Sir Bobby Charlton’s life almost came to a tragic end in 1958. But he survived the Munich plane crash, unlike many of his Manchester United teammates. Eight years later he can win the world title and become a legend. Now Charlton is 85 years old.
One of the greatest in English football turns 85 this Tuesday. We’re talking about Bobby Charlton, a member of the 1966 World Cup winning team and a longtime Manchester United leader. When his dementia became known almost two years ago, the whole kingdom suffered with “Sir Bobby”.
Ever since Charlton won the Intercontinental Cup with other legends like Wembley goal scorer Geoff Hurst and captain Bobby Moore, football’s motherland has been waiting in vain for such heroes. “England could only win against us in 1966 because Bobby Charlton was a little bit better than me,” Franz Beckenbauer once said.
But a hero? A “hero”? Charlton never saw himself like this. “He’s such a humble guy, he didn’t know how good he was,” Hurst once said of Charlton on the BBC. And yet: “When you travel around the world, you come to places where people don’t speak a word of English. The only thing they know is: ‘Bobby Charlton’.”
This name is closely associated with Manchester United. Charlton scored 148 goals in 477 competitive games for the Red Devils. In addition, there were 106 caps and 49 goals, only Wayne Rooney (53 goals) and Harry Kane (51) were more successful for the Three Lions. The Queen ennobled Charlton in 1994, and the South Stand at Old Trafford has been named after the club icon since 2016.
The key moment in Charlton’s life was not the triumph at Wembley on July 30, 1966, it happened on that tragic February 6, 1958. When the “Busby Babes” of United coaching legend Matt Busby crashed at Munich-Riem Airport, it was 20-year-old Charlton was thrown from the plane – and survived. 23 of the 44 occupants of the plane died, including eight of his teammates. “That day,” Charlton once said, “changed my life.”
Along with his older brother Jack, Bobby Charlton won the 1966 World Championship at Wembley. Jack died at the age of 85 on July 10, 2020 – he also had dementia.
