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Sir Bobby Charlton
| Category: | Special European Hall of Fame - one of the five all-time best players from the English game based on performance in Europe |
| Year Inducted: | 2008 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of The Football Hall of Fame, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
As a young man making his way in the game, Bobby Charlton watched Alfredo di Stefano give a master-class on the art of running a game from central midfield - exactly the role the Manchester United star craved and would eventually fulfil for both club and country.
It was the spring of 1957, soon after Charlton had made his breakthrough into the first - team at Old Trafford as an inside-forward, and United were playing Real Madrid in the semi-final of the European Cup.
Still learning his trade as a professional footballer, a transfixed Charlton studied every move of the Real Madrid number nine, an early and exceptionally gifted exponent of the withdrawn centre-forward role.
‘I had never seen such a complete player,' Charlton recalled in his autobiography, published in 2007. ‘It was as though he had set up his own command centre at the heart of the game. He was as strong as he was subtle. The combination of qualities was mesmerising.
‘He would take the ball from the goalkeeper; tell the full-backs what to do; at all times, he is in position to take the ball; you can see everything that is happening. Whenever he got into any kind of position in midfield it was the signal for Gento [the Real Madrid winger] to fly, and di Stefano would find him.'
Such command and skill develops over time, of course. And before Charlton was ready to take possession of the number nine shirt for both Manchester United and England, there would be frustrating spells on the periphery of the action, ‘exiled', as he saw it, on the left wing. Gradually, the reality sank in: if Charlton wanted to achieve his ambition, he would have to change as a player. And that's exactly what happened.
As he matured, Charlton increasingly accepted greater responsibility; his decision-making improved, as did his support play and concentration. Under orders from Matt Busby, his manager, Charlton began to ‘mix up' his passes, rather than always look long for the spectacular ‘killer‘ pass. ‘More of the short stuff,‘ Busby told him. Above all, though, he became more disciplined as a defender when the opposition had the ball.
All the time, Charlton had been doing all he could to learn more about the game, and European football in particular, including visits to Anfield during the 1964-65 season to watch Liverpool's home games in the European Cup.
The breakthrough came during the build-up to the 1966 World Cup when Busby switched Charlton to a free-role in midfield, a lead soon followed by Alf Ramsey at international level. Both sides would be built around him, allowing him the freedom, like di Stefano had done before, to dictate play. Moreover, both United and England could now take full advantage of his rare shooting power with both feet and ability to beat an opponent on either side.
All the time the goal remained the same: to help Manchester United lift the European Cup, to fulfil both his personal ambitions and to honour the friends and colleagues who had died in the Munich air crash in 1958. Men, like Charlton and Busby, who led the way for English football in Europe only to suffer tragedy and grief.
Following the disaster, Charlton gradually assumed more responsibility as Busby rebuilt the club. ‘After the crash, Bobby became a man overnight,' Busby wrote later. From being one attractive new stone in a mighty edifice he became the foundation on which we had to rebuild over the ruins. He is as near perfection as a man and player as it is possible to be.' In all this, Charlton had become as important to Manchester United as di Stefano had been to the great Real Madrid side of the 1950s. The question was: could he inspire United to victory in Europe's most prestigious club competition, as di Stefano had done.
After a near-miss in the European Cup in 1966, when Manchester United were eliminated in the semi-finals, Busby's side, now slightly past its peak, was drawn to play Real Madrid at the same stage two years later.
As a result, Charlton returned to the same stadium where he had witnessed di Stefano at his imperious best almost a decade earlier. It would be another memorable occasion, as Manchester came from behind to seal a famous victory, as Charlton recalled in his autobiography. ‘When the final whistle went in Madrid, I fell to the turf. I thought to myself: “It's ours now. We are going to win the European Cup.” On the flight home, I could not stop thinking: “We've won it in Madrid – we've won it in a place which matters so much to the club and to me”. It was marvellous.'
Their opponents in the final were Benfica, the champions of Portugal, whose ranks included several players from the side beaten by England in the semi-final of the World Cup in 1966. Perhaps even more telling: in March that year, United thrashed Benfica in the European Cup.
‘We had such a good record against Portuguese players that I never worried about the game,' Charlton recalled years later. At Wembley, Charlton opened the scoring with a header and then sealed a 4-1 victory by skilfully dinking a lob over the head of Henrique, the Benfica keeper, from a narrow angle. At the end of normal time, with the score 1-1, and with the Portuguese enjoying the better of the things, Busby stressed the importance of regaining control of the ‘middle of the park'. Inspired by Charlton, Manchester United did just that. Despite the taxing humidity, Charlton was full of running, controlling the tempo and direction of the game, repeatedly feeding the ball to John Aston, the Manchester United winger, just as di Stefano had looked for the speedy Gento. This, surely, was the type of commanding performance Charlton had in mind for himself as he observed di Stefano in his prime all those years earlier.
Like di Stefano, Charlton had scored in a European Cup final. Now he went one better than the great man, lifting the trophy as captain. As best he could, anyway. So exhausted was he by the physical and emotional strain of the occasion. Charlton was unable to lift the cup above chest height. ‘It felt bloody heavy,' he joked afterwards.