What a dreadful day yesterday was for the football club. Manchester United really did lose one of the last links between their great past and the current day with the sad passing of Sir Bobby Charlton.
All of the football world will miss this legend.
One of the legends of the game, Sir Bobby Charlton, sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 86 years old. And, being honest, I think this loss will irrevocably damage Man United so long as the current generation of players continue to underperform.
Now, I hope for all football fans and especially for Man United fans, I don’t have to introduce who Sir Bobby Charlton is. But, for those who may not have heard about this legend, Sir Bobby Charlton is not only one of the greatest players in Manchester United and English football history, but also in the entire 140+ history of professional football.
In his 24-year professional career (17 of those years spent at Man United), Sir Bobby Charlton played in 652 club football matches, scored 211 club goals, played in 106 international matches for England, and scored 49 goals for his country (which is still 3rd all-time and was most when he retired).
As for his legendary time at Man United, he spent 17 years with the club (1956-70), played in 606 matches, scored 199 goals, won three First Division titles (1957, 1965, 1967), won the 1963 FA Cup, two Community Shield titles (1965, 1967), and won the European Cup (aka: the Champions League) in 1968; for England, he was a part of the team that won the nation’s first, only, and most famous FIFA World Cup in 1966.
And, on a personal level, he was named the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1966, he won the World Cup Golden Boot in 1966 for scoring the most goals in the competition, he made the FIFA All-Star teams in 1966 and 1970, and won the 1966 Ballon D’or. The guy was just an incredible player…and also one of (if not the) greatest ever leaders in the history of football for how he guided Manchester United after the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of this awful tragedy, the Munich Air Disaster was the day the Manchester United team charter flight crashed landed into a house in Munich, West Germany after United defeated Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup Semi-Finals. Eight of the “Busby Babes” United players died at the crash site, two more never played again due to injuries sustained, three United staff members died at the crash site, and two journalists and the captain of the plane also died in the wreckage.
In fact, Sir Bobby Charlton also would have died if it wasn’t for fellow United legend, goalkeeper Harry Gregg, pulling him out of the crash site along with seven other United players. It really was one of the most disastrous incidents to ever happen to any football team as the “Busby Babes”, who were on the verge of being the greatest ever English and Man United generation of footballers, were decimated in a single day.
It was under Bobby Charlton’s leadership that Man United was rebuilt into the title and European Cup winners in the 1960s and early 70’s.
Back to the present day, Charlton’s leadership was seen in the Manchester United teams following his professional retirement in 1977, he would always mentor players on the training ground, provide moral support to the players during halftime, after wins and losses, and was there to help award them for the following league titles, FA Cups, domestic cups, and European trophies the club would win under Sir Alex Ferguson during the 1990’s, 2000’s, early 2010’s, and under Jose Mourinho’s brief reign in charge from 2016-19.
Yet, without the presence and aurora of a legend like Charlton, where will this United team turn for support and mentorship? I get the game has changed drastically and a lot of the players under Sir Alex could be mentors for these newer players, but Sir Bobby Charlton was always a constant presence in and around the club.
He was part of the beating heart of Manchester United, and the link between the club’s legendary past and not-so-great present. And with his passing, I fear a huge part of United’ DNA and history will be forgotten on the present group of underachieving players.
The United players will have to learn how to win on their own now with Sir Bobby Charlton rejoining all of his fellow “Busby Babes” in the next life. Rest in peace, Sir Bobby, you have most definitely earned it.
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