Sir Bobby was a true national hero, says Beckham

England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst and former Manchester United star David Beckham led the tributes to Bobby Charlton, who died on Saturday at the age of 86.

Hurst, who scored a hat trick in the 1966 final for England against West Germany with Charlton in the team, described him as "a great colleague and friend".

"Very sad news today, (one) of the true Greats Sir Bobby Charlton has passed away," Hurst wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"We will never forget him & nor will all of football.

"A great colleague & friend he will be sorely missed by all of the country beyond sport alone."

Beckham said Charlton had had a huge influence on his career -- and his Manchester United-loving father had named him after him.

"It all began with Sir Bobby. Sir Bobby was the reason I had the opportunity to play for Manchester United," Beckham posted on Instagram.

"I will be forever grateful to a man I was named after, someone I looked up to and was a hero to many around the world not just in Manchester and our country where he won the World Cup in 1966.

"A true gentleman, family man and truly a national hero... Today isn't just a sad day for Manchester United & England it's a sad day for football and everything that Sir Bobby represented."

Former England forward Gary Lineker described Charlton as "England's greatest ever player".

"Deeply saddened to hear that Sir Bobby Charlton has died," Lineker said on X.

"A truly wonderful footballer and genuinely lovely man. A World Cup winner, (Manchester United) great and, for me, England's greatest ever player.

"He may no longer be with us but he'll have footballing immortality. RIP Sir Bobby."

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville said Charlton was the club's "greatest ambassador".

"So sorry to hear the news of Sir Bobby Charlton," the broadcaster and former England right-back said.

"The Greatest English Football player and Manchester United's greatest ambassador.

"A champion on and off the pitch and a Busby Babe that paved the way for all to come at United.

"Rest In Peace Sir Bobby."

Former Manchester United and England star Bobby Charlton will go down in history as the gentlemanly embodiment of English football's golden era.

A survivor of the Munich air disaster in 1958, which claimed the lives of eight of his United team-mates, Charlton recovered to win the World Cup with England in 1966 and the European Cup with United two years later.

Renowned as a player for both his venomous shooting and sense of fair play, he became a United director in later life and came to be seen as a standard-bearer for a bygone era of chivalry and sportsmanship.

Only in later years, as dementia took hold, did Charlton stop attending matches at Old Trafford.

"There has never been a more popular footballer," said United's late former manager Matt Busby, who, like Charlton, survived the Munich crash to lead the club to the summit of the European game.

"He was as near perfection as man and player as it is possible to be."

An elegant, authoritative inside-forward, Charlton could strike the ball equally well with either foot and scored with the regularity of a striker, often rippling the net from well outside the box.

"He was a beautiful player and a lovely striker of the ball -- 30-yarders into the roof of the net," recalled his United team-mate Denis Law.

Charlton sought to conceal the early onset of baldness with a comb-over, which would leave long strands of blond hair trailing behind him as he ran.

He was a model sportsman, booked only twice over his whole career and never sent off.

For former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, Charlton was a "true gentleman" and "Mr Manchester United" -- and recalled words he had exchanged with him when United won the European Cup for the third time in 2008.

"Icon, Legend, Great! these words are thrown around by all of us to many who 100% don't deserve them, especially when you compare them to man of Sir Bobby's calibre," Ferdinand said on X.

"What a true gentleman of not many words, but when he spoke you stood still, stopped what you were doing and listened.

"A lot of the history was living and breathing through him and he was a constant at the club while I was there -- travelling with us all over the world.

"Win, lose or draw he would be in the changing room wishing us well.

"The words he shared with me at the bottom of those stairs in Moscow, before I went up to lift the CL trophy will stay with me forever.

"It was a privilege for me to even get that moment with him at that specific time. Thank you Sir Bobby. Mr Manchester United."

United great Eric Cantona posted on Instagram: "Rest in Peace dear Sir Bobby Charlton. One of the best of all time."

• Sports