FOOTBALL fever following our World Cup qualification will rise another notch with news the great Sir Bobby Charlton, 75, is coming to Sydney with the visiting Manchester United team.
Club supporters plan to paint the steps of the Opera House red in preparation for a fan day, which will see central Sydney come to a stop for Manchester United — regarded as the greatest sporting team in the world.
The English Premier League champions have confirmed Charlton will join other English greats and Man U ambassadors Bryan Robson and Andy Cole on the trip to Sydney for the one-off match against the Australian All Stars team.
The Man U Supporters Club NSW chairman Mark O’Connor, of Caringbah, said plans for the visit was ‘‘stepping up’’, with Charlton and the other ambassadors joining the likes of players Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Robin van Persie, whose 30 goals guided United to their 20th title this season, including his superb first-half hat-trick against Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
‘‘Now there’s even more pressure on to get the organisational things right,’’ said O’Connor, formerly of Manchester, who has been working non-stop on the visit.
‘‘The team has a plane booked, with more than 100 staff joining the players, including a full medical staff.
‘‘By the time the game comes around [on Saturday July 20] there will be a lot of ‘Pommie madness’ in Sydney.
‘‘No matter the organisational process, it still could be quite chaotic simply because the club is followed all over the world.’’
Thousands of fans from the NSW Supporters Club will be joined by their affiliates from Victoria and Queensland, meaning another 82,000 sell-out crowd for the one-off clash at ANZ Stadium.
‘‘We’ve already booked out our red London double-decker bus with some of the Man U fans from our own [NSW supporters] club,’’ he said.
‘‘But there’s thousands of other Man U supporters joining us.’’
The bus is available for other functions; details: 95805569.
SIR BOBBY
Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time.
He made his debut for the Manchester United first-team in 1956, aged 18.
Survived the Munich air disaster of 1958, which killed seven of his Man U teammates and claimed a total of 23 lives.
Selected for four World Cups (1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970) and helped England win the competition in 1966.
Winner of the Ballon d’Or for European Footballer of the Year in 1966.
At the time of his retirement from the England team in 1970, he was the nation’s most capped player (106 appearances), a record since eclipsed by Bobby Moore, Peter Shilton and David Beckham.
Held the record for most appearances for Manchester United (758), before being surpassed by Ryan Giggs.
Are you looking forward to seeing Man U and Sir Bobby Charlton?
