Sir Bobby Charlton regularly attended races in Old Trafford.
English World Cup winner and Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton has been diagnosed with dementia.
Sir Bobby, 83, has won three league championships in 17 years at Old Trafford, the European Cup and the AF Cup with United.
He ended his career staying in Preston and Waterford, Ireland.
His wife, Lady Norma Charlton, expressed the hope that knowing her diagnosis – which was first reported by telegram – would help others.
said Manchester United in a statement: Everyone in Manchester United is sad that Sir Bobby Charlton has been affected by this terrible disease and we continue to offer our love and support to Sir Bobby and his family.
Survivor of a plane crash and winner of the Ballon d’or.
He joined United in 1953 and scored 249 goals in 758 games for the club, a long-term record that was eventually broken by Wayne Rooney in 2017 and Ryan Giggs in 2008.
Born in Aschington, Northumberland, he remained the record holder of England until Rooney beat him in a game against Switzerland in September 2015.
At the age of 20, Sir Bobby survived the 1958 Munich air crash in which 23 people died, including eight of his Manchester United teammates.
He inspired United to win the first European Champions Cup in 1968, where he scored twice in the finals. In 1966 he received the Ballon d’Or and played every minute of his English World Cup victory.
Sir Bobby won second place in the Sports Personality of the Year competition in 1958 and 1959. In 2008 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
United will be renamed Old Trafford South Stand in honour of Sir Bobby in 2016.
Dementia in football
Sir Bobby was the fifth person to be diagnosed with dementia during the 1966 World Cup in England.
Besides his brother Jack and Stiles, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson died in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
Stiles, Peters and Wilson were diagnosed back in the ’60s. In a documentary film aired in 2017, Stiles’ son John told former English captain Alan Shearer that he was absolutely certain that his father’s dementia was the fault of football club management.
A study by the University of Glasgow in 2019 showed that former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die from dementia than people in the same age group in the general population.
The study began after a former West Bohm striker, Jeff Astle, reported dying of multiple head injuries at the age of 59, and compared 7,676 former players to 23,000 of the total population.
Investigation into the death of Astle, who was found dead during a match involving heavy leather soccer balls, resulted in several cases of brain damage, but the investigation of the football association and the professional football association was subsequently suspended due to technical defects.
Astle’s daughter, Don, said players suffering from dementia shouldn’t be statistics after being surprised by the results.
In response, the CF made new recommendations for coaches to limit the number of heads of players under 18 in the training process.
Dementia in football: Alan Shearer undergoes MRI scan 
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