The United Trinity - Part I - Sir Robert Charlton

“Unquestionably, the greatest player of all time”- Sir Alex Ferguson

758 appearances for Manchester United and an incredible 249 goals. Survivor of the Munich Air Crash in 1958 that wiped out Manchester United’s young yet legendary “Busby Babes”. Winner of the FA Cup, World Cup, European Cup and multiple First Division Titles. Has never been injured throughout his career, never been sent off and the only yellow card he received was rescinded. More importantly, he was an iconic figure, both on and off the field.

He could accelerate like a horse, breeze past defenders with ease, had an incredible passing range aided by his outstanding vision. He probably is the best shooter of a football that has ever graced the game. All this he could do with both feet. I, for one, assumed he was right footed, as some of his pile drivers that I had seen on Youtube were struck with his right foot. I was left perplexed when I read later that he preferred his left foot. That’s how good he was.

“He had a beautiful running style. It was like he was a piece of silver paper, gliding across the pitch”- Sir Alex Ferguson

Modern day Manchester United fans all know who Sir Bobby is. Well, they should. What we’ve seen of him are a couple of World Cup goals, and some of his thunderbolts in rare compilation videos on Youtube. But not many of us can actually fathom how great he was.

FIFA, in 1994, published the “FIFA World Cup All Time Team” that comprised of the greatest players ever in World Cup history which was segregated into 1 goal keeper, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards. Of the three midfield players, guess who starred in center midfield partnered by Michel Platini and Johan Cryuff ?

Sir Bobby Charlton.

“I’ve never seen anyone who could go past players as easily as he did”- George Best

For a midfield general, he had quite the statistics.

• In the 1958-1959 season, the year after the Munich Air Crash, he clicked with fellow strike partner Denis Violet and went on to score 29 league goals. The Red Devils came agonizingly close to winning the league title, only to be pipped by Wolverhampton Wanderers. They finished Runners Up.

• From 1960 to 1968, he was rated amongst the top ten players of the world by the Ballon d’Or. In 1966, he won the “European Player of the Year” and finished 2nd in 1967. In 1968, he finished a close second behind his team mate, George Best.

Bobby Charlton receiving the Ballon d'Or at Old Trafford

• In 1966, he was adjudged Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year. In 1973, at the age of 35, he won the Professional Football Association`s “Footballer of the Year”

“You got to see the goals, really. Incredible goals. You don’t see anyone today scoring goals like that” – Ryan Giggs on Sir Bobby’s best strikes.

• In the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he was adjudged the best player of the tournament, winning the FIFA golden ball. In 1970, he retained his place in the Best XI at the World Cup in Mexico.

Franz Beckenbauer had been instructed to mark Bobby Charlton in the 1966 World Cup Final. Little did he realize that Alf Ramsey had instructed Bobby to do the same

• He scored twice in the 4-1 European Cup final victory over Benfica in 1968 to hand United and Sir Matt Busby his dream.
• He scored 20 goals in 78 FA Cup ties, and had a one in two scoring record in European competition (22 goals in 45 games). Mind you, he strutted his stuff in midfield and was not an out-and-out striker.
• He won 1 FA Cup (1963), 1 World Cup (1966), 1 European Cup (1968), 3 First Division titles (1957, 1965, 1967).
• He also won two FA Cup runner’s up medals in 1957 and 1958. He won 3 First division runner up medals in 1959, 1964, 1968.
• He was a losing European Cup semi finalist on three occasions (1958, 1965, 1969). He was also a losing semi finalist in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, equivalent of today’s UEFA Europa League.
• Charlton scored a famous hattrick in the famous 6-1 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund, which included a rocket that crashed in off the crossbar from 25 yards out. It is worth remembering that Dortmund won the West German Cup that season and won the European Cup Winner’s Cup the following year.
• He also scored in the famous 5-1 thrashing of Eusebio’s great Benfica side in the European Cup campaign of 1965 at the Stadium of Light , Lisbon.
• He finished third with England in the 1968 UEFA Euro, scoring against the Soviet Union in a 2-0 victory in the third place play-off.
• In 1975, he played a season in Ireland for Waterford United, where he scored 18 goals in 31 games.
• Apart from a host of individual awards from FIFA, IFHSS, UEFA, European Hall of Fame, France Football, Brazil Placar, ItalyVenerdi and Italy Guerin, he was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Lifetime achievement award in 2008.

Sir Bobby Charlton receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from his brother Jack.

“England beat us in 1966 because Bobby Charlton was just a bit better than me. He was the best player in the world at that time. The best I have ever played against.”-Franz Beckenbauer on Germany’s loss to England in the 1966 World Cup Final

Quite astounding really. He’s won everything that every football professional dreams of winning. In 1968, after United’s victory he was the most famous Englishman. His name echoed in every part of the globe. Yet modern fans do not acknowledge his greatness.

The most telling example would be the recent poll on Manchester United’s website trying to determine its Greatest XI. Sir Bobby Charlton, probably the greatest center midfield player of all time featured in the Greatest XI as a striker. A STRIKER!!? UNBELIEVABLE!!

At the end of it all, how great was Sir Bobby? The answer lies in his humility. For all that he’d achieved, not once did he argue with the referee. Not once was he found on the front pages of the newspapers for the wrong reasons. He was also awarded a knighthood in 1994.

“Bobby Charlton has never done anything dishonest in his life” – Bobby Moore, England’s World Cup winning captain.

A life touched by tragedy, but sprinkled with greatness.

He’d lost his beloved team mates to fate’s cruel measures, yet rose up to the challenge, won almost everything that a football professional could, captained Manchester United to European Glory ten years after Munich and eased some of Sir Matt Busby’s pain. His manager sums him up perfectly,

“He was as near perfection as a man and player as it is possible to be” – Sir Matt Busby

There can be no higher praise from no greater judge.