Obituary for former Man Utd forward Albert Quixall

When Matt Busby paid Sheffield Wednesday a British record fee of £45,000 to sign Albert as his first major rebuilding block after the Munich air disaster in 1958, the Manchester United boss had recruited a performer seemingly destined for the game’s loftiest peaks.

At 25 and a five-times-capped England international who had partnered Stanley Matthews in his country’s attack, the exuberantly gifted inside-forward appeared to have the lot. Deliciously skilful, capable of searing acceleration and brimming with self-belief, at least outwardly, he had shone throughout nearly a decade of productive service at Hillsborough.

To complete the picture, Albert was blond, baby-faced and oozed charisma, prompting headline writers to christen him the golden boy of English football, which created colossal expectations of the engagingly modest Yorkshireman.