MUNICH IS NEVER MENTIONED

ONE may imagine Sir Bobby Charlton will have a moment of quiet reflection about the Munich disaster and the friends he lost as he becomes an octogenarian on Wednesday. But Paddy Crerand said Charlton has never ever spoken about the disaster to his Manchester United team-mates. “I never heard Munich mentioned from Bobby or Harry Gregg, who also survived. Even to this day no one mentions it,” said Crerand, analyst for the club’s in-house TV station MUTV. “We would never ask. Footballers are thick as thieves and to lose friends in such a horrendous experience is very private.

“I’m sure it’s difficult for him on the anniversary and, of course, never forgotten, especially by fans. But I’ve never spoken to Bobby about it or asked him even to this day.

“The possibility he might never have played again was real and to come back and be that good after such a terrible tragedy is incredible. It’s hard to imagine losing friends you’ve lined up next to in a football team, so I think that’s why we’ve always respected Bobby’s privacy on that – and always will.”