The arguments that attempt to rank greatness have no worth nor place. The magic of sport is that brilliance repeatedly stands on the shoulder of brilliance – shun partisanship and you can enjoy majesty in any form from any player according to your own preference. Even that is permitted to shift over time. Nobody is asking you to make your lists in pen.
But we can say with certainty that no Englishman has ever matched Sir Bobby Charlton for the breadth of his trophied achievement. He is the only player from these shores to win the Football League, European Cup, FA Cup and the World Cup. Not that he was too fussed about individual honours, but others certainly bestowed them: Ballon D’Or and Footballer of the Year.
The news of Sir Bobby Charlton’s death came through four hours before kick-off at Bramall Lane – there was no time for banners or pre-prepared shows of gratitude and respect. They will come in time at Old Trafford, where bunches of flowers and messages of thanks have begun to gather from those who would have given anything to say them in person (and Bobby would have been humbled to hear each one in the same manner).
Perhaps that creates a more natural setting, one that Charlton might have appreciated. There were marks of his presence in Sheffield: in the “One Bobby Charlton” chant emitted by the home end at every lull in play; in the period of applause observed by all four stands; in the armbands worn around predominantly black shirts.
If there was ever a fitting day for Manchester United’s players to be adorned in an away kit of this colour, it is after the loss of their greatest one.
Such acts are customary markers of a much-loved person’s legacy, providing comfort amongst a community that made its way from Manchester and beyond to be here. In the case of Charlton, they are also entirely unnecessary. Everything he has achieved is still here.
Throughout his career, Marcus Rashford has spoken of his advice for a young academy graduate looking to make his name for club and country, including the happy coincidence when they met on the shoot of an advert when Rashford was just 11. Every time he needed something, a friendly face was there.
Scott McTominay, the scorer of Manchester United’s first goal on Saturday evening, knows about what Bobby meant and means. He too referenced the specific impact that Charlton’s continued presence at Manchester United had on the club’s academy players growing up. He said that having to play against Sheffield United was hard, but that they would play for Bobby.
History can often be a difficult weight to bear. It can hang the wrong way, both ways. Underachievement becomes a far more seamless habit to compound. But follow greatness and it becomes impossible to match up.
The sense was always that Charlton understood that. At Manchester United, his influence ran like an aorta through the club’s modern history, during and after his playing career. But he had little interest in being a statuesque figure to match the one cast in bronze outside his spiritual home. Better to work on the job – guiding, cajoling, advising, assisting – with an open-door personality. The difference between the lives of professional footballers then and now are night and day, but you make continued connections through who you are.
Rashford and McTominay are special within this group not just because of how they play, but what they represent. In October 1937, Manchester United picked Tom Manley and Jack Wassall in their team to face Fulham. It would begin a run of an academy player featuring in every matchday squad that lasts until this day, something legendary academy coach Tony Whelan refers to as the “scarlet seam”.
It started long before the Busby Babes, but Charlton’s magnificence and courage in helping to form the side that rose out of the tragedy of Munich helped to cement it in Manchester United folklore. Next weekend, that record will tick over into its 87th year. Next weekend there is a Manchester derby at Old Trafford. Next weekend, Old Trafford will say thank you. There could be no more fitting occasion.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/KVFL1EM
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