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      in Soccer

      Footie fans being served pies and burgers in boxes made of seaweed — thanks to Prince William

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      FOOTIE fans are being served pies and burgers in packaging made from seaweed — thanks to Prince William.His team, Aston Villa, are trialling the boxes by Notpla, which won £1million in Earthshot Prize funding last year.
      Notpla’s co-CEO Pierre Paslier said the Prince of Wales saw the potential at Villa Park and helped to make the deal happenCredit: Getty
      The cartons were also used at all European footie finals last season.
      Notpla’s co-CEO Pierre Paslier said of Wills: “He saw the potential at Villa Park and helped to make the deal happen.”
      He added: “It is very helpful that he is President of the Football Association because it turns out stadiums use a lot of this type of packaging.
      “After getting introduced to football clubs and stadiums direct from the prince, we were able to build relationships with catering companies that offer packing and now expand to up to tens of stadiums.”
      READ MORE ON PRINCE WILLIAM
      William and 15 finalists will travel to Singapore for the third Earthshot Prize on November 7.
      Five winners will each get £1million for ideas that could help save the planet.
      The prince will also attend the United for Wildlife Global Summit on his five-day visit. More

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      in Boxing

      Baby Tyson was 1lb and docs said he’d die. I said: ‘No, he’s a warrior. He’ll be 7ft tall & world champ, says John Fury

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      JOHN Tyson, the dad of WBC world heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, has written a knockout account of his wild and wayward life as a bare-knuckle fighter and no-nonsense minder – and we have exclusive extracts from the book, When Fury Takes Over. In Day One he tells how premature baby Tyson was not expected to survive – and how Jesus spoke to him in his jail cell.
      Tyson Fury’s dad John has written a book about raising a future world heavyweight champCredit: MacMillan
      The knockout account tells how Jesus appeared to him when he was in prisonCredit: Alamy
      “THE night that Tyson was born is something I’ll never forget.It was August, and the baby was due in seven weeks’ time.
      My wife Amber and I had had problems with previous births.
      Hearing that she had gone into labour, I left work and went straight to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.
      It was a foul night of thunder and lightning, rain pouring down as if it was the end of the world.
      READ MORE ON THE FURYS
      Again, there were complications for my lad. Tyson had been born massively premature and weighed only 1lb — small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.
      The doctors said he wouldn’t make it, but I saw something completely different — a little warrior with a glint in his eye and his fist held up, as if he was ready to take on the world.
      I said to the doctor: “That boy is special, he is going to live and he’s going to be almost 7ft tall, weigh 20st, and one day he’s going to be the heavyweight champion of the world, mark my words.”
      When a gypsy gets a funny feeling in his stomach, you should always listen to them — the chances are they’ll be right.
      Most read in Boxing
      John reveals that he had a funny feeling about Tyson when he arrived, even though he was born prematurelyCredit: MacMillan
      As Tyson grew up, there were problems for the first four years. He kept overheating and suffering delusions.
      He would have terrifying hallucinations that lions, monsters and demons were trying to eat him.
      Amber and I would pack him in ice and rush him to hospital. I started to take him outside for the natural medicine of fresh air.
      Once, I took him to a golf course. I was mucking around with a golf club when the president of the club appeared in the distance.
      He started shouting and walking towards me, so I picked up Tyson and legged it.
      I tried to jump over a ditch but the bank gave way beneath me and I landed with all my 20st on my baby son’s leg and snapped it.
      It sounded like a dry stick being broken. I took him home, he was shaking and sobbing in my arms.
      Naturally Amber was fuming, and I was devastated. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life, never mind for my poor son.
      “How could you get this wrong?” I asked myself. How can a father break his own child’s leg?
      “You can see the bone sticking out of his leg!” screamed Amber.I hung my head in shame.
      “You’re absolutely right. I’m a misfit and not capable of being a father,” I agreed.
      We took him to hospital where they performed emergency surgery on the limb.
      It haunted me, seeing his little leg with a steel bolt through it.
      For me there is nothing worse than causing pain to one of my sons, intentional or not.
      Now, 33 years on, it still brings a tear to my eye when I think of it.
      Over the next six weeks, Tyson wore a kind of protective pot on his leg.
      It didn’t stop him crawling around the house at speed or drawing boxing gloves.
      After this traumatic event, I’m glad to say the rest of Tyson’s childhood was smooth as milk.
      He was 11 years old when he decided he wanted to take up boxing.
      Me, I didn’t want him to go down that route, so I gave him no encouragement whatsoever.
      But he was determined to do it and he found an amateur gym on the other side of Wythenshawe.
      When he went to school in Styal, Cheshire, he was huge compared to the other boys in his class.
      He would often get taunted by older boys, but the difference between Tyson and me was that he learned self-control and discipline at an early age, and he was better at controlling his red mist.”
      John recalls how Tyson was 11 when he decided that he wanted to take up boxing, well before he broke several recordsCredit: Alamy
      John says he did not give Tyson any encouragement to begin with, as he did not want his son to go down that routeCredit: Getty
      “I REMEMBER the summer of 1969 and one of many trips to Yorkshire.
      Some of my mum’s people were up there working at Martin’s Farm in Norton, picking fruit on a family estate called Castle Howard, the baroque palace in Garfield II and Brideshead Revisited.
      Six miles from the estate was a huddle of derelict red-brick farm buildings, where we pitched up our trailer and car.
      One day a whole lot of blackbirds and crows started to gather. There must have been more than 100.
      It was like something out of that Hitchcock film, The Birds.
      In Romani lore — my mother’s lore — a large collection of black-feathered birds signifies the coming of death and a predator among us.
      The messengers of doom then started their assault on our home.
      The air was full of their cawing, the flapping of their wings and their talons tearing at the paintwork.
      The noise was insufferable. Then, as quickly as they had come, they began to disperse.
      My dad had this ominous knack of knowing when something bad was about to happen.
      “Something terrible has happened to one of our own,” he said.
      Within half an hour, we saw a solitary police car rattling down the lane toward us. This was the messenger of doom.
      The copper looked at my parents uncomfortably and said: “Your nephew, Owen, has just been killed in a car accident, just 15 miles down the road.”
      It was my cousin. At the time the crows had attacked us, Owen had died and met his maker.
      Six years earlier, he had been hawking carpets with my granny.
      At one door, a woman’s gaze fell on Owen and she said: “Do not ever take this boy near the coast, because it will be his demise.”
      It had been six years from when the medium first laid eyes on Owen, to his horrible death, just a short distance from the sea.”

      “ON both sides of my family, we were very religious.
      When I went to prison for the first time, serving an 11-year sentence for a fight in which another traveller lost an eye, I never questioned my faith, nor tried to blame it on God that he had landed me in such a horrible place.
      It was my actions, and my actions alone that had taken me there.
      Jesus has come through for me that many times when things have got rough — more times than I can remember.
      Two years into my sentence, Tyson rang up, sounding hollow and scared.
      He was in Sheffield hospital and his little son Prince, who was only one year old, was very ill with meningitis. “They told me he’s going to die, Dad.”
      I said: “Listen, son, they told me you were going to die, so that’s rubbish.
      “Your son is going to be all right. I’m going to call you tomorrow in the morning, and your son is going to be here.”
      Back in my cell, I sat down on my bunk and took up my old Bible.
      As I read, the words were leaping out at me in a more pronounced way than usual.
      It was as if the letters had been dipped in gold.
      The more I read, the calmer I was becoming. I said a prayer under my breath: “Dear Lord, I’m in need of help today. Well, not me, my grandson.
      “He’s struggling a bit, but keep your hands on him and do the best you can for him, please.” Then I fell asleep.
      My eyes open suddenly. At the bottom end of the bed stands the figure of a man, and though I can’t see his face in much detail, I know it is the shape of Jesus.
      Then with a voice as clear as a bell, the figure says: “Everything will be OK.”
      Pure joy passes through me, like someone has just told me that I’m to be released from my prison sentence in the morning.
      It’s four o’clock in the morning and I feel like bursting out into song!
      At 6.45am I call Tyson to see how his boy is. “Everything’s all right, isn’t it, son?”
      “Yes, Dad, it is. You were right again. He came right in the night — some time between 3 and 4am.”
      Read More on The Sun
      After that moment, I sailed through the rest of my sentence.”

      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury, (Macmillan) is out on Thursday, £22.

      John Fury’s book is out Thursday, for £22Credit: MacMillan More

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      in Motorsport

      Prince Harry enjoys solo trip to US Grand Prix in Texas after romantic holiday to Caribbean with Meghan

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      ECO-LOVING Prince Harry temporarily parks his green campaigning to attend the gas-guzzling US Grand Prix.The 39-year-old went without wife Meghan to Austin, Texas, as a guest of the Mercedes and Red Bull teams.
      Prince Harry attended the gas-guzzling US Grand Prix in Austin, TexasCredit: Getty
      Harry chatted with Red Bull team boss Christian HornerCredit: Getty
      He was also seen chatting with rival Red Bull team boss Christian Horner – donning a black polo shirt and aviator sunglasses in the sweltering Austin heat.
      Harry has attended a string of glitzy F1 races all around the world.
      Maybe he thinks green means go.
      The Duke’s wife Meghan Markle, 42, was noticeably absent from the track after the pair jetted back from a romantic holiday in Caribbean haven Canouan last week.
      READ MORE ON F1
      The source told MailOnline: “They looked happy. As Harry walked out of the shop, he slightly bumped into one of the barrels [outside] and they both giggled and Meghan reached for his hand.
      “They just looked very happy to be having a holiday together.”
      Archie and Lilibet were nowhere to be seen, and it appears the couple had been away for a kid-free weekend on the resort island.
      The island is said to be known as where “billionaires go to escape millionaires” due to its stunning sandy beaches and upscale resorts.
      Most read in Motorsport
      Mercedes driver George Russell speaking to The DukeCredit: Getty
      Harry with Mercedes boss Toto WolffCredit: Getty
      Harry has previously attended a string of glitzy F1 racesCredit: Reuters
      However his wife Meghan Markle was absent from the trackCredit: Getty More

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      in Boxing

      I gouged out a gypsy’s eye and have to avoid crowds because of my violent temper, reveals Tyson Fury’s dad

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      SHOWING a Zen-like calm, Tyson Fury weighed in for another bone-crushing heavyweight contest – as his snarling dad John went berserk.It was 2018 in Belfast, and in the crowd the raging elder Fury had spotted Tyson’s future opponent — the then world champion Deontay Wilder — and a “red mist” descended.
      John Fury with son Tyson in the boxing ringCredit: Alamy
      John said: ‘On my gravestone I’d like them to put, ‘John Fury, a man of extremes’Credit: Alamy
      John celebrates victory with Tyson and team after the WBC World HeavyweightCredit: Getty
      In an exclusive interview, former bare-knuckle boxer John told me: “Wilder was cussing us and my switch flicked.
      “My mother used to say, ‘No matter who they are, son, stand your ground’. I don’t care if you’re the heavyweight champion of the world, you’re not going to put it on me and walk away.”
      Well-versed in hardcore violence — John was once jailed for gouging out a man’s eye — he had to be restrained by security guards.
      Tyson, who inherited his father’s fighting prowess, if not his fiery nature, “had a few quiet words” to calm him down.
      READ MORE ON TYSON FURY
      Now John has catalogued his eventful life in an autobiography, appropriately named When Fury Takes Over.
      Tyson — current WBC world heavyweight champion — has written the foreword, describing John as “our clan leader”.
      The book charts John’s life, from his birth in a “bow-top gypsy wagon” on an Irish roadside in Tuam, County Galway, to becoming a Netflix reality TV star.
      Speaking from Saudi Arabia — where Tyson is preparing for his fight on Saturday with Cameroonian Francis ­Ngannou — John said: “I wake up every morning now thinking it’s a dream. My childhood was very different to that of my kids’.
      Most read in Boxing
      “Growing up, it was a struggle to get the bare necessities like running water, electricity and a fixed abode.”
      One of four boys, John is the son of Irish traveller Hughie and English Romany gypsy Patience, known as Cissy, who roamed Britain in their caravan.
      John recalled: “Back then every pub you went to used to say, ‘No dogs and no travellers’.
      “People looking at you and being derogatory was how it was. You know, ‘The gypsies are in town, lock up your kids, lock up your ­belongings’.
      “But my family treated people with respect and we expected it back.
      “We were clean and tidy, we never abused people’s property.
      “But everyone was stigmatised as thieves and vagabonds.
      “Over the years we’ve had to ­integrate and learn the settled ­people’s ways.”
      According to John it was tough-as-nails Cissy — a “natural southpaw” (left-handed boxer) — who gave the family their boxing abilities.
      John didn’t get much regular schooling due to deep-rooted prejudice against travellers.
      In the same gravelly tones as Tyson, John, 59, told me: “If a gypsy went to school in the early Seventies, you weren’t going to learn anything because you got battered from pillar to post.
      “You were more worried about ­getting a good hiding than learning stuff, so we never bothered.
      Good hiding
      “My dad said, ‘Learn to get your living’. So we went out with my mother and father, working.”
      That meant hawking — selling — carpets door-to-door or surfacing roads.
      Dad-of-six John recalled: “I hawked at my first house when I was about seven years old.
      “If you opened the door to John Fury when he was a kid, I hope you had half an hour to spare.
      “‘No’ was often the answer but I had to talk them into saying ‘yes’ to help put food on our table.
      “Half the time they bought carpets off me just to get rid of me.”
      Very much his mother’s son, the young John was as adept with his fists as he was with the sales patter.
      He said: “Fighting has always been in our family — it’s our second nature.
      “I was big for my age and people my age wanted to fight me.
      “I would beat them up and then they’d go and get their big brother.
      “It was a free-for-all. You either damage me or I damage you. It was dog eat dog.
      “I probably got more hidings than anyone alive. It’s turned me into the person I am today.”
      John is the son of Irish traveller Hughie and English Romany gypsy Patience who roamed Britain in their caravanCredit: MacMillan
      When John was 15 he fought a dad in his thirties who had called him a “gyppo” after John brawled with his son.
      As the bearded man came towards him demanding a fight, John hit him “with a left and a right”.
      He recalled: “He went straight down and I kicked him full in the face with the instep of my hobnail boots.”
      Eventually John ended up in a ­Nottinghamshire borstal, which he likens to the grim 1979 film Scum, starring Ray Winstone.
      There he confronted two bullies, punching one “weasel” so hard “that his nose shattered”.
      Afraid his sentence would be increased, John jumped from a third-storey window to escape.
      On the run for three years, he met traveller Amber, who became his wife and had a son, John Boy, when John was just 18.
      Then he was arrested and sent to a young offenders’ unit to finish his sentence.
      In 1988 his son Tyson Luke Fury arrived three months premature, weighing just 1lb.
      John said: “I could hold him in the palm of my hand. He had to be a fighter to survive.”
      John and Amber had two other sons, Shane and Hughie. In 1997 daughter Ramona was born but died after just four days.
      When the couple split, John found love again with second wife Chantal and became a dad to two more boys, Roman, and boxer and Love Island star Tommy.
      John recalled: ‘Back then every pub you went to used to say, ‘No dogs and no travellers’Credit: PUBLISHER
      John with his father, mother and uncleCredit: MacMillan
      With cash short, John — a seasoned street fighter — decided to try boxing professionally.
      He entered a ­promoter’s gym for an audition wearing hobnail boots and jeans, and recalled: “They looked at me funny but it was all about money for me to feed my family.
      “Fighting professionally for a few hundred pounds on a Saturday night was easy money for me.
      “Meanwhile I was trading scrap metal, doing some roofing, tarmacking and still hawking carpets.”
      John was also carrying on a family tradition of bare-knuckle boxing.
      The 6ft 3in bruiser, who later helped guide Tyson as he made his way in the conventional game, said his tactics were to “throw a lot of punches” and “get the job done as soon as possible”.
      His professional record included four losses, but with bare knuckles he was unbeaten, adding: “I was ­prepared to fight anyone, anywhere, any time.”
      John bought a farm at Styal, in Cheshire, when he was 26 and the settled life gave Tyson a formal education his father was denied.
      The future champion went to the local primary school, where John remembers he was “huge” compared to the other boys in his class.
      Tyson began boxing aged 11 and took to it “like a duck to water”.
      By the time he was 15 he was already 6ft 5in and finding sparring partners difficult to come by.
      John would drive him as far afield as Huddersfield and Leicester looking for suitable fighters who could cope with his son’s explosive power.
      ‘Prison didn’t bother me’
      When John was 30 he embarked on a five-year stint as an “enforcer” — which meant people who were owed a debt or were being bullied could call him and he would “sort it out in my own way for a fee”.
      In 2011, John was jailed for 11 years after gouging out fellow ­traveller Oathie Sykes’s eye following a 12-year feud.
      John said: “It was two gypsy ­people, proud people, so someone’s going to get hurt.
      “I never intended to hurt him like that but, when you are fighting where anything goes, it can happen.
      “If it had happened to me I’d have moved on and not got the police involved because I’m a true-bred, fighting, travelling man.
      “Other people don’t think like me but that’s in the past and I’ve moved on from it.”
      He added: “Prison didn’t bother me. I’m a big believer in Jesus Christ and thought, ‘If this is my destiny, I’ll come out a better man’.
      “I abided by the rules, didn’t talk back to anybody and kept myself very fit. I salute the prison officers.
      “When I finally left prison after serving five years, I took the warders some boxing gloves signed by Tyson. They were very good to me.”
      Now John avoids big gatherings in case his violent temper should get him into trouble again.
      Months after his release in 2015, he was ringside to witness Tyson become world champion after ­beating Wladimir Klitschko.
      With his gift of the gab from hawking carpets, John was TV gold at weigh-ins and press conferences.
      And he was soon a star turn on reality shows including ITV’s Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King series and Netflix’s At Home With The Furys.
      But, like Tyson, John suffers from mental health issues.
      He admits: “Even after everything Tyson has achieved, I can get up in the morning and think, ‘What a waste of time, nothing is worth anything’.
      “The only thing you get in your head is negative stuff.
      “I try and put it to one side and be positive about everything and say, ‘OK mental health, I ain’t playing today.
      “If I’m feeling not too clever I find some nice, bubbly person to talk to. They can make you feel so much better.”
      Yet the red mist can still descend for John.
      At son Tommy’s final press conference before fighting KSI last Saturday, a sweary John punched and headbutted a Perspex panel dividing the two fighters.
      He said: “It’s not pantomime, it’s the real me. If you upset me, I’m going to have a go back.
      Read More on The Sun
      “On my gravestone I’d like them to put, ‘John Fury, a man of extremes’. I may be a fighter but the best of me is as a father.”

      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury (Macmillan, £22), is out on Thursday.
      Tomorrow: Exclusive extracts – why gangland boss put a contract out to kill me.

      Like Tyson, John suffers from mental health issues.Credit: MacMillan
      John exchanges words with champ Deontay Wilder during a weigh-inCredit: Sportsfile – Subscription
      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury (Macmillan, £22), is out on ThursdayCredit: MacMillan More

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      in Motorsport

      F1 star Pierre Gasly’s girlfriend Kika Cerqueira Gomes stuns in swimsuit with sexy cut-outs

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      MODEL Kika Cerqueira Gomes shows off her racing stripes in a skintight swimsuit.The Portuguese beauty wowed in the strapless one-piece as part of a shoot for Drope Swimwear.
      Kika Cerqueira Gomes looks stunning in a strapless one-piece as part of a shoot for Drope SwimwearCredit: Capture Media Agency
      Kika has been dating F1 driver Pierre Gasly since last OctoberCredit: BackGrid
      Kika, 20, has been dating F1 driver Pierre Gasly since last October.
      She grew up in the fast lane with racing driver dad Gonçalo and TV host mum Maria.
      Kika, real name Francisca, has collaborated with several beachwear brands including Calzedonia and Natura Portugal.
      Her mum Maria is a top TV presenter and model, and dad Goncalo was a racing driver.
      read more on F1
      Gasly, 27, drives for the Alpine team now co-owned by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce.
      He is considered as one of the sport’s biggest rising stars.
      He started seventh in last night’s US Grand Prix in Texas.
      Frenchman Gasly showed good clutch control as he hugged Kika on a holiday in Italy earlier this year, after joking she was his “lucky charm” at race weekends.
      Most read in Motorsport
      Pierre started seventh in last night’s US Grand Prix in TexasCredit: Getty More

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      in Soccer

      Rebecca Loos says David Beckham showed her ‘naughty’ texts to his laughing pals as she slams star over Netflix doc

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      A MODEL who says she had an affair with David Beckham claims the football star showed her “naughty” texts to laughing pals.Glamour girl Rebecca Loos claims she had a fling with Becks after his move to Real Madrid in 2003 — but said she became “more laissez-faire” about the supposed affair after learning her messages were being shared.
      Rebecca Loos claims David Beckham showed her ‘naughty’ texts to his laughing palsCredit: Sky
      Loos worked as the footballer’s personal assistant when he moved to Real Madrid in 2003Credit: Getty
      She told The Mail on Sunday: “We were texting and it was getting naughty, it was fun… then suddenly I get a text from the Spanish bodyguard.
      “It said, ‘Stop. He’s showing them to all his friends and they are laughing’.
      “I was very hurt. And that hurt and that pain led me to become more laissez-faire and to not give a s*** about keeping this big secret for him.”
      The Dutch personal assistant, 46, also accused the star of “portraying himself as the victim” in a Netflix documentary series released earlier this month.
      READ MORE ON DAVID BECKHAM
      Privately-educated Rebecca was appointed as an aide to Becks — 800 miles away from his wife Victoria, 49 — after his £25million move to Spain.
      Without referencing the liaison directly, Becks, 48, said in the documentary that stories about the alleged affair were “horrible” and left him “feeling sick every day”.
      But Rebecca last night hit back, claiming: “The stories were horrible, but they’re true.
      “It’s all, ‘poor me’. He needs to take responsibility.
      Most read in Football
      “I understand he has an image to preserve, but he is portraying himself as the victim and he’s making me look like a liar.
      “If I stay silent I will be known as the liar, the one who made up stories.
      “He is indirectly suggesting that I’m the one who has made Victoria suffer…. He’s the one that’s caused the suffering.
      “He talks in the documentary about this ultimately being his private life, shutting it down.
      “I think it’s one thing to keep your private life to yourself. It’s another thing to mislead the public.”
      Rebecca added: “When I went public all those years ago I stuck precisely to facts, because I was this 26-year-old with no support behind me going up against the most powerful couple in the world.”
      Becks said in his Netflix documentary that newspaper stories about his private life were ‘horrible’Credit: AP:Associated Press More

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      in Soccer

      Mason Greenwood snapped grabbing a Burger King with his dad despite new coach banning junk food

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      MANCHESTER United loanee Mason Greenwood could be in for a grilling — as he is clocked grabbing a Burger King with his father.His new coach at Spanish club Getafe, José Bordalás, forbids players from eating junk food.
      Footballer Mason Greenwood could be in hot water in Spain after a visit to Burger KingCredit: BackGrid
      Greenwood and dad Andrew were seen collecting Burger King meals after his training sessionCredit: BackGrid
      But Greenwood, 22, and dad Andrew stopped off to collect two Burger King meals after training yesterday in Madrid.
      Bordalás says the players are weighed every day and get a fine if they are too hefty.
      Greenwood was loaned this summer after charges including attempted rape were dropped.
      He has been subjected to “die” chants by rival fans in Spain.
      READ MORE MASON GREENWOOD
      Greenwood has scored one goal and provided one assist on loan at Getafe so far.
      His previous goal came in January 2022 for Manchester United, before his arrest.
      Greenwood started for Getafe in their 1-1 draw with Real Betis and played 78 minutes.
      A source has told SunSport he is happy and hoping to stay at Madrid-based Getafe for the foreseeable future, saying: “The players and fans have all given him a welcome he could only have dreamed of.
      Most read in Football
      Manchester United are believed to still be paying the majority of his £75,000 a week wages.
      Manchester United forward Greenwood is on loan at Spanish side GetafeCredit: BackGrid
      The 22-year-old’s manager at Getafe has a strict no junk food policyCredit: PA More

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      in Soccer

      How Sir Bobby Charlton rose from the ashes of Munich disaster to become player ‘better than Pele’

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      THE scene at the German airport that bitter February afternoon in 1958 was one of utter devastation.Pulled free from the twisted wreckage of the Munich air disaster, Sir Bobby ­Charlton rose to become one of the finest footballers England — and the world — has ever known.
      Sir Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster and went on to win the World Cup for EnglandCredit: Allsport – Getty
      But for the rest of his life he would be haunted by the tragedy that left eight of his Manchester United teammates dead, including England legend Duncan Edwards.
      Sir Bobby said: “All my mates — I think about this fact every day of my life.”
      Over the next decade, he reached peaks of achievement no other domestic player has reached.
      An exceptionally gifted midfielder with a thunderbolt shot, he was the leading scorer for both United and England for more than 40 years until being overtaken by Wayne Rooney.
      READ MORE SIR BOBBY CHARLTON
      Partly because of the trauma of Munich, his character has been described as modest and reserved.
      Flamboyant former Manchester United boss Ron Atkinson once called him a “grizzlin’ old miser” — but on the field Charlton oozed a unique charisma.
      Renowned football correspondent Geoffrey Green summed up his brilliance in 1969, writing: “It is the explosive facets of his play that will remain in the memory.
      “His thinning, fair hair streaming in the wind, he has moved like a ship in full sail.
      Most read in Football
      “He has always possessed an elemental quality, jinking, changing feet and direction, turning gracefully on the ball or accelerating through a gap surrendered by a confused enemy.”
      In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Charlton was an enigma — unable to fulfil his talent consistently.
      But all that changed when he was switched from left winger to the role of attacking central midfielder for club and country.
      The national team was now under the management of Alf Ramsey, whose pioneering approach abandoned the use of traditional wingers.
      With more scope to dominate, Charlton flourished. In 1963, he said: “I’m in the game all the time. I could not be happier.”
      Sir Bobby Charlton led Manchester United to become the first English team to win the European CupCredit: Getty – Contributor
      He became the fulcrum of United’s forward line as the revived club won a host of trophies, including an FA Cup, three league titles, and, above all, the European Cup in 1968 — exactly a decade after Munich.
      Charlton was just as vital to Alf Ramsey’s world-beating England side of 1966.
      Squad member Jimmy Armfield said: “We had a trump card — every great team has one and ours was Bobby Charlton.”
      His typically spectacular long-range goal against Mexico kick-started England’s campaign, and his brace against Portugal saw England through to the final.
      Full-back George Cohen recalled: “He had that great acceleration and beautiful balance that gives great players half a chance at goal where there isn’t one.”
      It was a reflection of Charlton’s stature that in the 1966 final, the German maestro Franz Beckenbauer was instructed to sacrifice his own freedom to mark him, though that did not prevent an England triumph.
      Beckenbauer said: “I have more admiration for Charlton than any other player, even Pele.”
      Franz Beckenbauer famously said Sir Bobby Charlton was better than Brazilan great PeleCredit: Keystone
      Central to the admiration Charlton provoked was his supreme professionalism.
      Unlike his United team-mate George Best, who squandered his talent through alcoholic self-indulgence, Charlton was a role model in the way he conducted himself, never flinched from the fight and gave wholeheartedly to every team he represented.
      Even his signature comb-over — for which he was ribbed by some — was a mark of an unflashy man brought up in a Northumberland mining town.
      He appeared in more than 750 matches yet was only booked twice.
      Irish legend Johnny Giles, who began his career at United, said: “He always tried his hardest, no matter what the circumstances.
      “He would never hide on the field, even when he was not playing well. I never saw him give anything but his best.”
      His decency extended to his personal life, built on his happy marriage to Norma Ball, who was a receptionist in a fashion agency before she met Bobby in 1959.
      They had two daughters — Andrea and Suzanne, who went on to become a weather presenter for the BBC.
      There was never the slightest whiff of scandal about Sir Bobby.
      He was too restrained, too self-conscious ever to have been a playboy, and a secure domestic life as both loyal husband and devoted father suited him perfectly.
      Sir Bobby earned more than 100 caps for England and scored 49 goals for his countryCredit: Getty
      Ronnie Cope, who played 93 games for United with Charlton, remembered: “I have always said that marrying Norma was the best thing that ever happened to Bobby.
      “She was a smashing girl, very attractive and seemed to have an influence on him straight away.”
      But the advent of Norma into his life also caused a rift in his family, particularly with elder brother Jack and his mother Cissie — who came from the famous north-eastern Milburn footballing family and was very much the matriarch of the Charlton household in Ashington.
      Outspoken, domineering but warm, Cissie was similar in character to Jack, whereas Bobby took after his quiet father, Robert, a miner who worked down the local pit and was more interested in boxing than football.
      It was a tough life, and Jack and Bobby grew up in a small terraced house where they had to share a bed and use an outside toilet. They also shared an ability at football.
      From his earliest years in Ashington, Bobby had seemed destined for greatness, as his neighbour Walter Lavery recalled: “He stood out like a beacon.
      “He was different, far above the rest of the young players, as near a genius as you could get.”
      But Jack, while more limited, was still sufficiently effective as a defender to attract the interest of league clubs.
      Despite their differences, the pair did embrace when they won the 1966 World Cup.Credit: Getty
      He joined Leeds United at the age of 15, a year before Bobby signed for Manchester United.
      Despite embarking on the same career path, the two brothers were never close.
      Indeed, the differences between them were far greater than the similarities.
      Uninterested in academic work, Jack went to a secondary modern school, Bobby, more diligent, to a grammar.
      Jack was a rebel, always challenging authority, while Bobby was a conformist. Jack was a voluble Labour supporter, whereas Bobby was essentially conservative in outlook.
      Against this backdrop, Bobby’s marriage to Norma dramatically widened the chasm between the brothers. Norma and Cissie could not abide each other.
      Norma once said: “I was never accepted into the family by my mother-in-law. She has never acknowledged me or my children.”
      In her turn, Cissie admitted as much: “We got off to a bad start. I think we rubbed each other up the wrong way.”
      Inevitably, Bobby took Norma’s side, and Jack his mother’s.
      The result was that they were barely on speaking terms for much of their later lives.
      In the playing arena, there was an air of anti-climax for Bobby after 1968.
      United went into decline following the retirement of manager Sir Matt Busby, while Bobby’s England career ended on a sour note when he was substituted in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final defeat by West Germany in Mexico.
      On his departure from United in 1973, he had a spell as manager of Preston North End.
      But his habitual reserve and inability to connect with players much less skilful than him meant he was never cut out for such a role. He left after two seasons.
      More fulfilling were stints as an international ambassador for the FA — where he was the architect of a network of international youth coaching schemes, of which David Beckham was one product.
      As a director of Manchester United from 1984, he played a vital part in the success of Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial career at Old Trafford.
      Bobby himself was knighted in 1994. No one was ever more deserving of the honour.
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      And it was his elder brother Jack who presented him with a BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
      Jack told his sibling: “Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I’ve ever seen. And he’s my brother.”
      In later years, the Charlton brothers rekindled their relationshipCredit: Getty More