Inquest reveals Bobby Charlton died after accidental fall

Manchester United and England legend Bobby Charlton died after an accidental fall at a care home, an inquest was told on Wednesday. Charlton, one of English football’s all-time greats, passed away aged 86 in Macclesfield General Hospital on October 21. The Cheshire Coroner’s Court inquest into the 1966 World Cup winner’s death revealed he lost his balance when he stood up from a chair, striking a window sill and “possibly a radiator” Charlton was living in The Willows in Knutsford, a nursing home caring for patients with dementia, after he was diagnosed with the disease in 2020. Staff performed a full-body check on Charlton, noted no visible injuries and initially found his mobility seemed unaffected. But they later saw swelling on his back and paramedics were called to take him to hospital. Tests showed Charlton had fractured his ribs and was likely to develop pneumonia, with doctors deciding he should be put on end-of-life care before his death five days later. It was heard that Charlton was “unsteady on his feet, especially when standing from a seated position” as a result of his living with dementia. A survivor of the 1958 Munich air crash which killed eight of his United team-mates, Charlton helped his team win two league titles and their first European Cup in 1968. He played 758 games and scored 249 goals for United between 1956 and 1973. His goal tally stood as a club record until 2017 when Wayne Rooney became United’s all-time top goalscorer. Charlton’s life will be celebrated in a memorial service at Manchester Cathedral on November 13. The procession to the service will pass by Old Trafford, where he is immortalised alongside Denis Law and George Best in the ‘United Trinity’ statue. Flowers, scarves, shirts and messages have been left at the statue in tribute to Charlton since his death.