Some footballers are remembered for their individual success. Others are forever linked to a team. Vanishingly few symbolise what one fan described on Monday as “the passing of an era before our eyes”.
As Sir Bobby Charlton left Old Trafford for the final time, his funeral cortege carried by a ripple of applause, thousands of mourners bade farewell to a titan of the game, revered as much for his impeccable character as his talent.
“He was my only hero,” said Gordon Fisher, 73, outside the ground where Charlton made his first-team debut almost exactly 67 years ago. “There will be a massive void in the club, maybe going on into the future.”
For all of Charlton’s achievements – a World Cup, a Ballon d’Or, a footballer of the year, a record goalscorer for club and country – many of those outside Old Trafford on Monday said Charlton’s death marked an end to a historic chapter in one of sport’s darkest periods.
Charlton, who died last month aged 86, was Manchester United’s last surviving link to the Munich air disaster, which killed eight of his teammates and 15 others and cast a shadow over the life of one of England’s greatest footballers.
“I remember the tears, the stunned silences; it was horrific and something we never thought we would get over,” Fisher said.
Charlton, he said, “epitomised Manchester United and what Manchester United has always been – that’s probably shaped by his family up in Ashington and by the management by Matt Busby and by Munich”.
Bundles of floral tributes to the former United captain have been arranged beneath the Munich disaster clock, which remains frozen at 3.04pm – the time on 6 February 1958 when United’s plane crashed on the snow-covered runway.
The quiet and modest Charlton would almost certainly have not liked the fuss of what, in Manchester terms, was a state funeral. Years ago he spoke of his uncle Jackie Milburn’s funeral in 1988, when the streets of Newcastle were lined with thousands of mourners.
“I remember thinking: ‘Jackie wouldn’t have liked this,’” Charlton said. “He’d much rather they were talking. He didn’t want any fuss. He never boasted or even talked about himself as a good player. He was charming and polite, a real gentleman who’d stand if a lady came in. He was my example and I wish I’d known him longer.”
Michael Aspden, a former United tour guide, had brought his two‑year-old grandson, Lennon, to Old Trafford to pay their respects. “It’s history,” he said. “It’s the passing of an era before our eyes.”
United’s under-18 and under-21 teams formed a guard of honour as the funeral cortege passed the Trinity statue, where he is immortalised alongside Denis Law and George Best.
Applause seemed to carry Charlton’s coffin as it made its way past Old Trafford to Manchester cathedral where his wife, Norma, and their daughters, Suzanne and Andrea, gathered to pay their respects alongside club heroes.
Liz Lancaster, 74, said she had met Charlton and his family a number of times when she worked in the directors’ lounge. She remembered he always preferred cream in his coffee to milk because “milk made it too cold” – but this was far from the demands of a prima donna.
“He was very, very polite,” she said. “He was brought up proper. He had no sides to him at all. He was Sir Bobby: you respected the man and his status but he certainly didn’t expect you to fawn all over him.”
Steve Bolton, 65, said Charlton was such a gentleman he “didn’t realise how great he was”. His death, Bolton said, seemed to symbolise the end of an era for United: “The club will go on and always will, but we’ve lost three legends now – Sir Matt Busby, George Best and now Sir Bobby Charlton. It’s devastating really but it’s life.”
Jimmy Turner, 84, was one of the first supporters outside Old Trafford nearly two hours before the cortege was due to arrive. He said he was “devastated” by the death of his hero and struggled to imagine Charlton in his later years, despite their close age gap. “I still see him as a young man on a poster, as he is there,” he said, gesturing to a huge black and white image of Charlton hung from the East Stand.
Turner had been a United fan since he was 10, and recalled watching the club play at Manchester City’s Maine Road ground after Old Trafford was bombed in the second world war.
Charlton was undoubtedly the best player he had seen. “I don’t think he will be ever equalled,” Turner said.
“He seemed to glide across the pitch. His passing was immaculate. You knew once he had the ball it was going in like a rocket. It was fantastic to watch.
“I can’t see him as an old man. He still is my hero. He’s two years older than I am and I still can’t believe he’s gone really.”