Sir Bobby Charlton CBE 1937-2023

It was the writer Arthur Hopcraft who best captured the essence of Bobby Charlton’s greatness. “The flowing line of Charlton’s football has no disfiguring barbs in it, but there is a heavy and razor-sharp arrowhead at its end,” he wrote. “It is the combination of the graceful and the dramatic which makes him so special.”

But it was not just journalists who rhapsodised about Charlton’s sublime gifts. From the mid-1950s when he first played for Manchester United, to 1975 when he made a brief third-tier comeback for Preston North End, Charlton earned the admiration of fans across the world. He had a grace and a style – linked to unimpeachable sportsmanship – that transcended club or national loyalties. “There are few players who affect a crowd’s responses as much as he does,” wrote Hopcraft in his classic 1968 book The Football Man. “Something extraordinary is expected of him the moment he receives the ball.”

Charlton’s piece de resistance was the surging run from midfield, gaining impetus with a thrilling burst of acceleration accompanied by a body-swerve that left an opponent rooted to the spot and climaxed by a thunderous long-range shot into either corner of the net. Goalkeepers seldom had much say in the matter.

It was one such goal – against Mexico at Wembley – that kick-started England’s 1966 World Cup campaign after a stuttering start. 

 But he was also a creator, striking long sweeping passes that switched the point of attack: a modern-day equivalent might be the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne. At 28, Charlton was at his peak during the 1966 World Cup. Two years later he steered United to the European Cup – the first English club to win the trophy – scoring twice in a 4-1 defeat of Benfica at Wembley. On both momentous occasions, Charlton’s tears flowed freely.

It was often said that Englishmen struggling to make themselves understood in any part of the world had merely to say “Bobby Charlton” to be offered hospitality. It helped that his premature baldness, and his propensity for combing the remaining strands of hair over the top of his head, made him instantly recognisable. Charlton described his life as “a miracle”: an unassuming boy from the Northumberland mining village of Ashington who became one of the most celebrated footballers in the world. But it was also a life touched by tragedy. 

Charlton was 20 and newly established in the United team when on February 6 1958 the plane bringing the team back from a European Cup tie in Belgrade crashed on take-off from Munich’s Riem airport. 

Still in his seat, he was flung from the fuselage but suffered nothing worse than cuts and bruises. Seven United players were killed and an eighth, Duncan Edwards, died in hospital 15 days later.

Charlton never forgot the loss of his friends and team-mates. “Even now it still reaches down and touches me every day,” he wrote in his 2007 autobiography. “Sometimes it engulfs me with terrible regret and sadness – and guilt that I walked away and found so much.”

Charlton recovered to play a leading role in United’s revival.

By the mid-1960s he was in a team that also included the stellar talents of George Best and Denis Law. When Charlton left United in 1973, he had made a record 765 appearances (subsequently overtaken by Ryan Giggs), scoring 253 goals (a record eclipsed by Wayne Rooney). 

In that time, United won three league titles, one FA Cup and the European Cup. Charlton was awarded the Ballon d’Or in 1966, the same year he was voted Footballer of the Year. 

He was the first of an exclusive club of nine to win the World Cup, European Cup and Ballon d’Or: other members include Franz Beckenbauer, Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi. For England, Charlton was the second player after Billy Wright to earn 100 caps, scoring 49 goals, which remained a record until overtaken by Rooney in 2015. Charlton was knighted in 1994.

After retiring as a player, he had a brief spell in management with Preston but found more success with the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, a scheme initially designed to improve the ball skills of schoolboy players which became a flourishing business, listing David Beckham as its most distinguished graduate. In 1984, he returned to United as a director and played a key role in the history of the Premier League by throwing his weight behind the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager in 1986. When Ferguson’s future came under intense scrutiny in early 1990, Charlton remained his most steadfast supporter.

A prodigy’s progress

Robert Charlton (always known as Bobby) was born in the autumn of 1937, one of four sons of Robert Charlton senior, a miner, and Elizabeth (usually shortened to Cissie) Charlton, née Milburn. That name conferred celebrity in the close-knit community of Ashington. Four of Cissie’s brothers were professional footballers: George, Jack, Jimmy and Stan. They may have been journeymen but Bobby’s second cousin was an authentic superstar: Jackie Milburn was one of Newcastle United’s greatest centre-forwards. Nor was Bobby the only talented footballer in his household – brother Jack made his debut for Leeds United in 1953.

It did not take long for the young Charlton’s gifts to become apparent. “The first discovery I made as a boy was that I would never do anything more naturally, or so well, as play football,” he said. At primary school he found a mentor in the sports teacher Mr McGuinness. “My first memory of him is seeing this small thin lad of nine playing football with the 14-year-olds and just waltzing through them,” McGuinness recalled. Charlton was bright enough to win a place at grammar school. He represented East Northumberland Boys, Northumberland Juniors and, finally, England Schoolboys. For a teenager from a town such as Ashington, the football was secondary to the thrill of staying in a hotel.

Talent scouts beat a path to the Charltons’ door. At one point, 18 clubs were intent on securing Bobby’s signature. “Sometimes there would be two scouts in the house at the same time, one in the front room with my father, another in the kitchen with my mother,” he remembered. Illegal financial inducements were offered but Manchester United promised something more precious than money. He knew that manager Matt Busby believed in giving early opportunities to young players.

United in Manchester

Charlton duly signed for United on leaving school in 1953. Aged 15 and dressed in a sea-green raincoat that reached down to his ankles – “You’ll grow into it,” his mother assured him – he left Newcastle station bound for Manchester. Initial shock at the bleak, soot-covered buildings in his new home city quickly wore off as he embraced the exuberant conviviality of a club house shared with several other young players, including Edwards, Jackie Blanchflower, Mark Jones, Tommy Taylor, David Pegg and Billy Whelan.

Charlton came under the tutelage of Busby’s No.2, Jimmy Murphy, a renowned developer of young footballers. He encouraged Charlton’s natural shooting ability. Using a brick wall behind Old Trafford, Charlton would practise for hours striking the ball with both feet. In a training match, Murphy quietly ordered Eddie Colman to see how Charlton would react to rough treatment. “I tried but I couldn’t get close enough,” Colman protested afterwards.

Busby was building a formidable array of young talent. Starting in 1952/53, United won the FA Youth Cup in its first five seasons, and Busby was not slow in promoting the tyros to the first team: the press soon dubbed them the ‘Busby Babes’. Charlton signed as a professional on his 17th birthday in 1954 and two years later made his first-team debut against Charlton Athletic at Old Trafford, scoring twice in the first half. 

“Bobby puts on a dazzling show,” read the Sunday Pictorial’s headline. As he changed afterwards, Busby told him there was a taxi waiting to take him to the BBC studios in Manchester to appear on Sports Report. “Bobby, these are things you will now have to do. It’s what happens when you’re a football star,” the manager told him.

He made 14 league appearances, scoring 10 goals, as United’s precocious young stars swept to the title, and he played in the FA Cup final at Wembley in which Aston Villa denied Busby’s team the first Double of the 20th century. He was also given a glimpse of the exotic new world of Continental competition by appearing in the European Cup semi-final, second leg against Real Madrid.

Tragedy at Munich

In 1957/58, Charlton began to establish himself in Busby’s first-choice line-up. He never forgot “the sheer uncomplicated thrill of being part of this team”. In January, he scored in a 2-1 win over Red Star Belgrade at Old Trafford in the quarter-final of the European Cup. Before their departure for the second leg in Yugoslavia, they defeated Arsenal 5-4 at Highbury with a performance that encapsulated the impudent virtuosity of their football. “The ball it seemed had been placed in the arena for their own amusement,” said The Daily Telegraph.

In Belgrade, Charlton scored twice in a 3-3 draw to ensure United progressed to the semi-finals. It was a buoyant party that set off on the return journey the next day, though Busby fretted about the bad weather over Europe. He had defied the Football League to enter the European Cup and there was always pressure to return as swiftly as possible to England or face official sanction. Two days hence, United were due to meet First Division leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers: they trailed them by six points but victory would put them back in contention for a third successive title.

United’s chartered plane – an Airspeed Ambassador Elizabethan class – had to make a scheduled mid-afternoon refuelling stop in Munich. Charlton was new to flying, but he had already come to dislike the Ambassador: he always felt they seemed to take too long to get into the air. Beset by engine problems and hampered by slush on the runway, it crashed when attempting for the third time to take off.

Amid the flaming wreckage was a scene of devastation. Seven United players – Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Billy Whelan – were dead as well as eight journalists, three United staff, one crew member and two other passengers. Charlton woke to find Busby nearby, lying in a pool of water and clutching his chest: he took off his overcoat and laid it over the manager. Charlton was taken to hospital and did not know the extent of the disaster until he saw a young German reading a newspaper in the next bed. He asked him to go through the names, indicating which players were dead or alive.

He visited a gravely ill Busby and Edwards in an intensive care ward. “I’ve been waiting for you, where the bloody hell have you been?” Edwards asked. It gave him hope that his friend – the colossus of the team – would pull through but the prognosis on Busby was grim. Charlton returned home and was met at Harwich by his mother and brother Jack. It was a sombre drive back to the North East. Days later, Charlton was in his room when his mother brought the news that Edwards had died. Busby recovered, though it was the following season before he took charge of the team again.

Charlton returned to Manchester to watch the club’s first match after Munich, an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sheffield Wednesday at Old Trafford. A makeshift United team won 3-0 and the emotion of the evening persuaded him that he should resume playing again as quickly as possible. At 20, he discovered he was now expected to fulfil the role of senior professional.

International honours

United fought their way through to the FA Cup final but at Wembley the emotion of the previous weeks caught up with them: they lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers. Nevertheless, Charlton earned his first call-up to the senior England side and made his debut against Scotland at Hampden Park. In front of a crowd of 128,000, England strolled to a 4-0 victory with Charlton scoring the third with a spectacular volley.

It took him a while to become established but by the time of the 1962 World Cup in Chile he was part of a formidable England squad that had high expectations. They lost to Brazil in the quarter-final but the appointment of Alf Ramsey as manager the following year signalled a radical change in approach to international football.

In the same year, United won their first trophy since Munich, defeating Leicester City 3-1 in the FA Cup final. With Law scoring twice and a young Best watching from the stands, a powerful new team was taking shape.

Championships followed in 1964/65 and 1966/67, won with stylish attacking football that answered Busby’s twin demands: that his players express themselves and entertain the public. For some time, Charlton had been forced to play on the left wing, which was not to his taste, but now he was back in his favoured role as a deep-lying centre-forward.

World Cup glory

At the 1966 World Cup, England had home advantage and a new tactical acumen instilled by Ramsey. Along with goalkeeper Gordon Banks and captain Bobby Moore, Charlton was one of three genuinely world-class players in the squad. By now he was joined in Ramsey’s line-up by his brother Jack, an uncomplicated but highly effective centre-half.

England stumbled to a 0-0 draw in their opening match against Uruguay and after another goalless 38 minutes in the second game against Mexico, it needed Charlton’s intervention – a typical surging run from deep, climaxed with a crashing shot from 25 yards into the left-hand corner of the goal. 

“I have never been more relieved, or elated, to see the ball smash into the back of the net,” Charlton said. From that moment, England grew in authority, though in an ill-tempered quarter-final against Argentina the unthinkable happened when he was booked. 

His greatest contribution to England’s success came in an epic semi-final against Portugal when he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. 

In the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final, Charlton struggled to escape the close marking of Beckenbauer but there was no doubt he had been one of England’s most important players. At the final whistle he made straight for his brother. “Our lives will never be the same again,” Bobby told him.

United claim the supreme prize

The conquest of Europe remained Busby’s burning ambition. By the time they started their European Cup campaign in 1967/68 the team was ageing. “The European Cup, I have always reckoned, was much harder to win than England’s World Cup,” Charlton said. “It takes effectively two years to win the European Cup.” On the 10th anniversary of the Munich tragedy, it seemed that United’s victory was predestined. But Charlton felt the constant reminders only added to the pressure.

He started to believe, though, after a goal from full-back Bill Foulkes, a survivor of the air crash, earned them a semi-final victory over Real Madrid in the Bernabéu Stadium. The final against Benfica, on an oppressively hot Wembley evening, was a nervy affair, extra time being required before United triumphed 4-1. Charlton scored twice: a deft, flicked header to put them ahead in the first half, and a looping first-time shot to round off the victory.

On the final whistle, his first instinct was to try to clear the crowds swarming around Busby. Charlton looked as if he might collapse under the weight of the trophy. Later, back at the hotel, suffering from acute dehydration, he fainted several times and was unable to join the victory banquet, spending the night in his room while the champagne flowed downstairs.

After that triumphant evening, United went into vertiginous decline. Busby retired a year after the European Cup win but a succession of replacements failed to escape his long shadow. Despite the club’s fame and glamour, United were parsimonious in the transfer market and players were poorly rewarded. With their sharply contrasting lifestyles, Charlton had never been close to Best but now, as the latter’s existence became increasingly chaotic, a chasm opened between them.

Charlton made his 106th and final international appearance in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany in Mexico. He had an excellent game as England established a 2-0 lead, but Ramsey – desperate to preserve his stamina for the semi-final – substituted him just after Beckenbauer had pulled a goal back. Charlton looked on in horror as West Germany completed their comeback to win 3-2.

Club football provided no relief. Charlton played on until 1973 when he decided, at 35, to retire. His final game at Old Trafford was a 2-1 home defeat by Sheffield United, and his last Football League appearance for United, a 1-0 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where the queues to witness his farewell began in the early morning. There were tributes from all sides, though Charlton was relieved when the last of the formal presentations were over. 

“They’re not putting me away in a home, you know,” he said. “Of all British footballers he was, like Stanley Matthews, a player to reaffirm that professional soccer can be as much a medium of expression as chess or jazz or any other art form that you have to make up as you go along,” wrote Malcolm Winton in The Sunday Times. United were relegated a year later.

He went straight into management with second division Preston North End, but the club were relegated at the end of his first season. Charlton stayed on at Preston – making an unexpected playing comeback – but quit over boardroom interference early in 1974-75.

He was not cut out for management and enjoyed a more agreeable second life with his soccer schools, a co-commentator’s role for the BBC and a seat on the United board. He also became a global ambassador for British football, travelling thousands of miles in support of FA bids for major tournaments. The only cloud was a deteriorating relationship with his family back in Ashington, laid bare in Jack Charlton’s 1996 autobiography. In his own book 11 years later, Charlton admitted that the relationship between his wife Norma and his mother had always been difficult and, as a result, he had little contact with his parents.

He also wrote that after several difficult years he was once again on cordial terms with Jack. That was confirmed in 2008 when Jack presented him with a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In an emotional tribute, he said: “Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I have ever seen – and he’s my brother.”

Sir Bobby Charlton was born on October 11 1937. He died on 21 October 2023, aged 86.