As a man and as a footballer Bobby had everything. Nothing that I could say in attempting to describe him would add one whit to human knowledge about this very great human being. Therefore I’m going to leave it to the views and opinions of other legendary figures of the game that we love to let you know how highly esteemed he was and is.
Another football knight, Sir Matt Busby said, “He was as near perfection as man and player as it is possible to be.”
And Sir Alf Ramsey, manager of England’s World Cup winning side in 1966, called him “very much the linchpin of the team, with a blistering shot using either foot.”
Sir Geoff Hurst’s view: “He was a naturally gifted player, and was two-footed as well, one of the most two-footed players you’ve ever seen. He could go either side, shoot with either foot.”
In summing up Charlton, Terry Venable expressed the opinion that “he had a grace, and a change of pace, and a strike of lightning. Both change of pace, and from his boots, the power of his shooting was immense.”
George Best, a phenomenon himself, said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody who could beat players as easily as him, myself included… And once he got within 30 yards of the goal, he was lethal with either foot.”
Denis Law said he knew that if Bobby was going to shoot, “there was a fair chance the goalkeeper wouldn’t be able to hold it, so I would follow up, and invariably the guy would drop it.”
And for a couple of foreign players’ views: Franz Beckenbauer first: “Charlton was on the move for 90 minutes, and had the lungs of a horse.”
And the great Eusebio said, “We all know he covered the whole pitch — played on the left, on the right, in the middle. He never stopped running, and he had a very powerful shot, and scored a lot of great goals.”
He certainly did. In his 17 years at Old Trafford, and his 758 games for Manchester United, Bobby scored 249 goals. And in his 106 appearances in an English shirt he scored another 49.
Jimmy Greeves (“Greevesey”) rounds off these quotes with: “When he hammered one into the corner from long range. It was as if he were desperate to separate the leather casing from the bladder!”
Did I ever meet him? Yes. Twice. The first time was at a celebrity golf tournament in Hertfordshire. The second was a few years after that — at United’s dinner celebrating the 25th anniversary of the club’s winning of the European Cup.
I found him to be a really nice friendly man, and it saddens me now when I think that he is suffering from dementia. The disease took his brother Jack, and Nobby Stiles, last year; Martin Peters in 2019, and Ray Wilson in 2018.
Another sober note on which to end: A study in 2020 found that former footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely than others to develop dementia. But then again, remember how heavy those old leather footballs were, dry or wet. Thank God for the improvements in football equipment.
And Bobby, always remember how treasured you are!
