MY MANCHESTER UNITED YEARS
Sir Bobby Charlton
Copyright © 2007 Bobby Charlton
The right of Bobby Charlton to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
First published as an Ebook by Headline Publishing Group in 2014
Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
eISBN: 978 1 4722 2706 5
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CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
ABOUT THE BOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEDICATION
PRAISE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PROLOGUE
1. A CAST OF REMARKABLE RELATIVES
2. BEACONS IN MY PAST
3. BEGINNING THE GREAT ADVENTURE
4. A NEW LIFE AND A NEW WATCH
5. LEARNING TO BE A PROFESSIONAL
6. THE FULFILMENT OF A DREAM
7. NO INSTANT CORONATION
8. UNDER THE SPELL OF EUROPE
9. INDESTRUCTIBLE
10. BELGRADE
11. MUNICH
12. RESURRECTION
13. FAMILY MATTERS
14. REBUILDING
15. TEAM OF STARS
16. DENIS, GEORGE AND ME
17. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
18. FORGING TEAM SPIRIT
19. THE FOOTBALL TRIP OF OUR LIVES
20. THE EUROPEAN CUP FINAL, 1968
21. GATHERING STORM CLOUDS
22. THE OLD MAN STEPS BACK
23. THE BAND CAN’T PLAY FOREVER
24. WHAT NEXT?
25. COMING HOME
26. THE VERY BEST OF MANCHESTER UNITED
EPILOGUE
CLUB STATISTICS
INDEX
ABOUT THE BOOK
Bobby Charlton is Manchester United through and through. He was a member of the original Busby Babes and has devoted his career to the club, playing in 754 games over 17 years. During that period he won everything the game had to offer, played alongside some of the greats such as Best and Law, suffered devastating defeats and was involved in one of the greatest football tragedies of all time. Here, for the very first time, he tells the story of those United years.
With his beloved Reds he tasted FA Cup victory in the emotional final of 1963, won three first division championships and in 1968 he reached the pinnacle of club success, winning the European Cup. Inevitably, such highs are balanced with no less dramatic lows, such as the 1957 European Cup semi-final, the highly charged 1958 FA Cup loss which followed only weeks after the horrors of the Munich Air disaster, and the 1969 European Cup defeat by Milan.
He is one of the true gentlemen of football and the legacy that Bobby Charlton gives to United is beyond compare.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sir Bobby Charlton was born in 1937 in Ashington, Northumberland. He joined Manchester United as a professional in 1954 and made his first team debut in October 1956. He was voted European Player of the Year in 1966 and won the FA Cup, three Division One championships and the European Cup with United. He joined the board of the club in 1984, a position he still holds today.
Bobby Charlton was a key member of the victorious England World Cup side of 1966. He was awarded the OBE in 1969, the CBE in 1973 and was knighted in 1994, the first footballer to gain such an honour since Sir Stanley Matthews in 1965.
James Lawton, who collaborated with Sir Bobby Charlton in the writing of this book, is the chief sports writer for the Independent. In 2007 he was named What The Papers Say sports writer of the year and has previously won the British sports journalist, sports columnist and feature writer of the year awards. He has written 11 books, including biographies of Lester Piggott and Malcolm Allison. He has also worked with George Cohen, Nobby Stiles, Ian St John and Joe Jordan on their highly acclaimed autobiographies.
‘Sir Bobby Charlton’s The Autobiography reveals the humanity and heartache behind the footballing legend …
It might be expected … that this book would be dull, bland and platitudinous. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This first volume of autobiography, covering his childhood and his years with Manchester United, has an easy, flowing narrative and a host of memorable passages about key moments. The horror of the Munich air crash looms large …
Sir Bobby is also interesting on his austere childhood in Ashington, Northumberland, where he was born into a mining family …
Sir Bobby comes across as a man of fundamental decency. It is impossible not to be touched by his romantic devotion to his wife Norma or to Manchester United, the two great pillars of his life …
I await with eagerness the second volume, on his England career’ Leo McKinstry, The Times
‘With many autobiographies you wonder what the point was, why the player merited such attention and why, having been given the publishing deal, he then dealt in evasions. Not this one. Not only is Bobby Charlton manifestly a figure whose life story should be told, but he has done so in a book of at times agonising honesty’ FourFourTwo
‘His story is without equal. It is the greatest story of British sport. The vivid honesty of the book is evident from the first page to the last. It is also a wise book, which cannot be said of so many other football tomes’ Jim Holden, Sunday Express
‘His account of the process which saw Ferguson named one of Busby’s successors at Old Trafford … is enthralling’ Scotsman
‘… beautifully crafted’ Daily Mail
‘… the Manchester United and England hero packs his account with memorable anecdotes’ Independent
‘… sensitive, benevolent and humble in a way that the life story of a modern superstar could never be’ The Times
‘… beautifully written’ Daily Telegraph
‘Here, certainly, is a tale somewhat more than ripe to be told – and one perhaps more worthy of telling than that of any British sportsman alive or dead’ Lancashire Evening Post
‘It has certainly been worth the wait: Sir Bobby Charlton: My Manchester United Years is a compelling read’ Oldham Evening Chronicle
‘Sir Bobby Charlton’s autobiography, like the man himself, is absolutely unique’ Yorkshire Evening Post
For Norma, who has always given me her love and her strength
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I HOPE THAT in the following
