The day Bobby Charlton died it was pouring rain over England, a nation that will remember him not only as a key figure in the history of football, but as a true ‘gentleman’, the epitome of the English gentleman.
Sir Bobby, as everyone called Robert Charlton, had been living in added time since 1958, when the plane in which Manchester United was traveling crashed in Munich. 23 people died, including eight players, but Charlton saved their lives thanks to goalkeeper Harry Gregg, who risked his life to get him and others out of the wreckage of the device.
That disaster wiped out a good part of the Busby Babes, the generation of young United youth players who, under Matt Busby, had won the English league the previous year and were destined to dominate European football for the next decade, but left to Charlton with only superficial injuries.
He was the first survivor to leave the hospital and, just a month after the accident, he returned to the field to play in an FA Cup match (2-2, against West Bromwich).
At the age of 20, Charlton became the fundamental pillar of the team’s reconstruction and, in 1963, he was in charge of lifting the first trophy after the tragedy, the English Cup. Then two other leagues would come, in 1965 and 1967.
The stellar moment of his career took place in May 1966, when England beat Germany 4-2 and won the only World Cup that he still has in his showcases. That year, he was chosen for the Ballon d’Or ahead of Eusébio, Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore, his teammate.
Already elevated to the altars of English football, he was part of the “Holy Trinity” of Manchester United, along with George Best and Denis Law, which won the first European Cup for a British team in 1968.
Charlton scored twice in the final against Benfica (4-1), also at Wembley, a victory that sealed the club’s recovery after the Munich tragedy and laid the foundations for United’s modern history.
It was the greatest achievement in 17 seasons in the Old Trafford team, with which he played 758 games and for which he scored 249 goals. As an international, he took the field for the last time, after 106 games for England, in the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup. At the age of 32, he was substituted in the 70th minute, when the English were winning 2-1 against Germany. They ended up losing 3-2 in extra time.
He left United in 1973, before briefly working as a player-coach for Preston, joining Irish club Waterford with little success and passing through several Australian teams.
Until his death, this Saturday at the age of 86, he retained the position of director of the club that United gave him in 1984, a team from which he served as ambassador and from which he never left.
This was Manchester United’s tribute to Bobby Charlton
On the same day of Charlton’s death, this Saturday, Manchester United had a scheduled match against Sheffield United. The team, dressed in alternate uniforms, took the field wearing a black armband.
Both home and away fans paid a heartfelt tribute to him before the game:
Off the field, Charlton was known for his dedication to humanitarian causes. Having seen first-hand the damage caused by mines on visits to Cambodia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he founded the organization “Find a Better Way” in 2011, dedicated to helping victims of conflict.
In 2020, the same year his older brother Jack died, he was diagnosed with dementia. Both brothers shared the playing field in the 1966 World Cup final and were separated for decades afterwards due to family quarrels.
Their reconciliation was a public act that thrilled the English, in 2008, when Jack agreed to give Bobby the award as BBC Personality of the Year for his entire career.
“Bobby Charlton is the best player I’ve ever seen. And he’s my brother,” his former locker room teammate said proudly on that occasion.
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