present at this farewell. But even as the thread to the past is fraying, this day of reflection was a necessary reminder of the qualities that are timeless.

Charlton, whose private family funeral will take place today, showed little concern for the controversial VAR, Gill said, but was booked only twice and never sent off. “I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice,” said his old friend Shiels.