Bobby Charlton led the tributes for his friends and teammates at the service to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Munich air disaster last night.

Players, officials and fans of Manchester United packed into Manchester Cathedral to remember the 23 victims of the tragedy. Bobby Charlton, who survived the disaster, spoke fondly about the eight United players who died and also of the manager, the late Sir Matt Busby, who was injured in the crash. Charlton singled out Duncan Edwards in particular. Edwards was just 21 when he died and, in Charlton's opinion, was the greatest. "Duncan Edwards was the greatest player I ever played alongside," he said. The plane carrying the Manchester United players and officials, as well as journalists, crashed on the way home from Belgrade where the team had just qualified for the semi-finals of the European Cup.

United's current boss, Alex Ferguson, said: "Everyone here has their own special painful memory of February 6th, 1958, and, whilst we are here to remember those who died, we are also here to pay tribute to those who survived."

Gary Speed finally left Everton for Newcastle for a fee of £5.5 million yesterday. After five weeks of increasingly acrimonious wrangling, during which time Speed's relationship with Howard Kendall and the Everton fans soured, Speed arrived on Tyneside having signed a four-year deal and is expected to make his Newcastle debut at home to West Ham United today.