This is how I remember Sir Bobby Charlton.
Whenever England were playing badly, which was often, he would run 30 yards and smash the ball in the net.
That’s what you want football to be like when you are 9 years old.
Steve Murray
6 months ago
A worthy tribute to a true great.
Whilst i’ve lived through those eras and fully recognise the author’s descriptions, i only ever saw Charlton play once – in a friendly charity fixture at my home club when he was into his 40s and having retired around a decade earlier. The precision of his beautifully weighted passing was still there, the elegance too.
At the time of his retirement, i thought he’d retired too early, but whilst he played for the sheer joy of kicking a football, the game had indeed changed around him and in retrospect, he did the right thing. He always did.
Richard M
6 months ago
A truly great player and a very fine man by all accounts. A very sad loss.
Michael Brett
6 months ago
A fantastic article , thank you.
Pedro the Exile
6 months ago
During the 1980’s I was undertaking a huge amount of international travel,primarily to the Far East.I’ve lost count of the times when I was introduced as an Englishman the response came back” ah…Bobby Carlton.”Top bloke-and thats from a City fan of nearly 60 years standing.There’s a great picture in the Telegraph of him kicking a ball with some local kids in the backstreets of Ashington-Charlton is wearing a shirt,tie and jumper and the whole picture seemed like a different world-which it was.
Robert Bassett
6 months ago
A terrific article.
Last edited 6 months ago by Robert Bassett
Dougie Undersub
6 months ago
A lovely piece. I saw Charlton once in the flesh, at St James’s Park on his final season. He came on as a sub in the second half, scored a typical goal from 30 yards out, but the Magpies won 2-1. So everyone went home happy.
Charles Stanhope
6 months ago
You obviously missed AV give WH a good thrashing on Saturday!
Wayne Cochrane
6 months ago
One of my childhood heroes, along with George Best. What a combination. Living in rugby mad New Zealand I didn’t get to see many of his games on television but on the rare occasions that a match was shown it was absolute magic. RIP Bobby.
Lovely piece.
Came here to say exactly that. Seconded.
This is how I remember Sir Bobby Charlton.
Whenever England were playing badly, which was often, he would run 30 yards and smash the ball in the net.
That’s what you want football to be like when you are 9 years old.
A worthy tribute to a true great.
Whilst i’ve lived through those eras and fully recognise the author’s descriptions, i only ever saw Charlton play once – in a friendly charity fixture at my home club when he was into his 40s and having retired around a decade earlier. The precision of his beautifully weighted passing was still there, the elegance too.
At the time of his retirement, i thought he’d retired too early, but whilst he played for the sheer joy of kicking a football, the game had indeed changed around him and in retrospect, he did the right thing. He always did.
A truly great player and a very fine man by all accounts. A very sad loss.
A fantastic article , thank you.
During the 1980’s I was undertaking a huge amount of international travel,primarily to the Far East.I’ve lost count of the times when I was introduced as an Englishman the response came back” ah…Bobby Carlton.”Top bloke-and thats from a City fan of nearly 60 years standing.There’s a great picture in the Telegraph of him kicking a ball with some local kids in the backstreets of Ashington-Charlton is wearing a shirt,tie and jumper and the whole picture seemed like a different world-which it was.
A terrific article.
A lovely piece. I saw Charlton once in the flesh, at St James’s Park on his final season. He came on as a sub in the second half, scored a typical goal from 30 yards out, but the Magpies won 2-1. So everyone went home happy.
You obviously missed AV give WH a good thrashing on Saturday!
One of my childhood heroes, along with George Best. What a combination. Living in rugby mad New Zealand I didn’t get to see many of his games on television but on the rare occasions that a match was shown it was absolute magic. RIP Bobby.