When a Shropshire man looked after Brazil great Pele at the 1966 World Cup

Tributes have poured in across the globe for the three-times World Cup winner, who died on December 29 aged 82 after a battle with cancer.

One Salopian who briefly got to know the footballing great, who many consider the best player of all time, is Charles Roberts of Knockin, near Oswestry.

During the World Cup of 1966 - the one tournament Pele participated in but did not win - Charles was tasked with being a player liaison officer for the Brazil team for a couple of days at their hotel in Lymm, Cheshire.

"My job was to help in any way I could off the pitch," said Charles, who is president of Knockin and Kinnerley Cricket Club and a former Wrexham FC director.

"In my experience, the players' problems go away when they're on the pitch doing the job they're doing. But when they're off the pitch, things need to be done to help them keep focused.

"You get all sorts of requests. We had to get a barber in to cut the players' hair. Lots of different things they will need that you have to go and sort out.

"Because I was doing a similar job at Altrincham, that's how I got in. I knew a few people in the FA including the chairman Peter Swailes."

Charles added: "[Pele] was a lovely man. On a par with Bobby Charlton.

"He was such a quiet man, considering he was an absolute legend. He would concentrate a lot just before a match and would be very quiet. You just had to be in awe of him.

"He missed his wife an awful lot. He did stay in his bedroom quite a bit.

"He wanted a teddy bear to take home to his wife. We managed to get one from a shop in Liverpool. It was the biggest one I'd ever seen.

"I told him it was so big he'd have to pay for an extra seat for it on the plane. He laughed.

"We did have a bit of a problem with the language. His English was about as good as my Portuguese but we made it work somehow.

"I only did two days there because they didn't last long in the tournament."

Brazil were knocked out in the group stage at the 1966 World Cup in England, with their stint in the tournament marked by several brutal fouls on Pele.

"On this occasion they didn't do well in the tournament," said Charles. "I felt there was a bit of an unhappy feeling in the camp.

"They used to go up to Bolton to train but once they decided to kick a ball around on a bowling green because they thought it was ideal for practice. I don't think it went down too well."

England may not have been a happy hunting ground for the goal-getting superstar, but he returned to the world stage to win the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time in Mexico in 1970.

And his visit to these shores gave lasting memories to those who met him.

"He was always a gentleman," said Charles.