An outstanding book from a truly great footballer
My Manchester United Years, by Sir Bobby Charlton (Sportsbookofthemonth,com price £21)
CONTINUING our ‘classic’ sports book series, this week we turn our attention to Sir Bobby Charlton’s outstanding 2007 autobiography, My Manchester United Years.
Sir Bobby was a naturally gifted footballer, although in the first volume of his enthralling tale he wastes no time dealing head-on with an event which, apart from his ability, defined his life, the 1958 Munich air disaster. Charlton frequently asks himself why he was one of the famed Bubsy Babes to be saved. The answer was to become one of the world’s greatest-ever footballers.
Like almost every boy his age, Charlton grew up besotted by football. Playing the game for as long as parents would allow was the norm in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, as it was everywhere else across Britain up until the mid70s. Games involving almost every boy in the street were not unusual, but even among these unwieldy matches, it soon became apparent young Bobby, together with his older brother Jack, had a rare talent.
Charlton arrived at United aged 15, long before Baby Bentleys became a professional footballer’s must-have accessory. Operating within the confines of maximum wages, despite filling stadia with more supporters than ever before, footballers regularly travelled on the same bus as fans going to the match. The corrosive cult of celebrity was still almost half-a-century away; players such as Charlton were normal, approachable guys and supporters of every opposition club could identify with this. These were the days when, if a player was chosen to play for England, his name was applauded by everyone in the ground when the teams were read out prior to kick-off.
How things have changed, and not necessarily for the better. Jimmy Hill’s campaign to abolish the maximum wage ensured footballers were properly rewarded for attracting large crowds to matches, but as those rewards were boosted to unbelievable levels by television’s desire for live action, so homegrown players such as Charlton
have become less evident. During a career in which he played 759 times for Manchester United, Bobby Charlton won every honour in the game. Not surprisingly, there’s plenty here for readers to absorb, enough tragedy to mull over, anecdotes to enjoy and great games to relive. However, one wonders how long it will be before another Englishman (Nobby Stiles has already done so) will be able to write about winning the league title, the European Cup and the World Cup within the space of a few years. For this reason alone, Sir Bobby Charlton’s autobiography, like the man himself, is unique.
For many years, Sir Bobby Charlton has personified everything that is good about Manchester United, a football club that has shaped his life. It helps that a global profile has not eroded his personality; he continues to act with good grace and good manners, a man amply endowed with an ability to differentiate between right and wrong.