Charlton was handed his debut as England romped home 4 – 0, with the new player gaining even more admirers after scoring a magnificent thumping volley dispatched with authority after a cross by the left winger Tom Finney.

The " United Trinity " statue of Charlton ( right ) alongside Denis Law ( centre ) and George Best ( left ) outside Old Trafford

Despite popular opinion the substitution did not change the game as Franz Beckenbauer had scored before Charlton left the field, hence Charlton had failed to cancel out the German.

In the 2003 – 04 season, Charlton spent much of the campaign challenging for a Champions League place, but a late-season slump in form, combined with the sale of star player Scott Parker to Chelsea, left Charlton in 7th place, which was still the club's highest finish since the 1950s.

However, Charlton failed to build on this achievement and Curbishley left two years afterwards in 2006, after 15 years as manager, with the club still established as a solid mid table side.

Hours after the game, Alan Pardew left Charlton by mutual consent.

Docherty saved Manchester United from relegation that season, only to see them relegated in 1974 ; by that time the trio of Best, Law, and Charlton had left the club.

When Charlton Heston, who had originally been signed to play the lead in 1958's Darby's Rangers left the movie, James Garner was given the lead and Whitman wound up with Garner's original role in the film.

He was nonetheless left on the bench for six consecutive league matches, and though he then returned to the starting line-up and scored match-winners against West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers, fresh doubt spread over Van Nistelrooy's future when he was benched for United's season finale win over Charlton Athletic.

Dunphy did not break into the first team at United and subsequently left to play for York City, Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Reading.

In May 1964, after a number of players failed to show up for a meeting in a hotel about a forthcoming tour, amongst them Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton, they eventually returned to their rooms to discover their passports left on their beds.

In a newspaper interview Hugo Charlton, Green party chair, said that he had " always argued for some sort of understanding with them, not least because we are both ' fellow travellers ' on the left "; however he also noted that " any agreement at a local level, in the Green spirit of devolution, is up to local parties, but a formal, national alliance is out of the question ".

That summer, Sansom was Robson's first choice left back for the European Championships, but England were a disaster, losing all three of their group games, starting with a humiliating 1-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in their first ever finals match, having qualified under the management of Englishman and 1966 World Cup winner Jack Charlton.

Barnes left the club on a free transfer to newly promoted Charlton on 10 February 1999.

By 1971, frustrated by what he felt was a lack of editorial opportunities, Giordano had left DC to partner with artist Neal Adams for their Continuity Associates studios, which served as an art packager for comic book publishers, including such companies as Giordano's former employer Charlton Comics, Marvel Comics, and the one-shot Big Apple Comix.

In the late 1960s, Dick Giordano left Charlton for an editorial position at DC Comics and offered Aparo a job drawing the Aquaman comic book.

Question marks were raised about Ramsey's substitution decisions during the game, with much attention paid to the decisions to withdraw Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters in the second half, but then to let first choice left back Terry Cooper remain on the pitch for the whole 120 minutes when he was clearly exhausted, rather than allow his natural replacement Hughes to take over.

The next year, Charlton left the Valley, entering into what became the first official groundshare in The Football League, with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The club returned home for the 1998 – 99 season under new manager Carl Laraman, with results improving immediately, however he left in January of that year to take up a coaching position at Charlton Athletic.

Charlton placed the machine-gun on a fence where he launched a further attack before his left arm was hit again by further enemy fire becoming shattered and useless.

Cherry ended up playing both alongside and instead of Charlton in his first season but was predominantly at left back, with the continued absence of broken leg victim Terry Cooper further depleting Revie's defensive resources.

He left the club before the ageing Revie team played out its last hurrah-the 1975 European Cup final, which they lost to Bayern Munich-and joined Middlesbrough who were managed by former Leeds team-mate Charlton and had not long won promotion to the First Division.

Born in Ashington, Northumberland, Charlton made his debut for the Manchester United first-team in 1956, and over the next two seasons gained a regular place in the team, during which time he survived the Munich air disaster of 1958 after being rescued by Harry Gregg.

Charlton held the record for most appearances for Manchester United ( 758 ), but this was surpassed by Ryan Giggs on 21 May 2008 ( the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final ).

In January 2011 Charlton was voted the 4th greatest Manchester United player of all time by the readers of Inside United and ManUtd. com, behind Ryan Giggs ( who topped the poll ), Eric Cantona and George Best.

On 9 February 1953, Bedlington Grammar School pupil Charlton was spotted playing for East Northumberland schools by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong.

Charlton began to settle back into his footballing life with Manchester United and England and enhanced his reputation as a scorer of great goals as well as a great goalscorer – rarely is a player regarded as both.

Further success with Manchester United came at last when they beat Leicester City 3 – 1 in the FA Cup final of 1963, with Charlton finally earning a winners ' medal in his third final.

In 1968, Manchester United became the first English ( and second British ) club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4 – 1 in the final with a team that contained three European Footballers of the Year: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best.

The new memorial was funded by Manchester United themselves and the unveiling was attended by club officials, including chief executive David Gill, manager Alex Ferguson and director Bobby Charlton, a survivor of the disaster himself.

He is the brother of former Manchester United and England footballer Sir Bobby Charlton.

Born into a footballing family, Charlton was initially overshadowed by his younger brother Bobby, who was taken on by Manchester United while Jack was doing his National Service with the Household Cavalry.

* March 2, 2009: Sir Bobby Charlton was awarded the Freedom for promoting the city of Manchester.

Bobby Charlton described him as " the only player that made me feel inferior " and said his death was " the biggest single tragedy ever to happen to Manchester United and English football ".

Trautmann captained a special joint Manchester City & Manchester United XI that included Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, against an England team that included Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews and Jimmy Armfield.

He won his second in 1973 in Manchester when he beat Eddie Charlton 38 – 32, but the match of the championship was the semi-final between Reardon and Spencer, which Reardon won 23 – 22.

On 29 May 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Manchester United's first European Cup title, a statue of the club's " holy trinity " of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, entitled " The United Trinity ", was unveiled across Sir Matt Busby Way from the East Stand, directly opposite the statue of Busby.

The United Trinity, a statue of Manchester United's " holy trinity " of Best, Law and Charlton

Marc-Vivien Foé scores twice for Manchester City in a 2-2 draw at Charlton Athletic.

* 3 May 2003-A Ruud van Nistelrooy hat-trick contributes to Manchester United's 4-1 home win over Charlton Athletic and puts them on the brink of title glory.

Morientes made his debut for the club against rivals Manchester United and scored his first Liverpool goal on 1 February 2005 against Charlton Athletic.

Charlton Athletic, Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers complete the top five.

Charlton Athletic are their nearest challengers in second place, with Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United ( newly promoted ) and Manchester United completing the top five.

Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic complete the top five, while a disappointing Manchester United and Arsenal are sixth and seventh respectively.