Bobby Charlton joined Manchester United aged 15 after being spotted playing in Northumberland. Over the next 20 years, he made more than 600 appearances for the club. He was a key member of the team known as the ‘Busby Babes’, which won the 1956 League Championship and reached the FA Cup Final and European Cup Semi-Final before the 1958 Munich air disaster claimed the lives of eight of them. Charlton (then 20) recovered, and a new team was built around him, which he led – a decade on – to their first European Cup victory. Revered as one of the finest players in international football, Charlton was named Player of the Tournament at the 1966 World Cup, which England won. He retired in 1970 with 106 caps and having scored a record 49 goals for England and 249 goals for Manchester United. Sir Bobby Charlton passed away in 2023.

Colin Bell MBE played for Manchester City during the golden era of the 1960s and 1970s. Joining from Bury in 1966, he saw Manchester City win all domestic and European honours: the First Division in 1968/69, FA Cup in 1969 and the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. Winning his first England cap in 1968, he went on to earn 48 caps and score nine goals for the national team and play in the 1970 World Cup. A serious knee injury in 1976 halted his career and in 1979 he was forced to retire. He had made almost 500 appearances and scored 152 goals over 13 years for City. In 2004, the main stand at The Etihad Stadium was named in his honour and a statue of Colin was unveiled in November 2023, following his death in 2021.