I am very surprised that the Seattle Sounders do not make more of having the great Bobby Moore – who was responsible for me signing for the club – as one of the players in their Roll of Honour. In every football club, or business even, history is everything and some players are responsible for a manager going to such a club. For example, the most successful manager in the history of English football took over Manchester United because his favourite player was Denis Law – well, it was one of the reasons. I bring this up because Bobby Moore, better known as ‘God’ in his playing days in London, was not only the greatest captain to ever pull the white shirt of England over his blonde locks, he was also the best ambassador and most respected by his peers, without our FA knowing it.

Pele said that “Bobby is the greatest defender in the world” need I say anymore?He was the only man outside of Tony Waddington that I ever listened to and that brought me to Seattle, when he told me to go and speak to Jimmy Gabriel, who was sitting in the restaurant at Stamford Bridge the home of Chelsea Football Club. The other reason I begin with Bobby is that this book touches on lots of players and managers of very different type and as football fans, you all have an opinion, so I must explain this to you. Let me explain about Bobby as a player, when Leeds United paid near twenty million pounds for Rio Ferdinand ten years ago, they were hailing him as better than Moore, who grew up at the same club, West Ham United. I watched Rio grow at Upton Park or the Boleyn Ground, and can tell you he was taller than Bobby, faster than Bobby, quicker than Bobby, had more natural talent than Bobby, but could not lace his boots up as a player.

To be the best defender in the world you must have something that you cannot coach and that is called a ‘football brain” and that was what set Bobby Moore apart. England will never win another World Cup, which I said in 1970, and the latest catastrophe, when not getting through the Group in Brazil was because there was nobody with such a brain, which includes the manager and those that employed him.

However, I bring Bobby Moore to the forefront of this book, simply to tell every player who pulls a Sounders shirt on in the future to think about it as they do so, and think themselves lucky that they will never come up against him.

At this moment I am involved with a brand new company called the Greatest Card and had Bobby been around he would have not only been with us but been the greatest card of all, trust me – and everybody else who came across him.

Rise Sir Bobby Moore RIP.