Right to the very end Sir Bobby Charlton drew a huge crowd. On the streets of Manchester people stopped and applauded and mourned as his cortège passed. In Manchester Cathedral, a packed congregation gathered to pay their respects to Charlton, a world champion, a European champion and a champion of countless good causes and values. The rain even paused, respectfully.
Charlton died on October 21, aged 86, after what the coroner recorded as “trauma in the lungs, a fall and dementia”. The outpouring of emotion has not ebbed, and his funeral was another powerful reminder of how loved and respected he was.
The service to celebrate the life of Sir Bobby Charlton CBE was a who’s who of footballing royalty, from Emilio Butragueño representing Real Madrid to Sir Alex Ferguson, that embodiment of Manchester United, to the England manager, Gareth Southgate, and to claret-and-blue-blooded royalty in Prince William, the president of the FA. United’s manager, Erik ten Hag, sent his heartfelt apologies as he had a long-standing personal commitment back in the Netherlands.
As the ten bells of the ancient cathedral tower pealed loudly, signalling the cortège’s arrival, exactly on schedule at 2pm, it was possible quickly to snatch a look around at all the fabled United talent sitting there, dark-suited, lost in their memories of Charlton, who did so much for the club. There was Paddy Crerand, Roy Keane, Nicky Butt and Bryan Robson. Good luck getting through that midfield. There was Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Tom Heaton and Jonny Evans, representing the present squad.
As the cortège entered the South Porch, followed by Lady Norma, his daughters Suzanne and Andrea, son-in-law Andrew and grandchildren Robert, William and Emma, a fan inside the church held up a red United flag with Charlton’s name emblazoned on it. Some of the congregation wore the old black, red and white bar scarf.
It all felt so beautifully reflective of Charlton’s life: a football man and family man, a man who moved between fans, players, managers, club leaders and royalty as easily as he floated across the pitch towards goal, the ball his obedient and willing accomplice.
How Great Thou Art was well chosen and exquisitely sung by Russell Watson, the tenor and United fan, his words rising towards the 14 angels that form the nave roof brackets of the 600-year-old church. The cathedral is proudly emblematic of Mancunian resilience, surviving ransacking during the Civil War, and being damaged by German bombs in 1940 and an IRA bomb in 1996. Always it has been a symbol, embodied by the Hope Window installed in 2016.
Charlton always exuded hope. He brought hope to team-mates he inspired in 1966 with England, in 1968 with United, and to the club he served with such distinction as director. How great thou art, how fitting a hymn.
Charlton’s grandson William Balderston delivered a wonderful eulogy in which he talked of his grandfather’s “greatness” but being “inspired more by his goodness”, and thanked him for the many memories, such as Charlton making up tales with characters like “Jelly” and “Custardy” to amuse them and commandeering their sledge in his Seventies and careering, laughing, down a nearby hill one snowy Christmas.
On behalf of the grandchildren, William thanked him for the inspiration “to live with kindness, to follow our dreams, and we will continue to dream and graft and respect all those around us”.
United’s former chief executive, David Gill, also gave strong voice to the values that Charlton lived by. “In his quiet way Bobby helped me learn about the game, how to behave in victory and, more importantly, in defeat — outwardly polite, inwardly bitterly disappointed,” Gill said in his eulogy.
Gill listed Charlton’s many startling stats, including the 149 goals in 758 appearances for United, adding: “However, the stat I really like is only two bookings and never being sent off. Now I know Bobby didn’t have to endure VAR, a curse of the modern game — I’m not sure he was a big fan — but to me that says it all. You can be a superstar, and a fierce competitor, whilst still being a gentleman.”
Gill spoke with his usual authority but his voice cracked momentarily, revealing the raw emotion of all those who were close to Charlton, who miss him so much, who have so many memories. “Bobby loved everything about Manchester United,” Gill continued, “and I always remember him after we won a trophy — he would sidle up to you quietly with a cold beer in his hand and say, ‘This feels good, doesn’t it, David?’ No huge show of emotion but you knew inwardly he was so proud.”
• Obituary: Bobby Charlton, giant of English football
Gill was touched by the tributes paid by fans around Premier League grounds to England’s finest footballer. “Fans spontaneously breaking out into chants of ‘There’s only one Bobby Charlton’,” Gill recalled. “Very few players in the world of football would receive that accolade. Football is a tribal sport but Bobby was universally admired.”
It is why the tears flowed far beyond the River Irwell yards from the cathedral. It is why Butragueño flew in from Madrid. Real tend to do things with a touch of class and have a strong bond with United. When Charlton died, Real issued an emotional news piece on their website.
In the days before substitutes’ benches, Matt Busby told the young Charlton to sit high in the stands at the Bernabéu and watch the movement of Alfredo Di Stefano in the 1957 European Cup semi-final. “He ran the whole show,” Charlton later recalled. He saw how one man could guide others with his passing, inspire them with his presence and his intelligent taking up of position. He also inspired Charlton.
Three years later, Real visited Old Trafford for a “challenge match” and the “special edition” of the official club programme, peppered with ads for raincoats (“Keep dry with Stone-Dri”) and socket screws (“Try Olivers of Leyland”) included a pen pic of Charlton stating he was “known as the Cannonball Kid by fans everywhere” for his “shooting skill and power”.
Memories of those unstoppable shots, against Mexico and Portugal in the 1966 World Cup, simply added to Charlton’s greatness, and featured in the eulogy from his good friend, John Shiels, the chief executive of United’s foundation, who worked with Charlton at his famous Soccer Schools.
“Coaches and kids were thrilled when he came into their group,” Shiels said. “However he had a different philosophy to the coaching theory. Theoretically, it should be accuracy over power to finish. Sir Bobby’s philosophy was that whenever you got near the goal, ‘Just smash it, the goal never moves.’ ” Charlton would also tell the youngsters that he failed with lots of chances, but encouraged them that if they missed just “pick yourself up and go again”. Good values.
Opposing goalkeepers had to endure the Charlton mantra of “just smash it” but of course from this perfectionist of a player, who worked assiduously on both feet, it was far more sophisticated.
Standing outside the cathedral, paying his respects, was Angus Loughran, “Statto”, the former commentator who has been showing fans his remarkable treasure trove of United memorabilia, including Charlton’s 1972 Book of European football, No 4 (£1). Gordon Banks provided the foreword, in which he recalled his first experience of facing Charlton in the Northern Intermediate Youth Cup final. Banks was in goal for Chesterfield, and wrote: “He peppered my goal with such power that my hands were still smarting an hour after the game.”
Just smash it. As he told the youngsters. Charlton was one of the first stars — and he would have hated that word — who got into youth development. “He was a great visionary,” Shiels said in the cathedral. “The Soccer Schools were before their time.” Countless benefited from them, such as David Beckham. Even in 1971, while still playing, Charlton was involved in coaching schemes in Europe, hosting sessions for schoolboys in Zurich and Amsterdam. He lamented at the time that England did not have such programmes for talent development.
His desire always to help youngsters was captured in his love for his children and grandchildren, his own foundation work in conflict zones clearing minefields so children have somewhere to play, and also at United.
That commitment to youth was there in the cathedral, in members of the class of ’92 that he always encouraged, Paul Scholes, Butt and Ryan Giggs (Gary Neville and Beckham sent their apologies). Sir Alex Ferguson paused outside the cathedral and spoke of how much he had benefited from Charlton’s support during his days managing United, especially mentioning he was “totally behind me in terms of everything we tried to do with youth”. United’s top five appearance-makers are all academy graduates: Giggs, Charlton, Scholes, Bill Foulkes and Gary Neville.
Football man, family man and also a man with a sense of fun, as Gill reminisced. “I can well recall the time we were playing Ajax and thought we would have a tour of Amsterdam so we asked the driver to show us the sights — and, yes, the tour did include the red light district before you ask — before ending up at a ‘nice’ café for coffee. Bobby was all for going inside until one of us noticed the smell wafting out.
“The driver had misinterpreted the word ‘nice’ and taken us to cafe also serving cannabis. We decided that this was one media story — ‘Knight Of The Realm In Drug Den’ — that was best avoided. We did make our excuses and leave!”
Charlton had a grace to him. “On away trips, there was not an airport concourse in the world that Bobby could walk through without people wanting an autograph or selfie,” Gill continued. “I would head on through to get the bags and Bobby would join me ten or fifteen minutes later having satisfied everyone. He did all this with unwavering humility.”
Gill then spoke for all in the crowds inside and outside the cathedral, on the surrounding streets and over by the United Trinity statue at Old Trafford when he finished with: “We all loved you, Bobby. You will be sorely missed.”
Glazers criticised for missing funeral
The Glazer family were not represented at the funeral of Sir Bobby Charlton (Charlotte Duncker writes). It is understood United’s controversial American owners decided to stay away as they did not want to be a distraction.
Their ownership, since 2005, has been the focus of fierce criticism and protests from factions of the club’s supporters. Their absence drew further condemnation from fan groups. A statement from the protest group The 1958 read: “It comes as no real surprise that no one from the Glazer family appears to have bothered paying their respects at the funeral of arguably our greatest ever player.
“The Glazers have proved time and again they are alienated from the football club and fan base and this is just another shameful example.
“I think we can speak for the majority of the fan base that we are glad they did not cause any unwelcome distractions. They would not have been welcome for a man who embodied all that is good at our club. Honour, integrity and dignity. However it is disappointing there has been no public statement from them today or about the sad passing of Lady Cathy [Ferguson].”
