If there’s a bigger name in the history of English football I’m yet to hear it. Legends like Bobby Moore, Sir Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Sir Alf Ramsey and many others are all genuine contenders but surely, nobody can compare with Sir Bobby Charlton. The Manchester United icon was born in 1937 in Ashington, Northumberland. He made his first team debut for United in October 1956 and won the FA Cup, three Division One championships and the European Cup with the club. He then joined the board in 1984, a position he still holds today. Charlton was a key member of the victorious England World Cup side of 1966 and played 106 times for his country. He was awarded the OBE in 1969, the CBE in 1973 and was knighted in 1994, the first footballer to gain such an honour since Sir Stanley Matthews in 1965.

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If there’s a bigger name in the history of English football I’m yet to hear it. Legends like Bobby Moore, Sir Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Sir Alf Ramsey and many others are all genuine contenders but surely, nobody can compare with Sir Bobby Charlton. The Manchester United icon was born in 1937 in Ashington, Northumberland. He made his first team debut for United in October 1956 and won the FA Cup, three Division One championships and the European Cup with the club. He then joined the board in 1984, a position he still holds today. Charlton was a key member of the victorious England World Cup side of 1966 and played 106 times for his country. He was awarded the OBE in 1969, the CBE in 1973 and was knighted in 1994, the first footballer to gain such an honour since Sir Stanley Matthews in 1965.

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They sure don’t make them like Billy Foulkes anymore – although I must admit that current Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic comes from the same mould. The clubs official website says of the 60’s legend “In a distinguished career, Foulkes won First Division championship medals in 1956, 1957, 1965 and 1967 and was back at Wembley, this time a winner, in the 1963 FA Cup final. Add to that his part in the 1968 European Cup winning team and it’s somewhat surprising he was capped only once by England, against Northern Ireland in October 1954. Although noted more for stopping goals, Foulkes is fondly recalled for his goal against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 1968, which helped send Manchester United into their victorious European Cup final.

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They sure don’t make them like Billy Foulkes anymore – although I must admit that current Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic comes from the same mould. The clubs official website says of the 60’s legend “In a distinguished career, Foulkes won First Division championship medals in 1956, 1957, 1965 and 1967 and was back at Wembley, this time a winner, in the 1963 FA Cup final. Add to that his part in the 1968 European Cup winning team and it’s somewhat surprising he was capped only once by England, against Northern Ireland in October 1954. Although noted more for stopping goals, Foulkes is fondly recalled for his goal against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 1968, which helped send Manchester United into their victorious European Cup final.

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Manchester United fans are desperate for their side to take all three points off Arsenal on Monday night and get back to the top of the table. Watching the action will be 26 guests who were just glad to simply get back to the top a few weeks ago. They are some of the Chilean miners who were dramatically rescued in October when, one by one, they were brought back to the surface in a capsule after spending two months buried underground.

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Here’s some free advice to younger Manchester United fans. The older you get, the sharper your memories become especially when it’s involved with football. The strange thing is that you tend to remember special names that may have been forgotten by most others. A perfect example is former Ireland international John Giles who after winning an FA Cup medal with United in 1963 went on to become a legend for both Ireland and Leeds United but it’s the six years spent at United that sticks in one’s memory.

Giles was voted Ireland’s greatest player so when his new book ‘John Giles: A Football Man’ is released in November, it will make compulsive reading for this old fart – and I dare say, many of the same generation. His memories of joining United as a young kid makes for a highly interesting Sunday read – here’s an extract from the book published in Irelands Sunday Independent

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