Yesterday, Saturday the 21st of October became a special and sad day at the same time, Sir Bobby Charlton has died at the age of 86. The Man Utd and England icon with 106 caps for his country is no longer with us.
Ballon d’Or once, 1966, runners-up in the same competition, 1967 and 1968. World Cup winner for England, League and FA Cup winner with Manchester United as well as a European Cup winner.
Sir Bobby Charlton survived the terrible Munich Air Disaster, when several of his team-mates died and he luckily survived with his manager Sir Matt Busby also among the survivors building a new team with his young wonder as a key player in that rebuild.
Sir Bobby had an older brother in Jack, both playing together for England, but in club football massive rivals as they represented two of the major rivals at their time in English football, Man Utd and Leeds.
For those who watched Sir Bobby play, he had the skills of a modern footballer, could play with both feet and also from an attacking midfield position, scoring important goals and setting up players as his assists are also well known. A magnificant player with a drive and detirmination.
Sir Bobby played his last internationals in the 1970 World Cup. England were on the road to the semi-finals of the tournament, when Sir Alf Ramsey suddenly decided to rest his 32 year old meastro, being substituted in the 70th minute, with England failing to keep their lead, losing 3-2, Bobby Charlton’s never returned to the national team and his glourious time for England was at the end.
He was part of the England squad in four World Cup’s, not playing games in his first, the 1958 tournament in Sweden, playing in 1962, 1966 and 1970.
He was seen as a major part of the holy trinity building an offensive and attacking force in partnerhship with two other Man Utd greats and Ballon d’Or’s, Denis Law (1964) and George Best (1968). They were all key players during the 60’s and early 70’s as Man Utd had fantastic years in football.
Sir Bobby left Man Utd in 1973, scoring 199 goals in 606 league appearances, to take charge of manager affairs at Preston North End, but as a player manager at Deepdale, with modest results, he got frustrated and decided to leave the trade of football management and instead exploring opportunites abroad, He played and appeared for clubs in Ireland, Australia and South Africa, also having a short interim period in charge of Wigan Athletic, before making a return to Man Utd as a director in 1984, and since been a father figure at the club.
Sad to see the news yesterday about his death, Sir Bobby Charlton died at the age of 86, RIP
TRANSFER UPDATES
Premier League / League Championship
LATEST UPDATES
Leave a Reply