Sir Alex Ferguson has played a glowing tribute to Munich air crash victim Duncan Edwards.
And concurs with Sir Bobby Charlton's view he was the greatest
Sir Alex Ferguson has echoed the words of Sir Bobby Charlton in voicing his belief Duncan Edwards could have gone on to become one of the game's greatest ever players.
Charlton shared a dressing room with Edwards and is unequivocal in his opinion that his former team-mate, who died two weeks after the Munich air crash from the injuries he suffered, was the best he ever played with.
And he also believes Edwards would have gone to prove himself as the greatest player Britain ever produced, had he not tragically died at just 21 years of age.
Edwards had a stature, presence and charisma that belied his tender years and Ferguson recalls seeing the player in action and being amazed at both his physical conditioning and ability for a player so young.
Best of the best
Ferguson said: "Bobby Charlton always maintains he was the best player he ever played with. That does me. Of course, you see those shoulders and the thighs he's got. At 21, that's incredible.
"There's a great story about Duncan Edwards when they won the league for the first time in 1956. They were down to Blackpool in the final game and bearing in mind that at that time Duncan was only 19, they turned to Duncan at half-time and said 'Come on Duncan, get us going'.
"So you've got John Berry and all these experienced players in the team and they turned to Duncan Edwards as their saviour at just 19. That tells you everything about him.
"I saw him play for England Under 23s against Scotland at centre-forward against a centre-half, who became a journalist actually and it served him right, called Doug Bailey. Duncan Edwards scored a hat-trick and that was the first time I saw him play.
"Then I saw him at Ibrox in a game between the Scottish league and the English league and Scotland managed to win 3-2.
"I only saw him play twice but I rely on Bobby Charlton without question. When he says he was the best player he played with, then that tells you everything. At 21, it's amazing."
