Football Club

Sir Robert “Bobby” Charlton, born in Ashington on October 11, 1937, proved to be not only one of the greatest players to play the game but also had a reputation as a true gentleman.

England’s all-time record goalscorer, a World Cup winner and a player who won almost all the game had to offer at Manchester United, Charlton enjoyed a glittering career.

Born into a family of professional footballers – including brother Jack and uncle ‘Wor’ Jackie Milburn – Charlton was spotted playing for England Schools before he signed for United. He made his debut for the club in 1956 to become one of the ‘Busby Babes’ – a group of players who came through the ranks at Old Trafford to win successive league titles in 1956 and 1957.

On February 6, 1958, eight of those players were killed in the Munich air disaster. The squad left Zemun airport after beating Red Star Belgrade before stopping in Germany for refuelling, with the aeroplane slipping off a slush-covered runway and ploughing through a fence and into a house.

Charlton was one of nine players on the plane to survive and was the first of them to leave hospital. It was just over two months later, on April 19, that he made his international debut, scoring a spectacular goal in a 4-0 win over Scotland. In his next game for England, on May 7, he scored both goals in a 2-1 friendly win over Portugal.

Charlton, at 20 years old, already looked a star in the making for his country, but he feels his introduction was premature. “I’d probably been picked for England too soon,” he said. “I think they felt sorry for me because of Munich.”

His next England game brought a return to Belgrade and a disappointing showing in a 5-0 defeat against Yugoslavia and, although he was included in the 1958 World Cup squad, that friendly proved to be his last appearance until October that year. In light of his obvious ability, that lack of game-time raised more than a few eyebrows.

Charlton may not have boasted the natural flair of contemporaries like Pele and George Best, but he still had great talent. “I always found the game easy and never had any difficulty controlling the ball, passing it or running with it,” he has said. If there was an area of his play that could be addressed, he worked at it assiduously. As a youth, he spent about ten hours a day practising in the local park, and he would wear a slipper on his right foot in training to enhance his shooting ability with his left.

He had played as an inside right and then outside left in his early days, and his shooting ability made an attacking role an obvious choice, but he gradually moved further back, where he was able to exert greater influence on the game. Having switched to a position behind the strikers, his pace and shooting ability – allied to his creative gifts – made him an increasingly important figure.

He scored three goals in an 8-1 friendly victory against USA in 1959 and, in amongst qualifiers for the 1962 World Cup, another hat-trick in an 8-0 friendly win over Mexico in 1961. He was firmly established by the time of the ’62 finals, playing every game, but, while he scored in a 3-1 win over Argentina during the group stage, he was powerless to avert a 3-1 defeat to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

It was another disappointing tournament for England, whose sense of superiority saw them opt out of the competition until 1950, but the country knew football would be coming home four years later.

In the intervening years, Charlton’s reputation with Manchester United grew and grew. Sir Matt Busby established a new team following the Munich tragedy, and Charlton was the star at the heart of the rebuilding work. They won the FA Cup in 1963 and the league title in 1965 and, going into the 1966 World Cup, Charlton was the key man for England boss Sir Alf Ramsey. Nobby Stiles, his United team-mate, received criticism for his then-unfashionable role as the ball-winner, but his remit was simple: “My job was to win it, give it to Bobby and let him get on with it.”

The system worked well. After a 0-0 draw against Uruguay in the opener, Charlton got England’s campaign up and running with the first goal in a 2-0 win over Mexico, charging 30 yards with the ball before unleashing a fierce right-footed strike into the top corner. Another 2-0 victory, against France, saw England top the group, and they then triumphed 1-0 over Argentina in a bad-tempered quarter-final.

The semi-final, against Portugal, is often viewed as Charlton’s finest hour. He was a constant menace, probing and creating chances, and scored in the 30th and 80th minutes to make it 2-0. Eusebio pulled one back from the penalty with eight minutes to play, but it was to be Charlton’s day.

In the final, Charlton was unusually subdued. England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra-time, with hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst emerging as the star of the show, but Charlton was unable to free himself from Franz Beckenbauer’s shackles. Nonetheless, his ability had been such that the Germans had been willing to sacrifice their best player to keep him at bay and, as Beckenbauer himself later said: “England beat us in 1966 because Bobby Charlton was just a bit better than me.”

Charlton beat Eusebio and Beckenbauer into second and third place respectively to take that year’s Ballon d’Or, as well as clinching the World Cup’s own Golden Ball award. He continued to impress in subsequent years, finishing runner-up in the Ballon d’Or in ’67 and ’68 as well as helping his club to the 1968 European Cup.

He returned to the World Cup in 1970, at the age of 32, and England had been confident of retaining the trophy. England made it through the group stages courtesy of 1-0 wins over Romania and Czechoslovakia, but West Germany were to take their revenge in the quarter-final with a 3-2 win after extra-time.

That match was once more viewed as something of a battle between Charlton and Beckenbauer, and popular suggestion has held that it was Charlton’s substitution in the 70th minute that freed up his rival to inspire the Germans’ comeback. Yet Beckenbauer had pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 in the 68th minute and Charlton, seemingly struggling in the Mexico heat, was not the player he had been four years previously.

It was to be his last game for England as, on the plane home, Charlton told Ramsey he no longer wished to be considered for selection. He ended his career with 106 caps and 49 goals, still to be surpassed. Michael Owen has 40 strikes in 89 appearances, while Charlton’s England team-mate Jimmy Greaves hit 44.

Gary Lineker is the player to have come the closest for now, though, retiring one goal short with 48, but he says he is content to see Charlton remain on top. “Bobby deserves to keep the record,” he said. “He was a much better player than me and scored far better goals.”