It was when the story of Nobby Stiles’ appearance against Juventus, in a tournament high up the in Swiss Alps, was recalled to mind at his funeral on Thursday that the sadness dissipated and spirits soared.
One of his Manchester United’s teammates had suffered the indignity of an Italian player spitting on him, the presiding Catholic priest related. And Stiles had clocked this. ‘Did I see that?’ he’d asked. ‘Push out to the right, then’, he told the teammate - ensuring that the perpetrator would be in a position where Stiles would ‘meet him.’ The sound when he exacted retribution ‘could be heard across the Alps,’ declared Revd Father Patrick McMahon.