Sir Robert “Bobby” Charlton died this Saturday October 21 at the age of 86. Glory to Manchester United, the footballer led the England team to its only world title in 1966, the year in which he also won the Ballon d’Or. The midfielder had previously survived the terrible crash which decimated the Red Devils in 1958.
The cradle of football, England has had a number of prestigious players, stars among stars and generational icons. However, there are only a handful to have lifted the famous World Cup. This is one of the privileges experienced by Sir Bobby Charlton, football legend, who passed away on October 21, 2023.
The heyday of the “Busby Babes”
On October 11, 1937, Robert “Bob” and Elizabeth “Cissie” Charlton welcomed their second child. After John “Jack”, born two years earlier, the family grew with the birth of Robert “Bobby”, who was given his father’s first name. The newborn was born in Ashington, a suburb of Newcastle, into a family where football is king. His mother is the sister of Jack, George, Jim and Stan Milburn, as well as the cousin of Jackie Milburn, all experienced footballers. Jackie is also one of the greatest players to have worn the Newcastle United jersey.
But it is not with the Magpies that Jack and Bobby Charlton will find their way. The first will stay 23 years at Leeds United, while the second will turn to one of the biggest clubs in the world. As a teenager, he was spotted in 1952 by one of Manchester United’s scouts. “I was 15 years old. At the time, you could drop out of school at that age. I answered positively because I was crazy about football, and they were the first club to ask me», he confided to the historian Claude Boli (Manchester United, the invention of a clubÉditions de La Martinière).
Manchester United is then coached by Matt Busby, a Scottish technician who relies heavily on detecting young talents. Bobby Charlton is one of those who will be called the “Busby Babes”. In 1956, the attacking midfielder made his debut with the Red Devils and made a strong impression. Manchester United was then a successful club and the path to the top seemed clear for the young Charlton. But his start to his career was marked by tragedy.
Survivor of the Munich tragedy
During the 1957-1958 season, Manchester United was the first English club to participate in the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, the ancestor of the Champions League. As the flagship of football in the United Kingdom, the Mancunian institution aims to be ambitious. In the quarter-final first leg, they dominated Red Star Belgrade. Then, on February 5, Manchester returned from Yugoslavia with a draw and qualification for the last four in their pocket.
The story changed tragically the next day, February 6, 1958: the plane bringing the Mancunian club crashed on takeoff from Munich-Riem airport, in Germany. The results are terrible. Of the 44 people on board, 23 lost their lives. The Manchester United team is decimated: eight players die, including several “Busby Babes”, as well as three members of the technical staff.
Bobby Charlton, aged 20, miraculously survives. While he is unconscious, the victim of a blow to the head, his teammate Harry Gregg comes to his aid. His injury is not serious, but the trauma is deep. Decades later, the footballer confided to the BBC: “I was just lucky to be seated in the right seat. We never left the ground, we entered a house and several obstacles. It was a nightmare.»
Coach Busby is seriously injured, but also recovers. Despite the tragedy in Munich, the coach and the player join forces with a single goal: to rebuild the club. “I fell in love with Manchester United during my short time there. I wondered what would happen next, how we would recover. But it had to be. We had to make this effort“, Charlton explained.
1966-1968, the grandiose years
Little by little, the Red Devils rose from their ashes in the 1960s, with Bobby Charlton as their playing master. In 1965, twelve years after its last coronation, the club became English champions again. A year later, it was the apotheosis: at home, England were finally crowned world champions against Germany (4-2 after extra time). Accompanied by his big brother Jack, central defender, Bobby lifts the 1966 World Cup trophy at Wembley. At the end of the year, he was the second English player to win the Ballon d’Or, after Stanley Matthews in 1956.
Bobby Charlton became a little more legendary in football in 1968, ten years after the Munich tragedy. For the first time in its history, Manchester United are crowned European champions after their victory against Benfica (4-1 after extra time), at Wembley again, including a goal from Northern Irishman George Best and a double from the captain Charlton, then in its firmament. The emblem of the “Busby Babes” and his teammates will dedicate their victory to those who died in 1958. Queen Elizabeth II ennobled the coach, now Sir Matt Busby.
Elegant, gentleman, gifted, Bobby Charlton was, at that time, a football icon. “No one has come as close to perfection as him», said Sir Matt Busby. Sir Alex Ferguson, another legendary manager of Manchester United between 1986 and 2013, declared that Charlton “represents everything that is great in sport“.
The legend ennobled by the queen
It was in 1973, at the age of 36, that Bobby Charlton said goodbye to Manchester United. For decades, he remained the most capped player (758 matches) and top scorer (249 goals) before being overtaken by Ryan Giggs (963 matches) and Wayne Rooney (253 goals). The striker also kept the record for goals for England for a long time (49 goals), before seeing Wayne Rooney (53), then Harry Kane do better (61 goals). Once he hung up his boots, he would attempt a brief and modest coaching career and take up a position as an administrator and ambassador for Manchester United.
On June 11, 1994, Bobby Charlton was in turn ennobled by Elizabeth II and obtained the title of Sir, at the same time as the actor Alec Guinness and the conductor Simon Rattle. Among his many awards, the former footballer was notably named “honorary citizen of Manchester” in 2009, a city he has always held close to his heart.
Weakened by poor health, Sir Bobby Charlton was less visible during the last years of his life. At the end of 2020, his family revealed that he was suffering from dementia, an illness which affected other 1966 world champions. With his disappearance, a football monument bows out. But the story remains. During his lifetime, Manchester United portrayed him as a “huge character“, “a link between the past, present and future“. An immortal symbol.