Charlton was the player your dad told you about – his story will always be told

Bobby Charlton was the player your dad told you about.

Almost as if he was some mythical figure, the tales would be regaled about a giant of the game who survived the Munich Air Disaster to go on to become one of the greatest to grace a football pitch. A world champion, a European champion and, not only one of Manchester United’s greatest, but also one of England’s.

His story is something from a storybook so it is fitting that he will go down in folklore.

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Charlton was a name mentioned a lot in my house.

With it being an Irish home, George (or Georgie as my dad would say) Best was the greatest but there seemed a deeper realisation that what the Belfast boy could do was down to Charlton allowing him the freedom to do so. There were videos put on in my house of the European Cup final in 1968 more than once.

Best’s brilliance, Brian Kidd’s header, Alex Stepney’s super saves but this was Charlton’s night. The pictures were black and white yet so vivid in the memory. A decade on from surviving a plane crash, Charlton and Matt Busby led United to the holy grail of European football.

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Charlton’s goals in that game at Wembley showed two of his great skills.

The header in normal time to put United ahead was sublime, the clever finish with his right boot for the fourth in extra-time showed he was more than just the thunderbolt shot which wowed so many. My dad was there that night. I’ve heard about it so many times.

It was why I felt the need to go down to Old Trafford on a quiet Monday evening two days after Charlton’s passing to pay tribute to the icon of the club for my dad, who is still back in Ireland. It was so peaceful down at the stadium as a handful of supporters gathered to lay flowers or shirts in front of the Holy Trinity statue of Charlton, Best and Denis Law.

Behind them, a huge picture of Charlton looked down on them from the glass front of Old Trafford. There were kids there putting shirts down with messages but also old men and their wives with their heads bowed. Maybe they were saying a prayer, maybe they were thinking of Charlton’s family or maybe they were just remembering all the good memories he gave them.

There will be 75,000 people passing the tribute this evening when United host Copenhagen. The tributes will be just as fitting as they’re made but there will be a hustle and bustle of match day to go along with it.

Monday night was more peaceful and solemn. Eerily quiet outside a stadium which Charlton made roar so many times. The queues for the book of condolences from Sunday had disappeared but a few families walked into the suite in the Stretford End to pass on their respects in the form of a note.

The dads in the families were probably too young to have seen Charlton play but no doubt their fathers had told them the stories like mine had. And here they were with their sons and daughters, who no doubt over the last few days will have had those memories passed down to them.

Charlton’s story will continue to be told even if his passing means there are no more chapters to be written.

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