Sir Alex Ferguson says Sir Bobby Charlton was his biggest champion inside Manchester United during his early years in the job.
Ferguson has paid tribute in today's United Review to Charlton, who passed away last week.
He recalled in his column: The directors came to meet me in Glasgow (when Aberdeen manager) and asked what my vision was for the job. I said I would take the same approach I had at Aberdeen, by looking to build up the whole club, not just the team, and that I would do that by developing young players.
As I was explaining this, I saw Bobby nudge one of the other directors and he said, 'that's what we want'. He'd made his mind up. From that moment on he was a tower of strength for me.
It's no surprise to me that we've seen tributes to Sir Bobby from everywhere in the world, on every TV channel and in every newspaper, because he was without question the greatest English player of all time.
People loved him because of all those thunderbolt goals but it was more than that. My dad used to say that humility in success is a sign of greatness, and that was Bobby. He never used to boast about his own achievements; it was always about the team and the club."