The 63-year-old, who has worked as an agent for his sons, will appear at a court outside Manchester next month.

Nazir Afzal, head of the Crown Prosecution Service in northwest England, said: “Greater Manchester Police has investigated an allegation of sexual assault by Neville Neville in March 2013.

I have reviewed all the evidence that they have gathered and have authorised the police to charge him with one count of sexual assault by penetration against a 46-year-old woman.”