Editing Jack Charlton (section)

==Early life==
Born into a footballing family in [[Ashington]], [[Northumberland]], on 8 May 1935,<ref name="Charlton 1996 1">{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=1}}</ref> Charlton was initially overshadowed by his younger brother [[Bobby Charlton|Bobby]], who was taken on by [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] while Jack was doing his [[Conscription in the United Kingdom#After 1945|national service]] with the [[Household Cavalry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/collection.htm |title=Household Cavalry Museum |publisher=Household Cavalry Museum |access-date=7 May 2011 |archive-date=9 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009064032/http://www.householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/collection.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> His uncles were [[Jack Milburn (footballer)|Jack Milburn]] ([[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] and [[Bradford City A.F.C.|Bradford City]]), [[George Milburn]] (Leeds United and [[Chesterfield F.C.|Chesterfield]]), [[Jim Milburn]] (Leeds United and [[Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C.|Bradford Park Avenue]]) and [[Stanley Milburn|Stan Milburn]] (Chesterfield, [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]] and [[Rochdale A.F.C.|Rochdale]]), and legendary [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] and [[England national football team|England]] footballer [[Jackie Milburn]] was his mother's cousin.<ref>{{harvnb|Soar|1974|p=63}}</ref>

The economy of the village of Ashington was based entirely on coal mining, and though his family had a strong footballing pedigree, his father was a miner.<ref name="Charlton 1996 1"/> The eldest of four brothers – Bobby, Gordon and Tommy – the family's tight finances meant that all four siblings shared the same bed.<ref name="page 2">{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=2}}</ref> His father, Bob, had no interest in football, but his mother, Cissie, played football with her children and later coached the local school's team.<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=3}}</ref> As a teenager, she took them to watch [[Ashington A.F.C.|Ashington]] and Newcastle United play, and Charlton remained a lifelong Newcastle supporter.<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=21}}</ref>

At the age of 15, he was offered a trial at Leeds United, where his uncle Jim played at left-back,<ref>{{harvnb|Soar|1974|p=44}}</ref> but turned it down and instead joined his father in the mines.<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=23}}</ref> He worked in the mines for a short time but handed in his notice after finding out just how difficult and unpleasant it was to work deep underground.<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=26}}</ref> He applied to join the police and reconsidered the offer from Leeds United.<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=27}}</ref> His trial game for Leeds clashed with his police interview, and Charlton chose to play in the game; the trial was a success and he joined the ground staff at [[Elland Road]].<ref>{{harvnb|Charlton|1996|p=28}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|This part of the world produced its fair share of footballers, and nobody was particularly impressed if a lad went away to play professional football. In fact we never used to say going away to play football, we just used to say 'going away'.|Growing up in [[North East England]] working-class culture meant working hard for little pay, and becoming a professional footballer was a realistic ambition for talented players. However, it still required hard work and rarely offered more than a good working class wage.<ref name="page 2"/>}}