The feud between Best and Charlton that shattered Manchester United

By the early 1970s the warring club legends were so divided that they were no longer speaking – nor passing – to one another

When Matt Busby retired in 1969, Manchester United’s three exceptional talents, three winners of the Ballon d’Or, were in decline. Bobby Charlton was 31 and age was closing in. Denis Law was 29 but had never fully recovered from his knee injury. George Best was 22 but had already won his last trophy.

“I represented the future of Manchester United – or should have done,” Best acknowledged. “Charlton represented the past.” That was not simply about age; it was also about attitude. Best once said that he was “grateful” to have been born in 1946 and not 1926. “We don’t have to stick rigidly to the short back and sides and wear-your-club-blazer-at-all-times routine of the past,” he said.

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