The volunteers had not yet got around to shifting the mud from the corridors of Ashington Community Football Club — a remnant of a 4-0 win over Carlton Town — and waves of unremitting rain rolled in from the sea. But the images on the walls still radiated an extraordinary light.
There was Sir Bobby Charlton and brother Jack during the 1966 World Cup, dominating the club’s central staircase. There were the two of them with their mother, Cissie, hanging on the wall of a modest dining room called the Sir Bobby Charlton Suite, overlooking the pitch.