Sir Bobby Charlton elegantly glided around Old Trafford one last time

Sir Bobby Charlton never forgot the first time he set eyes on Old Trafford.

Manchester United’s chief scout Joe Armstrong had taken the 15-year-old to lunch after playing in an England Schoolboys trial at Maine Road in March 1953, and their bus drove past the ground on its way to the station.

‘I craned to take in the scene as the fans flooded down Warwick Road for that afternoon’s United match,’ Charlton later recalled.

‘I wanted to jump off the bus and join in the excitement. However, it did occur to me that I had some time to savour the prospect. All I needed was a little patience.’

On Monday, shortly after 1.30pm, Sir Bobby passed by Old Trafford one last time.

The fans lining Sir Matt Busby Way broke into gentle applause as the hearse carrying Charlton’s coffin edged alongside the place he christened the Theatre of Dreams under leaden skies.

The funeral cortege passed within yards of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and the Munich clock and plaque bearing the names of the eight Busby Babes who didn’t come home. He never quite got over the feeling of guilt that he survived and his teammates did not.

Across the glass façade of the stadium, the two images of Charlton – one as a player, the other as a director and club ambassador – peered down upon the thousands of mourners either side of the words: Sir Bobby Charlton 1937-2023. Forever Loved.

One elderly fan threw a red United shirt onto the bonnet of the hearse.

Another placed a scarf there as the cortege passed slowly between a guard of honour made up of academy players from the club’s Under-18s and Under-21 teams. There was no better flagbearer for United’s youth system than Charlton.

It’s incredible to think that he left Stretford Grammar just three weeks after arriving in