The gentle superstar

ON A November afternoon when a weak winter sun barely shone through the clouds, a city recalled the golden days of one of its heroes.

-  NEAL KEELING

It is not only Mancunians who carry with them forever the memory of the great man.

Standing on the Wembley turf on the afternoon of July 30, 1966, along side his brother, Sir Bobby Charlton's stoicism - always there in victory or defeat - finally broke. Emotion conquered his face with the realisation of the magnitude of what England and he had achieved.

Earlier in the same World Cup, his bullet shot from 30 yards broke hearts and stopped traffic in Mexico City as the Three Lions won a group match to ease tension and raise expectations after a dour 0-0 opening game with Uruguay.

That goal captured the essence of his threat and brilliance - a surging run and dummy before a thunderbolt strike with unstoppable force. He would, thrillingly, repeat it many times in his career all over the world.

There was his ecstatic jump after glancing in a goal in with is head against Eusebio's Benfica at Wembley on May 29, 1968 - just 10 years after, as a Busby Babe, he survived the Munich Air Disaster, which had 23 fatalities.