Product Description

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: #23576 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review

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

(The Times )

'A glorious example of the genre, a class apart not least because of being penned by award-winning newspaper columnist James Lawton, a veritable master of his craft. The prologue alone is almost worth the money, the first page a peerless example of how to get to the heart - the tragic heart in this case - of the matter'

(Daily Mail )

'It's a fantastic book. I couldn't put it down. Bobby Charlton is a great man and he has told a great story'

(Sir Alex Ferguson )

'Sir Bobby's autobiography begins with an indescribably moving chapter about the blackest day of English sport: February 6, 1958. They are the most powerful pages ever written in a football book'

(Sunday Express )

Synopsis
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.

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Customer Reviews

A Great Ambassador
Bobby Charlton is a survivor and one of the few people who genuinely deserve the accolade of "sporting legend.". At times the first part of his autobiography rather rambles but it is nice to have his own account of his life.

The Charlton story has been chronicled many times. Here Bobby shows just why he is one of this country's greatest footballing ambassadors. The centre point of the book is the Munich air crash disaster that saw the Busby Babes decimated with the loss of many players including the incomparable Duncan Edwards who has been held up by many to be the greatest ever English footballer. Lives were cut short and Charlton was left to wonder just why he had been saved and got out of the crash with just a few cuts and bruises.

We hear that he has been haunted by the crash virtually everyday of his life. But Charlton is a survivor who came to terms with the losses and helped to re-build Manchester United. Here he reminisces on the past, the great players such as Law and Best and today's young Lions. He heralds Paul Scoles as the ultimate and complete professional football (despite leaving him out of his best ever Manchester United team).

Charlton is never going to be confrontational or controversial, but there are some interesting passages here which suggest that a contributory factor to the Munich crash was the need to return to the United Kingdom due to a directive from the Football Association. Charlton also comments on the lack of support from Alan Hardacre of the FA for European Football and the vision from Sir Matt Busby that Europe was the future of football (and how true has this been). He also tackles the family feuds between himself, his brother Jack, his wife and his strong willed mother. There is a great honesty about this book as you would expect from such a gentleman. The book also includes his post Manchester years before returning to the club as a director.

Charlton names his best ever Manchester XI. He is far too modest to include himself in this team. Other people must do this for him. And whilst accepting his laudatory comments regarding Paul Scoles I have to say that the author himself is probably the perfect professional and possibly (just possibly) England's greatest player of all time. It says much for the modesty of the author that the book is almost written as an outsider looking in and marvelling at the skills of others. I had the honour a number of years ago of talking to Bobby Charlton about his soccer school for a newspaper article. I found him quite a difficult man to talk to as he seemed rather shy. Reading this book shows that he has always shunned publicity and obviously takes a little bit of getting to know. I look forward to the second volume of his autobiography that deals with the England years and obviously focuses on the 1966 World Cup triumph.

Typical of the man.
Bobby Charlton is one of the most unassuming people you could wish to meet. Some describe him as dour and too serious and that may be true but this book will help you understand the reasons why this man is a national treasure. It's a thoughtful book covering the tragedies and the triumphs in a wonderfully open and honest manner. James Lawton as his 'ghost writer' has done an excellent job in putting Bobby's thoughts into words and every page is delivered with skill and a high degree of interest. Bobby doesn't pull punches when he tells about the rift with his brother or the over-exaggeration of his mother's influence. His memories of the Busby Babes and the sadness of the Aircrash make great reading and, more recently, his inside views on Fergies' United are compelling. Beckham's duplicity about his contract negotiations are just one example of how Bobby's inate integrity contrasts with the attitude of some modern day heroes. Read this and Bill Foulkes wonderful autobiography and you'll really understand the difference.

Bobby, Nobby and the Crazy Family
This book has three main strengths for me; firstly a touching retelling of the Munich disaster in an attempt to get somewhere close to explaining the impact on a person who may have felt guilty that he lived while others died; secondly, reassurance for someone whose in-laws think I am the devil incarnate despite the fact that my husband is blissfully happy with me. But mostly, it's the pen pictures of Nobby Stiles as a dozy malco, gaily smashing displays in airport shops with just a raise of his eyebrows.