WATCH and PICTURES: Football icon Pele still has magic touch as he wows Cannock crowd

His skill and footwork saw him take centre stage at famous stadiums such as the Estadio Jalisco, where Brazil beat England in 1970, and The Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, where he won his third World Cup.

But yesterday the 75-year-old arrived in Staffordshire. And despite no longer able to play the beautiful game, his charm and charisma delighted the 300-strong crowd at Bar Sport's Premier Suite in Cannock.

More used to sharing a Sunday lunch with family, the lucky audience listened in awe to the football icon, who shared memories of his successful playing days.

As well as speaking at depth about his early career he also had nothing but glowing praise for the England legends he shared the same pitch with such as Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton.

Pele also gave his opinion on who is the best of the current crop of world talent declaring Argentinian Lionel Messi as the 'most complete' player of the last 15 years.

Before going on stage he met with fans and posed for photographs. He then spoke for around 45 minutes, fronting questions from host Paul Burrell and members of the audience about his career.

He made his debut for Brazilian club Santos on 7 September 1956 before going on to win three World Cups for his country in history. He won 91 caps, scoring 77 times, from 1957 to 1971.

He told of how his career was spurred on by the disappointment of the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, where Uruguay beat the hosts 2-1 in the final.

His father, Dondinho, was a professional player himself and died in 1996. Mother Dona Celeste, now 92, is still alive.

He said: "The 1950 final was something I don't want to remember, but I do. I was outside playing with the other boys on the street and, in the early part, we heard the noise in the beginning. When Brazil lost the game, I came in and saw my father and his friend. They were very sad and my dad was crying. My father always told me that 'men don't cry' and it was terrible. I told him not to worry, because I was going to win the World Cup for him. In the end, I won three."

Pele was always humbled at how he was well appreciated by both sets of supporters during his playing days for his abilities. He continued: "I'm so happy about that. Even if I scored a goal against your team, I've been received with an open heart all over the world."

In every sense he lived up to his reputation as one of most humble and gracious sportsman of all time but asked whether his famous Brazil team of 1970 were the best around at the time he answered emphatically: "Oh yes. Everything was fantastic. When we were preparing for the World Cup a lot of journalists said it was going to be a disaster for Brazil. Then when we got there it was the best team Brazil had until now." There was one man in attendance at the event yesterday who pulled on a shirt and featured in the same line-up as Pele. Egyptian-born forward Nasr Eman was a strike partner when the two were in the USA.

Mr Eman, 66, was a younger player and a team-mate at the Cosmos. He's since moved to England and is now living in Scarborough. He and Pele embraced upon introduction and presented him with a gift from his native land declared him as the 'pharaoh of football.' He said: "When you see a great player, you think he's going to be arrogant, but he wasn't. In the locker room, he was the same as everybody else.

"He never had a chip on his shoulder and he engaged a lot of the younger players."

Dave Jones, the first manager to take Wolves into the Premier League, was also among the guests. He discussed how meeting Pele made it a 'hat-trick' for him.

The 60-year-old, who is back living in the West Midlands at Bridgnorth, the house he's retained for his time as boss at Molineux, from 2001 to 2004.

He said: "I was delighted to be invited to come along, I've always told people that I have three idols in my life and Pele is one of them. I was fortunate enough to meet the other two, who were Bobby Moore and Eusebio, and Pele is the third."