Product Description

Manchester United My Manchester United Years: The Autobiography - Sir Bobby Charlton

Paperback

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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14607 in Books
• Size: One Size Only
• Published on: 2008-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .33 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 438 pages

Review

'For anyone who loves football, this book cannot be ignored'

(Leo McKinstry, The Times )

'beautifully crafted'

(Daily Mail )

'enthralling'

(Scotsman )

'It is the greatest story of British sport'

(Sunday Express )

'With many autobiographies you wonder what the point was. Not this one. Not only is Bobby Charlton a figure whose life story should be told, but he has done so in a book of at times agonising honesty'

(FourFourTwo )

'It's a fantastic book. I couldn't put it down. It has everything I would want a player of mine to know and feel about the game. Bobby Charlton is a great man and he has told a great story'

(Sir Alex Ferguson )

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.

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Customer Reviews

A masterful achievement
Not since Arthur Hopcraft produced the sublime 'The Football Man' in 1968 has a book on sport moved me so profoundly. When it was announced that a Bobby Charlton autobiography was imminent, I feared that it would fail to do justice to arguably the most compelling sporting figure of my lifetime. In the event, it is a majestic work, capturing perfectly, and often poignantly, the essence of the man and his times. Footballing matters are dealt with faithfully and comprehensively, but perhaps the tale is at its most arresting when addressing human relationships. There are numerous delightful vignettes which offer evocative insights into household names and he confronts family issues with candour. Charlton emerges not only as a great sportsman, but also as a sensitive, intelligent, appealingly wistful soul. Quite simply, I love the book.

Classy, dignified and frank
Ever since I was nine years old when I saw him score the two goals that helped Manchester United win the European Cup in 1968 Bobby Charlton has been my hero. He didn't have the dazzling ball skills of George Best and lets face it, with his prematurely bald head he looked more like a teacher that a footballer, but instead he simply exuded class and a certain dignity that no other footballer seemed to possess. I was very pleased to find then that his autobiography is exactly the same - classy, dignified but also very frank and honest.
Not surprisingly it contains absolutely no scandal but instead it is full of stories that offer telling insights into not just Bobby Charlton but also Manchester United, football and life in general in the fifties, sixties and seventies.
One of the chapters, in which he writes about the days when as a boy he used to go to watch Sunderland or Newcastle United with his older brother Jack is particularly excellent. His description of how they used to stand in a particular part of the ground so they can watch the skills of a famous player close at hand is very evocative. Also excellent is the bitingly frank chapter in which he tells of the breakdown of his relationship with his mother following her rejection of his wife, Norma.
As you would expect though, it is the Munich airplane disaster that dominates this book, just as it as dominated Bobby Charltons life since that day. The events of that day are described wonderfully well, as are Bobbys feelings of bewilderment and guilt that he should survive the crash barely harmed whilst his beloved team mates and friends had perished.
An excellent book then, and I look forward greatly to the next of the proposed volumes, where I presume he will move onto his playing for England and the World Cup win in 1966.

If you want the facts then read the book!
I wanted to read about Bobby Charlton's life, find out what happend in Munich and the time he spent at Manchester United. The book covers this, exploring the emotions of a man who survived a plane crash. I for one could not look at life the same again and this is what may have happened with Sir Bobby. The writing is fluid and a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.