“Words will never be enough.” With this message yesterday Manchester United made public the death of the greatest legend in its history. Sir Bobby Charlton, legendary English footballer, died at the age of 86 of natural causes and left all British homes in mourning. With him goes a piece of the country’s football history, because in addition to his football talent and enormous charisma, he became immortal for being the protagonist in winning England’s only World Cup, won in 1966, the year in which he also He was recognized with the Ballon d’Or.
Born in Ashington, Northumberland, in 1938, he began playing football at school, encouraged by his mother, who was from a family of famous footballers. Although his personal and football life was soon dramatically marked by an air tragedy, the one he experienced in Munich in 1958. The plane that transported the members of the Manchester United Busby Babes (as the generation led by Matt Busby was known) to England crashed shortly after takeoff and 23 people, including footballers, coaching staff, journalists, crew and fans, died. Also Duncan Edwards, 21 years old and the greatest English talent of the time. Charlton and 20 others, including Matt Busby, were saved (Charlton was the only survivor left alive).
That drama marked the entire country and of course the career of Charlton, who was 21 years old at the time. From that moment on he had to carry on his shoulders the historic weight of returning football glory to the club and the country. They were difficult years in which Manchester was rebuilt around his figure.
But before succeeding at United he would do so with his national team. Along with Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks and Geoff Hurst, he led England to victory in their own World Cup, held in 1966, in which they defeated West Germany in the grand final 4-2. That summer he was awarded the highest award a footballer can obtain when he won the Ballon d’Or.
Two seasons later and just when a decade had passed since the Munich tragedy, in 1968, Bobby Charlton managed to lift the first European Cup in Manchester United’s history. The few survivors left in the team, such as Foulkes or Busby himself, were joined by young talents such as Denis Law and George Best. Together they managed to offer an unbeatable tribute to their deceased colleagues, whom they always represented with pride.
Since then, Bobby Charlton’s figure rose above that of any other English footballer, as FIFA also considered. In total, he played for Manchester United for 17 seasons and won three English league titles (1956-57, 1964-65 and 1966-67), the 1962-63 FA Cup, four Charity Shields (1956, 1957, 1965 and 1967) and the 1968 European Cup, in whose final they beat Benfica (4-1) in London. “Sir Bobby was a hero to millions of people, not just in Manchester or the United Kingdom, but wherever football is played in the world,” the English club said. A gentleman on and off the field, Charlton was admired as much for his sportsmanship and integrity as for his extraordinary abilities: “Sir Bobby will always be remembered as a giant of the game,” he added.
On the day of his retirement as a footballer, in 1975, he gave an emotional speech where he said that “all the children of Manchester dream of succeeding in this theater.” Thus, with those words he closed one of the most glorious stages of the club and in the process baptized Old Trafford forever, which has since been known as the Theater of Dreams. There where Bobby Charlton made people dream more than anyone else.
