Footballer successful at highest levels as player and coach
English footballer
FEW players or managers have enjoyed World Cup glory with two countries but Jack Charlton, who died on July 10 aged 85, was held in rare affection by English and Irish football supporters.
The World Cup may have brought the bestremembered moments of his career but Charlton had no shortage of success at club level during nearly 45 years as a player and manager.
Charlton, a tall, nononsense central defender, was part of Alf Ramsey’s England team that won the World Cup in 1966, playing in the same side as his brother, Bobby.
As a manager, he took Ireland to its first World Cup, in Italy in 1990, and led it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, which remains the country’s best performance.
Awarded an OBE in 1974 and given honorary Irish citizenship in 1996, Charlton was described by the country’s former prime minister, Leo Varadkar, as ‘‘Ireland’s mostloved Englishman’’.
He was a proud Northumbrian, from the mining village of Ashington, but spent his entire club career with Leeds United.
Charlton was a central part of the Yorkshire club’s golden era in the 1960s and ’70s under Don Revie, winning trophies at home and abroad and making a club record 773 appearances.
After leaving school, Charlton had briefly worked, like his father, in the mines at Linton colliery but it was not for him and he was on the brink of joining the police force when he went to Leeds United in 1952.
His early years with Leeds, in the second division, when he was sometimes asked to play at centreforward, offered little sign of the glory that was to come under Revie.
At one point, Charlton met
Manchester United manager Matt Busby to discuss a transfer which would have led to him teaming up with his brother at Old Trafford.
But he stayed with Leeds until he retired from playing in 1973 and, with his rugged defending and leadership role on the field, was part of the team that won the English league title in 1969 and FA Cup in 1972.
He also enjoyed success in European football as Leeds won the old InterCities Fairs Cup, later the Uefa Cup and now the Europa League, in 1968 and 1971.
Charlton’s England career began relatively late. He was almost 30 when he made his debut against Scotland at Wembley in 1965 but, as with his tackling, the timing was perfect.
Just over a year later, playing alongside captain Bobby Moore and with his brother in midfield, Charlton became a World Cup winner as host England beat West Germany 42 in the final.
He retired from international duty after the 1970 World Cup and following three more seasons with Leeds he ended his playing career and moved into management with second division Middlesbrough.
In his first season in charge, Boro won the title by 15 points, earning promotion to the top flight where Charlton established the side before leaving in 1977.
He applied for the England job after Revie’s departure but said he never received an answer to his application.
Charlton dropped into the third division to manage Sheffield Wednesday and it was there that he adopted the direct, physical style that was to prove so effective later with Ireland.
The Owls won promotion in 1980 but, despite a run to the FA Cup semifinals, he was unable to take them to the top flight and left in 1983 for a short spell at Newcastle.
Taking over the Irish national side in 1986, Charlton secured qualification for the 1988 European Championship, the first time the country had reached an international tournament, although it failed to get out of the group stage.
Then came its first World Cup in 1990, after Ireland had beaten Spain, Malta, Hungary and
Northern Ireland to qualify for the biggest stage for the first time.
Despite drawing all their games in the group stage at the finals, the Irish went through to meet Romania in the last 16, winning on penalties after a goalless draw before losing 10 to Italy in the quarterfinals.
The team — and the manager — captured the imagination of the Irish public and four years later, in the United States, they did so again, this time beating Italy in the group stage before losing 20 to the Netherlands in the last 16. — Reuters