Manchester United and England great Sir Bobby Charlton diagnosed with dementia

Sir Bobby Charlton has been diagnosed with dementia, the Manchester United and England legend’s family have confirmed.

The 83-year-old is the fifth member of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team to suffer from the debilitating neurological condition.

The news emerged just two days after Charlton’s former United teammate Nobby Stiles passed away at the age of 78 and three months after his elder brother Jack died at 85.

Martin Peters and Ray Wilson were also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before their deaths. Charlton’s illness will only increase calls for more research into the links between football and dementia.

Former England footballer Gary Lineker tweeted: ‘Yet another hero of our 1966 World Cup winning team has been diagnosed with dementia. Perhaps the greatest of them all @Sir Bobby. This is both sad and deeply concerning.’

It is understood that Charlton’s wife, Lady Norma, and family agreed for the information to be made public so it could help others affected by dementia.

United issued a statement, saying: ‘Everyone at Manchester United is saddened that this terrible disease has afflicted Sir Bobby Charlton and we continue to offer our love and support to Sir Bobby and his family.’

Charlton was only 20 years old when he survived the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 which killed eight of the Busby Babes and 23 people in total.

He went on to make 758 appearances and score 249 goals for United — both club records until they were beaten by Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney respectively — including two in the 1968 European Cup final win over Benfica.

He is one of the ‘Holy Trinity’ along with George Best and Denis Law who are immortalised in a statue outside Old Trafford.

Charlton also scored 49 goals for England — another record until it was broken by Rooney — and won the Ballon d’Or in 1966 for his part in England’s World Cup triumph.

A United director and ambassador, he and Lady Norma were regulars at Old Trafford up until last season, sitting in the South Stand at Old Trafford that bears his name.

The FA offered their support, tweeting a heart emoji and the message: ‘Sending our best wishes to @SirBobby and family.’

The National Football Museum added: ‘Sad news regarding our president, Sir Bobby Charlton, who has been diagnosed with dementia. Thoughts with Lady Norma, family and friends in what has been a very tough year.’

United held a minute’s silence for Stiles before Sunday's defeat at home to Arsenal, when players from both teams also wore black armbands.

Newcastle manager and former United captain Steve Bruce paid tribute to both Stiles and Charlton after his team’s win over Everton. ‘I’ve had the privilege to have been in their company many times. The two of them are greats,’ said Bruce. ‘The way they are as football players is one thing, but their humility, what they stood for, the way they were as individuals, they were quite exemplary.

‘All the advice they gave, you would accept. In the near 10 years I was there at United, Sir Bobby came round every day and shook you by the hand. He came into the dressing-room and that presence of “wow, there’s Sir Bobby Charlton, what a player he was”.’

His diagnosis will increase demands for football to do more to deal with dementia in professionals after the passing of Stiles on Friday.

Stiles, Martin Peters, Jack Charlton and Ray Wilson, all members of the 1966 group of heroes, have died in the last couple of years and had lived with dementia.

In 2002, a Staffordshire coroner concluded, when examining the death of former West Brom forward Jeff Astle, that heavy, rain-sodded footballs - coupled with the game's physicality - might have been a cause of his neurodegeneration.

His daughter, Dawn, has spearheaded the campaign for research into the area.

She said: ‘Our hope back then was we might establish a real understanding of the link within perhaps 10 years at least.

‘That might mean we could help families, even though it was too late for people like my dad.'

However, it was only 12 months ago that analysis, funded by the PFA and the FA, firmly established the connection made all those years ago.

It was discovered in a study in Scotland that ex-footballers were five times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease than the average person and three-and-a-half times more likely to die of dementia.

Sportsmail revealed back in January that the FA and PFA were being urged to help fund a new £1million project by experts examining links between dementia and former footballers after the landmark Scotland study concerns over the impact of heading the ball.

An FA spokesperson said at the time: 'The FA is committed to finding answers that will help tell us why degenerative neurocognitive disease was found to be more common in ex-professional footballers in the study.

'The details of the study, jointly funded by the FA and PFA, were published in October last year and it was one of the most comprehensive ever commissioned globally into the long-term health of former professional footballers.

'The FA is supporting two research programmes with Nottingham University, looking at arthritis and neurocognition study in ex-professional footballers, and with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, looking into brain function in football.'