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BBC Radio Manchester’s Joe McGrath’s paid tribute to the late Sir Bobby Charlton on the Devils’ Advocate podcast: “What Bobby Charlton meant to me as a United fan is he was always there when United were doing brilliantly. He was always in the background of shots when we won the Premier League, he was always in the celebrations in the FA Cup or the Champions League.
“You knew you were doing well as a Manchester United team when Bobby Charlton was near you, praising you. He was part of the collection of greatness that is Manchester United. He’s at every single United game, until the last games he was there.
“There was a clip doing the rounds which sums up my relationship with Sir Bobby Charlton. The 2008 Champions League final, Anelka misses the penatly, Van der Sar saves it, we are Champions League winners. There’s a fabulous shot of Bobby Charlton standing up off his chair and going bananas. The fact he’s seen his team win three. You could see how much it meant to him.
“It [The Munich Air disaster] was his determination to be the best, and he was. I don’t think I could have done what he did mentally, get over something like that and really flourish and make the ones he lost proud of him. The story is something that Hollywood writers wouldn’t dream of making up.
“He is just phenomenal when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. It wasn’t easy back then, the balls were rock solid and the way he could strike the ball is phenomenal.
“There was such celebration around Messi winning the World Cup last year because the world of football thought he’d ticked all the boxes. Those boxes have been ticked already by Sir Bobby Charlton. There is no question that he’s got to be the greatest ever.”
Listen to the Devils’ advocate’s full tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton here
