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John 'Jack' Charlton Order of the British
Empire|OBE (born Ashington, Northumberland, May 8,
1935) was a footballer who spent his whole career
in the successful Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United
side of the 1960s and 1970s and won the Football
World Cup|World Cup with England national football
team|England. He later became a football manager,
enjoying success with the Irish national side.

Despite being born into a footballing family (his
uncle was Jackie Milburn), Jack Charlton didn't
seem to be cut out to be a footballer in his
younger days, overshadowed completely by the skill
of his younger brother Bobby Charlton|Bobby, who
was taken on by Manchester United F.C.|Manchester
United while Jack was doing his National Service.

After quitting a job in a coal mine after just one
day, Charlton applied to join the police but was
then offered a trial by Leeds in 1950 after they'd
spotted him playing as a central defender in an
amateur match. The trial game clashed with his
police interview, and Charlton chose to play in
the game. He impressed enough to be offered an
apprenticeship and then signed professional terms
in 1952.

So began a remarkable one-club career which lasted
two decades and, after initial struggles and a
flirtation with mediocrity, became one of the most
decorated and glittering as football entered the
modern era. He played in the Leeds senior team for
the first time in April 1953 and within another
two years, was a regular fixture.

Leeds were a lower division side in the 1950s,
containing one superstar in John Charles and a
bunch of honest journeymen professionals. But they
got promotion to the top flight in 1957, suffering
relegation again two years later.

Charlton became a senior pro as the new youth
policy started to bring more youngsters into the
first team picture as the 1960s approached. Don
Revie's appointment as manager in 1961 proved to
be the last piece of the jigsaw.

Charlton feared for his Leeds future after Revie's
appointment as the two had disagreed as players,
and at one point Revie agreed to sell him, but
interested clubs - among them Liverpool
F.C.|Liverpool and his brother's club Manchester
United - couldn't match Leeds' asking price.
Ultimately, Revie and Charlton settled their
differences and Revie built a team for the whole
of the decade around his big central defender.

Charlton was joined at the back in 1962 by Norman
Hunter, a product of the youth policy, and so
began a fearsome central defensive partnership
which would last a decade. Other graduates such as
Peter Lorimer, Paul Reaney and Billy Bremner also
came into the side and Leeds won promotion back to
the Football League Championship|English First
Division in 1964. A year later they just lost out
on the "double" of League title and FA Cup -
Manchester United just beat them to the
championship, while Liverpool beat Leeds 2-1 in
the Cup final at Wembley Stadium|Wembley -
Charlton, operating as an emergency striker, set
up Leeds' goal for Bremner.

A month earlier, with Charlton approaching his
30th birthday and veteran status, he was called up
by manager Alf Ramsey to play for England against
Scotland national football team|Scotland at
Wembley. The game ended 2-2 and Charlton was
impressive enough to keep his place. With England
hosting the Football World Cup 1966|1966 World Cup
in just over 12 months' time, the incentive to
stay in the side was obvious.

Ramsey chopped and changed other areas of his team
as the World Cup neared, but Charlton's
partnership at the back with captain Bobby Moore
remained a constant. Charlton got his first
England goal in a pre-tournament victory over
Denmark national football team|Denmark before
Ramsey confirmed his 22. Charlton was not only in
the squad, but was given the No.5 shirt for the
tournament, a sure sign that, if fit, he'd be
playing when England kicked off the competition
with their first group game against Uruguay
national football team|Uruguay.

That inaugural match ended 0-0 but England
progressed after victories against Mexico national
football team|Mexico and France national football
team|France. The latter game finished 2-0, with
Roger Hunt getting both England goals, one of
which came after Charlton, venturing forward to
add height to the attack, hit the crossbar with a
header. Charlton didn't miss a minute as England
then eliminated a thuggish Argentina national
football team|Argentina side in the last eight,
taking them to a semi final against the enigmatic
Portugal national football team|Portuguese.

Charlton had his work cut out keeping Portugal's
Torres quiet, with the tall, awkward centre
forward winning his fair share of aerisl duels
with the England stopper. But Charlton's younger
brother scored twice to give England a commanding
lead before Eusebio, himself marshalled expertly
throughout the game by Nobby Stiles, scored a late
penalty after Charlton had handled a shot on the
goal-line - an offence which in today's game,
would have seen him sent off. England clung on and
reached the final, where they would play Germany
national football team|West Germany.

The Germans took an early lead through Helmut
Haller, though Charlton later said he could have
blocked the shot but thought goalkeeper Gordon
Banks had it covered, which he didn't. England
equalised shortly afterwards through Geoff Hurst
and then as the second half wore on, Charlton came
close to scoring the goal which put England ahead.

Alan Ball (footballer)|Alan Ball's corner reached
Hurst, whose shot from the edge of the area was
partly blocked, taking the ball into a high loop
in the air. As it dropped, Charlton - up with the
attack as ever - looked the most likely to get to
it first, but then Martin Peters stepped in and
hit a crisp half volley into the net. There were
fewer than 15 minutes left.

The Germans pressed for an equaliser and got their
reward, partly thanks to Charlton in an incident
which would have proved massively more
controversial in the event of the result of the
match being different.

Charlton was adjudged to have climbed over a
player to reach a header, and the referee gave a
free kick in a dangerously central position deep
in the England half. To this day, Charlton claimed
his opponent backed into him, forcing him to stoop
out of the way. The free kick slammed into the
England defence, ricocheted across the penalty
area and into the path of Wolfgang Weber who
steered it home. Seconds later, the whistle blew
for full time.

England were flawless in the added half-hour and
Hurst scored twice to complete his immortal
hat-trick and a historic 4-2 win. One of many
everlasting images from the aftermath was the
sight of Charlton, at 31 the second oldest member
of the team, sinking to his knees with his face in
his hands, weeping.

In 1967, Charlton had a mixed time. Leeds missed
out on domestic honours again and Charlton picked
up an injury while playing for England in an
infamous 3-2 defeat to Scotland at Wembley, during
which he scored. However, he ended the season as
the English Footballer of the Year|Footballer Of
The Year and his future after football as an
after-dinner speaker was mapped out by his long
speech at the awards ceremony, which earned him a
standing ovation.

Charlton finally won some domestic honours with
Leeds in 1968 with a League Cup victory over
Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal. This wasn't uncontroversial
- Arsenal players claimed with fury that Charlton
had committed a foul in their penalty area prior
to the ball reaching full back Terry Cooper, who
blasted in the only goal. They then won the UEFA
Cup|Fairs Cup and Charlton completed the year by
playing a 447th League game, breaking the club's
previous record.

In 1969, Leeds finally got their hands on the
League championship, with Charlton proving a rock
at the back as they only lost twice all season. A
year later and the luck would desert them again as
Leeds went for the unprecedented "treble" of
League title, FA Cup and European Cup - and missed
out on all three.

Everton F.C.|Everton pipped Leeds to the title and
Celtic F.C. did for them in the semi final in
Europe. The FA Cup final was especially painful
for Leeds as they should have won the first game
at Wembley, were pegged back by Chelsea
F.C.|Chelsea and lost the replay after having the
lead wrestled away from them for a third time.
Charlton headed the opener in the first game from
an Eddie Gray corner (though his weak effort was
helped by a bad bounce which took the ball under
the feet of Chelsea defenders - the Wembley picth
was sand-covered after hosting the Horse Of The
Year show days earlier) but Chelsea equalised
before half-time. Mick Jones struck what seemed a
certain winner for Leeds with six minutes left,
only for Charlton to be caught out of position by
a quickly-taken free kick shortly afterwards, with
Ian Hutchinson heading the equaliser.

The replay, at Old Trafford (football)|Old
Trafford, was a battle not for the faint-hearted.
Though some classy football was played, the game
is better remembered for some uncompromising
tackles and challenges. At one point, Charlton
managed to poleaxe Chelsea's Peter Osgood (shortly
to become his team-mate for England) after a late
challenge, while other players also gave as good
as they got. Jones scored to put Leeds ahead
again, but Osgood equalised for Chelsea late in
the second half and in extra time, after a
pressured Charlton had unwittingly back-headed a
Hutchinson long throw across his own area, David
Webb scored Chelsea's winner. Charlton was so
angry and upset he didn't bother collecting his
runners-up medal afterwards.

In the summer, Ramsey named Charlton in his 22 for
the Football World Cup 1970|1970 World Cup though
this time he wasn't Moore's first choice partner,
with Everton's Brian Labone getting the nod after
a sturdy series of displays during the 1968
European Football Championship|European
Championships two years earlier. Charlton played
his 35th and final England game in the 1-0 group
win over Czechoslovakia national football
team|Czechoslovakia. England lost in the quarter
finals to West Germany.

Leeds won the Fairs Cup again in 1971 but
Charlton's goal which gave his side a 1-0 win over
Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal proved immaterial as the
Gunners still snatched the title off Leeds in the
last week of the season, before duly completing
the "double" with a win over Liverpool in the FA
Cup final. Leeds had gone out of the FA Cup with a
humiliating fifth round defeat against lowly
Colchester United F.C.|Colchester United. By now,
Charlton was 36 and his distinguished career
seemed to be nearing an end.

Revie had bought two centre backs as potential
replacements for when Charlton decided to retire,
but Charlton kept going. In 1972, Leeds finally
won the FA Cup and Charlton completed his domestic
medal set. They missed out on the League again but
the Cup win proved a fitting swansong for Charlton
as, although he tried to continue the following
year, he suffered an injury in  1973 which ruled
him out for the rest of the season, including
another FA Cup final, and ultimately forced his
hand. He quit playing at the age of 38 with a
barnstorming 773 appearances and 96 goals to his
name. 

He was quickly offered the job as manager of
Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough and he led them
to promotion back to the top flight in his first
season by such a considerable margin that he was
given the Manager Of The Year award, an honour
never before bestowed on a boss from outside the
top division. He famously appeared on a football
programme on ITV during this period where he said
he'd once had a "little black book" of names of
players whom he intended to hurt or exact some
form of revenge upon during his playing days. He
later said this was a figure of speech and no such
book existed.

Charlton quit Middlesbrough in 1977 and applied
unsuccessfully for the job of England coach which
had been controversially vacated by the
resignation of his old Leeds boss Revie. He
ultimately went to Sheffield Wednesday
F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday and took them to
promotion from the third tier, almost then taking
them up to the top flight in 1982. He resigned in
1983, went briefly back to Middlesbrough, then
ventured a little further north to his boyhood
club Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United. He
lasted just a year in the job before, after the
first signs of unrest from supporters, he quit.

Charlton drifted into the distance to enjoy his
pursuit of field sports - he was devoted to
hunting, shooting and fishing - before a call came
from the FAI to take on the job of managing the
Republic of Ireland national football
team|Republic of Ireland. Ireland had some great
individual players at the time - Liam Brady,
Ronnie Whelan, David O'Leary among them - but had
no history of qualifying for major tournaments.
Charlton, with a little luck, some industrial
tactics and a crafty stretching of the recruitment
rules, duly changed that.

He approached players with little hope of playing
for their nation of birth to hook up with the
Republic after uncovering Irish ancestry - the
Oxford United F.C.|Oxford United pairing of John
Aldridge and Ray Houghton, both of whom would
later become great players for Liverpool, were
among them after discovering they both had Irish
grandparents. Ireland qualified for the 1988
European Football Championship|1988 European
Championships in Germany - and were then drawn
against England in their group.

Suddenly the World Cup winner with England found
himself plotting their downfall as a manager, and
he duly did. England were poor, but Ireland still
deserved their 1-0 win, given to them by an early
Houghton goal. They subsequently drew 1-1 with the
USSR national football team|USSR but went out
when, just needing to avoid defeat, they lost to
eventual champions Holland national football
team|Holland and left the tournament in a blaze of
glory. Charlton was awared the runner-up prize in
the World Soccer Manager of the Year contest at
the end of 1988.

Charlton developed a taste for his job and the
Irish life, and the people of Ireland replicated
this. His team qualified for the Football World
Cup 1990|1990 World Cup, the country's first ever,
and again they played England in the group phase
(this time it ended 1-1). In an eventful
competition for them, they qualified from the
group, defeated Romania national football
team|Romania in a famous second round match which
went to penalties, met Pope John Paul II at the
Vatican City|Vatican and went out (in glory again)
to the hosts Italy national football team|Italy in
the last eight. 

Ireland missed out on qualifying for the 1992
European Football Championship|Euro 92 but got to
the Football World Cup 1994|1994 World Cup in the
USA, where Charlton infamously had a pitchside
argument with a linesman who was delaying a
substitution. Aldridge, the sub, also delivered a
volley of abuse and both were later fined.
Ireland, who famously defeated Italy during the
group phase, went out to the Dutch in the second
round.

After failing to qualify for 1996 European
Football Championship|Euro 96 thanks to a narrow
play-off defeat at Anfield against the Dutch,
Charlton quit. His involvement in the game since
has been restricted (by his own choice) to
punditry and speaking.

Charlton is married to Pat. Personal honours
awarded to him include the OBE and that of an
official Honorary Irishman. In 1994 he was made a
Freeman of the city of Dublin.

start box
succession box|title=FWA Footballer of the
Year|Football Writers' Association Footballer of
the Year|before=Bobby Charlton |after=George
Best|years=1967
end box