Bobby Charlton is a true Manchester United Football Club legend, born in 1937 he signed for United in the summer of 1953 as a 15 year old and signed a professional contract the following year. Bobby Charlton went on to make 758 appearances and score 249 goals for the club.
Charlton was part of the United youth team that won the FA Youth Cup for three years in succession in 1954, 1955 and 1956. He made his first team debut for United against Charlton Athletic in 1956, scoring two goals on his debut, but he didn't start regularly for the first team until the later part of the season, however he managed to score 10 goals as Manchester won the 1956/57 First Division title and narrowly missed out on the FA Cup when they lost to Aston Villa in the final.
By 1958 Bobby Charlton had secured a regular place in the team and was scoring regularly, he scored two goals in United's 3-3 draw against Partizan Belgrade in the European Cup quarter-finals, and it was on the return plane journey, after a stopping in Munich to refuel, the plane crashed while attempting on take off, 20 of the 44 people on board the plane died in the crash, Bobby Charlton survived, with relatively minor injuries and amazingly he was back playing football within a month.
A period of re-building the team now followed, and Charlton was a major component of the new team, he played a pivotal role as Manchester United went onto to win the League title again in 1965 and 1967, in between those two titles, there was the small matter of the 1966 World Cup as Bobby Charlton played a leading role in the England side which won the tournament, including scoring two goals in the semi-final victory against Portugal. Bobby Charlton was capped 106 times by England and scored 49 goals for his country.
Charlton was named as English and European player of the year in 1966, but his greatest accolade as a Manchester United player came in 1968 when he captained the side to their first European Cup, beating Benfica in the final, and scoring two goals in the game that ended in 4-1 victory to United after extra time.
Bobby Charlton ended his United playing career in 1973, and he has been a member of the board of directors since 1984 he remains on the board to this day, he will always be remembered as one of the greatest players ever to play for Manchester United
Steve Goodwin is an expert author, football fan and retailer of Manchester United football gifts that are available from the Man United Shop and all items are available to ship worldwide
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