#4 Nobby Stiles
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As Mancunian as they come. Nobby Stiles epitomised the values of Manchester United and gave everything for his local club. Stiles won two league titles and a European Cup with United, but it is his role in turning the club around in their darkest hour that earned him the affection of fans.
Supporters were hurting after the 1958 Munich Air Disaster and needed a new hero they could associate with. There was plenty of flamboyance in the team that ultimately won the 1968 European Cup – George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law – but fans needed that tough tackling, no-nonsense defensive midfielder they could worship too, and that man was Stiles.
Stiles is one of the few players of his generation to certainly get the better of Portuguese great Eusebio, for club and country, simultaneously helping to steer England to their only World Cup win in 1966, and that famous night in the same stadium two years later as United overcame Eusebio’s Benfica to earn a first European crown. The sight of Nobby dancing is as iconic an image as it gets.
