Editing Bobby Charlton (section)

==Club career==
On 9 February 1953, then a [[Bedlington Grammar School]] pupil, Charlton was spotted playing for East Northumberland schools by [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] chief scout [[Joe Armstrong (football scout)|Joe Armstrong]].{{sfn|Charlton|2007|p=46}} Charlton went on to play for [[English Schools' Football Association|England Schoolboys]] and the 15-year-old signed amateur forms with United on 1 January 1953 along with [[Wilf McGuinness]], also aged 15.<ref>{{Cite book|last=White|first=John D.T.|title=The Official Manchester United Almanac|edition=1st|date=29 May 2008|publisher=Orion Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-7528-9192-7|page=2|chapter=January}}</ref> Initially his mother was reluctant to let him commit to an insecure football career, so he began an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer; however, he went on to turn professional in October 1954.{{sfn|Charlton|2007|p=62}}

Charlton became one of the famed [[Busby Babes]], the collection of talented footballers who emerged through the system at [[Old Trafford]] in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as Matt Busby set about a long-term plan of rebuilding the club after the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Charlton|2007|p=70}} He worked his way through the pecking order of teams, scoring regularly for the youth and reserve sides before he was handed his first team debut against [[Charlton Athletic F.C.|Charlton Athletic]] in October 1956 where he scored two goals in a game that finished 4–2.<ref>{{cite news |work=The Sunday Times |title=A dummy, a surge and then an unstoppable bullet of a shot (off either foot) |page=13 |department=Sport |date=22 October 2023}}</ref> At the same time, he was doing his [[National service]] with the [[Royal Army Ordnance Corps]] in [[Shrewsbury]], where Busby had advised him to apply as it meant he could still play for Manchester United at the weekend. Also doing his army service in Shrewsbury at the same time was his United teammate [[Duncan Edwards]].{{sfn|Charlton|2007|p=70}}

Charlton played 17 times for United in that first season, scoring twice on his debut and managing a total of 12 goals in all competitions,<ref>{{cite web |title='England's greatest ever': 10 games that defined Sir Bobby Charlton's career |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2023-10-21/englands-greatest-ever-10-games-that-defined-sir-bobby-charltons-career |website=ITV.com |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=28 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028095224/https://www.itv.com/news/2023-10-21/englands-greatest-ever-10-games-that-defined-sir-bobby-charltons-career |url-status=live }}</ref> and including a hat-trick in a 5–1 away win over Charlton Athletic in February.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charlton Athletic v Manchester United, 18 February 1957 |url=https://www.11v11.com/matches/charlton-athletic-v-manchester-united-18-february-1957-74558/ |website=11v11.com |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=13 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113133305/https://www.11v11.com/matches/charlton-athletic-v-manchester-united-18-february-1957-74558/ |url-status=live }}</ref> United won the [[list of English football champions|league championship]] but were denied the 20th century's first "double" when they controversially lost the [[1957 FA Cup Final]] to [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Bobby Charlton CBE 1937-2023 |url=https://www.premierleague.com/news/3744629 |publisher=Premier League |access-date=24 October 2023 |language=en |archive-date=24 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024093803/https://www.premierleague.com/news/3744629 |url-status=live }}</ref> Charlton, still only 19, was selected for the game, which saw United goalkeeper [[Ray Wood]] carried off with a broken [[cheekbone]] after a clash with Villa centre forward [[Peter McParland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Broken dreams: United and Villa in a game of two eras |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news/broken-dreams-united-and-villa-in-a-game-of-two-eras-767656.html |access-date=24 October 2023 |work=The Independent |date=2 January 2008 |language=en |archive-date=22 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422062757/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news/broken-dreams-united-and-villa-in-a-game-of-two-eras-767656.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Charlton was a candidate to go in goal to replace Wood (in the days before substitutes, and certainly before goalkeeping substitutes), but it was teammate [[Jackie Blanchflower]] who ended up playing in goal.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 February 2021 |title=These Football Times |url=https://thesefootballtimes.co/2021/02/17/danny-and-jackie-blanchflower-to-do-is-to-dare/}}</ref>

Charlton was an established player by the time the next season was fully underway, which saw United, as current League champions, become the first English team to compete in the [[European Champion Clubs' Cup|European Cup]]. Previously, [[the Football Association]] had scorned the competition, but United made progress, reaching the [[1956–57 European Cup#Semi-finals|semi-finals]] where they lost to holders [[Real Madrid C.F.|Real Madrid]]. Their reputation was further enhanced the next season in the [[1957–58 European Cup]] as they reached the quarter-finals to play [[Red Star Belgrade]]. In the first leg at home, United won 2–1. The return in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] saw Charlton score twice as United stormed 3–0 ahead, although the hosts came back to earn a 3–3 draw. However, United maintained their [[aggregate score|aggregate]] lead to reach the last four and were in jubilant mood as they left to catch their flight home, thinking of an important League game against [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolves]] at the weekend.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

===1958 Munich air disaster===
{{Main|Munich air disaster}}

On 6 February 1958, Charlton was returning to England with the Manchester United Team after a [[1957–58 European Cup|European Cup]] match in [[Belgrade]], [[Yugoslavia]] (now [[Serbia]]), having eliminated [[Red Star Belgrade]] to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. The aeroplane which took the United players and staff home from [[Zemun|Zemun Airport]] needed to stop in [[Munich-Riem Airport|Munich]] to refuel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=David |title=Manchester's Finest: How the Munich air disaster broke the heart of a great city |date=12 February 2009 |publisher=Transworld |isbn=978-1-4070-3343-3 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> This was carried out in worsening weather, and by the time the refuelling was complete and the call was made for the passengers to re-board the aircraft, the wintry showers had taken hold and snow had settled heavily on the runway and around the airport. There were two aborted take-offs which led to concern on board, and the passengers were advised by a stewardess to disembark again while a minor technical error was fixed.

The team were back in the airport terminal for barely ten minutes when the call came to reconvene on the plane, and a number of passengers began to feel nervous. Charlton and teammate [[Dennis Viollet]] swapped places with [[Tommy Taylor]] and [[David Pegg]], who had decided they would be safer at the back of the plane.

The plane clipped the fence at the end of the runway on its next take-off attempt and a wing tore through a nearby house, setting it alight. The wing and part of the tail came off and hit a tree and a wooden hut, the plane spinning along the snow until coming to a halt. It had been cut in half.

Charlton, strapped into his seat, had fallen out of the cabin; when United goalkeeper [[Harry Gregg]] (who had somehow got through a hole in the plane unscathed and begun a one-man rescue mission) found him, he thought he was dead. Nevertheless, he grabbed both Charlton and Viollet by their trouser waistbands and dragged them away from the plane, in constant fear that it would explode. Gregg returned to the plane to try to help the appallingly injured Busby and Blanchflower, and when he turned around again, he was relieved to see that Charlton and Viollet, both of whom he had presumed to be dead, had got out of their detached seats and were looking into the wreckage.

Charlton suffered cuts to his head and severe [[Shock (circulatory)|shock]], and was in hospital for a week. Seven of his teammates had perished at the scene, including Taylor and Pegg, with whom he and Viollet had swapped seats prior to the fatal take-off attempt. Club captain [[Roger Byrne]] was also killed, along with [[Mark Jones (footballer, born 1933)|Mark Jones]], [[Liam Whelan|Billy Whelan]], [[Eddie Colman]] and [[Geoff Bent]]. [[Duncan Edwards]] died a fortnight later from the injuries he had sustained. In total, the crash claimed 23 lives. Initially, ice on the wings was blamed, but a later inquiry declared that [[slush]] on the runway had made a safe take-off almost impossible.

Of the 44 passengers and crew (including the 17-strong Manchester United squad), 23 people (eight of them Manchester United players) died as a result of their injuries in the crash. Charlton survived with minor injuries. Of the eight other players who survived, two of them were injured so badly that they never played again.

Charlton was the first injured survivor to leave hospital. Harry Gregg and [[Bill Foulkes]] were not hospitalised, for they escaped uninjured. He arrived back in England on 14 February 1958, eight days after the crash. As he convalesced with family in Ashington, he spent some time kicking a ball around with local youths, and a famous photograph of him was taken. He was still only 20 years old, yet now there was an expectation that he would help with the rebuilding of the club as Busby's aides tried to piece together what remained of the season.

Between Harry Gregg's death in 2020 and his own in 2023, Charlton was the last living survivor of the crash.

===Resuming his career===
[[File:Manchester United FC 1960.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the Manchester United team in 1960 (Charlton is on the far right of the back row)]]
Charlton returned to playing in a kickabout with local youths first and then in a practice match on 25 February.  He initially said "I felt as slow as an old cart horse" but then his vigour returned and he then said "I feel fine and would like to play in the cup game at West Brom".<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCartney |first=Iain |title=Manchester United 1958-68: Rising from the Wreckage |date=15 May 2013 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-1812-8 |page=115 |language=en}}</ref>  This was an [[FA Cup]] tie against West Bromwich Albion on 1 March; the game was a draw and United won the replay 1–0. Not unexpectedly, United went out of the European Cup to [[A.C. Milan]] in the semi-finals to a 5–2 aggregate defeat and fell behind in the League. Yet somehow they reached their second consecutive FA Cup final, and the big day at Wembley coincided with Busby's return to work. However, [[Nat Lofthouse]] scored twice to give [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] a 2–0 win.

Further success with Manchester United came at last when they beat [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]] 3–1 in the FA Cup final of 1963, with Charlton finally earning a winners' medal in his third final. Busby's post-Munich rebuilding programme continued to progress, with two League championships within three seasons, in 1965 and 1967. A successful (though trophyless) season with Manchester United saw him take the honours of [[Football Writers' Association|Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year]] and [[Ballon d'Or|European Footballer of the Year]] into the competition.

[[File:Manchester The United trinity.jpg|thumb|upright|The "'''[[United Trinity]]'''" statue of Charlton (right) alongside [[Denis Law]] (centre) and [[George Best]] (left) outside [[Old Trafford]]]]
Manchester United reached the [[1968 European Cup Final]], ten seasons after Munich. Even though other clubs had taken part in the competition in the intervening decade, the team which got to this final was still the first English side to do so. On a highly emotional night at Wembley, Charlton scored twice in a 4–1 win after extra time against [[S.L. Benfica|Benfica]] and, as United captain, lifted the trophy.

During the early 1970s, Manchester United were no longer competing among the top teams in [[Football in England|England]], and at several stages were battling against relegation. At times, Charlton was not on speaking terms with United's other superstars, [[George Best]] and [[Denis Law]], and Best refused to play in Charlton's testimonial match against [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]], saying that "to do so would be hypocritical".<ref>Crick and Smith (1990), pp. 100–101.</ref> Charlton left Manchester United at the end of the [[1972–73 Manchester United F.C. season|1972–73]] season, having scored 249 goals and set a club record of 758 appearances, a record which [[Ryan Giggs]] broke in the [[2008 UEFA Champions League Final]].

Charlton's last game for Manchester United was against [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] at [[Stamford Bridge (stadium)|Stamford Bridge]] on 28 April 1973. Chelsea won the match 1–0.<ref>{{cite web |title=28 April 1973 League Division One vs Chelsea |url=http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/28-04-1973-chelsea.html |work=aboutmanutd.com |access-date=18 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212154938/http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/28-04-1973-chelsea.html |archive-date=12 February 2013}}</ref> Coincidentally, this day also marked his brother Jackie's last appearance as well (for Leeds). Charlton's final goal for the club came a month earlier, on 31 March, in a 2–0 win at [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]], also in the First Division.<ref>{{cite web |title=31 March 1973 League Division One vs Southampton |url=http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/31-03-1973-southampton.html |work=aboutmanutd.com |access-date=18 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308132524/http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/31-03-1973-southampton.html |archive-date=8 March 2013}}</ref>

Charlton was the subject of an episode of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1969 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at The Sportsman's Club in central London.