Jack Charlton

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Jack Charlton
Personal information
Full name	John Charlton
Date of birth	May 8, 1935 (age 71)
Place of birth	Ashington, England
Height	6 ft 3 in
Playing position	Centre-back
Youth clubs
1950-1952	Leeds United
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1952-1973	Leeds United	629 (70)
National team
1965-1970	England	35 (6)
Teams managed
1973-1977 1977-1983 1984 1984-1985 1986-1995	Middlesbrough Sheffield Wednesday Middlesbrough Newcastle United Republic of Ireland
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

John 'Jack' Charlton OBE (born Ashington, Northumberland, May 8, 1935) was a footballer who played for Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s, and who won the World Cup with England. He later became a football manager of both domestic and international sides, particularly the Irish national side.

Born into a footballing family (his uncle was Jackie Milburn), Charlton was initially overshadowed by his younger brother Bobby, who was taken on by Manchester United F.C. while Jack was doing his National Service.

After quitting a job in a coal mine Charlton applied to join the police, but was then offered a trial by Leeds United 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 with Leeds, and then signed professional terms in 1952.

Contents 1 Early career with Leeds 2 International Recognition And A World Cup Winners Medal 3 Leeds United: Trophies And Near Misses 4 Twilight honours at Leeds 5 Management 6 An honorary Irishman 7 Personal life 8 External links

[edit] Early career with Leeds

Charlton played in the Leeds senior team for the first time in April 1953 and within another two years was a regular fixture in the side.

Leeds were a second division side for much of the 1950s, with the side built around Welsh legend John Charles. Under Raich Carter, Leeds won promotion to the First Division in 1957, before suffering relegation again two years later. Carter was replaced by Don Revie as manager in 1961.

Charlton feared for his future at Leeds after Revie's appointment, as the two had disagreed as players. At one point Revie agreed to sell him, but interested clubs - including Liverpool and Manchester United - couldn't match Leeds' asking price. Ultimately, they settled their differences, and Revie built the Leeds defense around Charlton.

Charlton was joined at centre back in 1962 by Norman Hunter, a product of the youth policy. Other youth team players such as Peter Lorimer, Paul Reaney and Billy Bremner also came into the side and Leeds won promotion back to the First Division in 1964. Leeds made an immediate impact on their first season back in the top flight; they were runners up in the league, losing the title to Manchester United on goal difference, and were beaten 2-1 by Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Charlton, operating as an emergency striker, set up Bremner's goal for Leeds.

[edit] International Recognition And A World Cup Winners Medal

With Charlton approaching his 30th birthday, he was called up by Alf Ramsey to play for England against Scotland at Wembley. The game ended 2-2 and Charlton was impressive enough to keep his place. With England hosting the 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 before Ramsey confirmed his squad of 22 players for the finals. Charlton was in the squad, and was given the No.5 shirt, an indication that if fit he would be the first choice partner for Moore.

England drew their opening group game against Uruguay 0-0, but progressed to the knock-out stages after victories against Mexico and 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. England eliminated Argentina in the quarter finals, taking them to a semi final against Portugal.

Charlton had his work cut out keeping Portugal's Torres quiet, with the centre forward winning his fair share of aerial duels. However, Bobby Charlton scored twice to give England a commanding lead, before Eusébio scored a late penalty after Charlton had handled a shot on the goal-line. England clung on and reached the final, where they would play West Germany.

In the final, West Germany took an early lead through Helmut Haller. England equalised shortly afterwards through Geoff Hurst and then as the second half wore on, Charlton came close to scoring the goal which would have put England ahead.

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 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.

West Germany pressed for an equaliser and got their reward, due to a controversial refereeing decision. 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. 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, taking the game into extra-time.

England dominated the added 30 minutes, Hurst scored twice to complete his hat-trick, and England won the World Cup 4-2. One of more memorable images at the final whistle 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 with joy.

[edit] Leeds United: Trophies And Near Misses

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 a 3-2 defeat to Scotland at Wembley, during which he scored. However, he ended the season as the Footballer Of The Year and his future after football as an after-dinner speaker was marked by his speech at the awards ceremony, which earned him a standing ovation.

Charlton finally won domestic honours with Leeds in 1968 with a controversial League Cup victory over Arsenal - the Arsenal players claimed that Charlton had committed a foul in their penalty area prior to the ball reaching Terry Cooper, who scored the only goal. Leeds also won the Fairs Cup and Charlton completed the year by playing his 447th League game, breaking the club's previous record for appearences.

In 1969, Leeds finally got their hands on the League championship, with Charlton proving a rock at the back as the team lost just two games all season. A year later, Leeds went for the unprecedented treble of League title, FA Cup and European Cup - and missed out on all three.

Everton pipped Leeds to the title, Celtic F.C. beat them in the semi finals of the European Cup, and Leeds lost the FA Cup final to Chelsea after a replay, after a pressured Charlton had unwittingly back-headed a long throw across his own area, allowing David Webb to score Chelsea's winner. Charlton was so angry he didn't bother collecting his runners-up medal afterwards.

In the summer on 1970, Ramsey named Charlton in his squad of 22 for the 1970 World Cup. However, Charlton wasn't Moore's first choice partner, with Everton's Brian Labone getting the nod after a sturdy series of displays during the European Championships two years earlier. Charlton played his 35th and final England game in the 1-0 group win over Czechoslovakia. England lost in the quarter finals to West Germany, and on the flight home, both Charlton brothers asked Ramsey not to be considered for international duty again.

[edit] Twilight honours at Leeds

In October 1970, Charlton famously appeared on a football programme, 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 that no such book existed.

Leeds won the Fairs Cup again in 1971, but lost the league championship to Arsenal. In 1972, Leeds finally won the FA Cup and Charlton completed his set of domestic medals. Although he continued playing, he suffered an injury in 1973 which ruled him out for the rest of the season, including another FA Cup final, and eventually retired from playing aged 38, with 773 club appearances and 96 goals to his name.

[edit] Management

He was offered the job as manager of second division 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. Previously, the honour had never been awarded to a manager outside of the First Division.

Charlton quit Middlesbrough in April 1977, and applied unsuccessfully for the job of England manager, which had been controversially vacated by the resignation of his old Leeds boss Don Revie. He then took over as manager at Sheffield Wednesday and took them to promotion from the Third Division. He resigned his position in 1983, went briefly back to Middlesbrough, then became manager of Newcastle United. However, after the first signs of unrest from supporters, he resigned after a year in the job.

[edit] An honorary Irishman

Charlton spent a brief time outside of football befire being approached to manage the Republic of Ireland. Ireland had some great individual players at the time, including Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, and David O'Leary, but had no history of qualifying for major tournaments. Charlton, with a little luck, astute tactics, strong organsisation and the crafty stretching of the eligibility rules, managed to change that.

He approached players with even the most tentative Irish links to hook up with the Republic - John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, for example, were deemed to be eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland as their grand parents were Irish. Ireland qualified for the 1988 European Championships in Germany, and were drawn against England in their group.

The World Cup winner with England found himself plotting their downfall as a manager, and he duly delivered; an early Houghton goal was enough to beat England 1-0. Ireland subsequently drew 1-1 with the USSR but went out of the competition when they lost to eventual champions Holland. As a result, Charlton was rewarded with the runner-up prize in the World Soccer Manager of the Year awards in 1988.

Charlton developed a love for the Irish lifestyle, and for his position as Republic Of Ireland manager, and the people of Ireland returned this with a passion. Under Charlton, Ireland qualified for the 1990 World Cup for the first time ever. In an eventful competition, the unfancied Irish qualified from the group stage, defeated Romania in the second round match which went to penalties, met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and eventually went out to the hosts Italy in the quarter finals by just a single goal. It was a tremendous achievement for a team with no previous World Cup history.

Several Irish songwriters waxed lyrical about Big Jack. Songs like "Give It A Lash Jack" (Liam Harrison) and "Put 'em Under Pressure" (Republic of Ireland Football Squad) actually topped the Irish charts during 1990.

Ireland failed to reach the Euro 92, but qualified again for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, where Charlton infamously had a pitchside argument with a linesman who was delaying a substitution, and was later fined. In the tournament, Ireland defeated favourites Italy during the group phase, but eventually went out to Holland in the second round.

After failing to qualify for Euro 96, Charlton quit. His involvement in the game since has been restricted (by his own choice) to punditry and speaking.

[edit] Personal life

Charlton married Pat on 6 January 1958, a month before the Munich Air Disaster in which his brother Bobby, who was best man at his wedding, was injured. Personal honours awarded to him include the OBE and that of honorary Irish citizenship. In 1994 he was made a Freeman of the city of Dublin. Charlton was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution to the English game.

Preceded by Bobby Charlton	FWA Footballer of the Year 1967	Succeeded by George Best
Preceded by Stan Anderson	Middlesbrough F.C. Manager 1973-1977	Succeeded by John Neal
Preceded by Len Ashurst	Sheffield Wednesday Manager 1977-1983	Succeeded by Howard Wilkinson
Preceded by Arthur Cox	Newcastle United Manager 1984-1985	Succeeded by Willie McFaul
Preceded by Eoin Hand	Republic of Ireland Head Coach 1986-1996	Succeeded by Mick McCarthy

[edit] External links

• English Football Hall of Fame
• Photo and stats at sporting-heroes.net

	England squad - 1966 FIFA World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Banks | 2 Cohen | 3 Wilson | 4 Stiles | 5 J. Charlton | 6 Moore | 7 Ball | 8 Greaves | 9 B. Charlton | 10 Hurst | 11 Connelly | 12 Springett | 13 Bonetti | 14 Armfield | 15 Byrne | 16 Peters | 17 Flowers | 18 Hunter | 19 Paine | 20 Callaghan | 21 Hunt | 22 Eastham | Coach: Ramsey

	England squad - 1970 FIFA World Cup
1 Banks | 2 Newton | 3 Cooper | 4 Mullery | 5 Labone | 6 Moore | 7 Lee | 8 Ball | 9 B. Charlton | 10 Hurst | 11 Peters | 12 Bonetti | 13 Stepney | 14 Wright | 15 Stiles | 16 Hughes | 17 J. Charlton | 18 Hunter | 19 Bell | 20 Osgood | 21 Clarke | 22 Astle | Coach: Ramsey

	Republic of Ireland squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Bonner | 2 Morris | 3 Staunton | 4 McCarthy | 5 Moran | 6 Whelan | 7 McGrath | 8 Houghton | 9 Aldridge | 10 Cascarino | 11 Sheedy | 12 O'Leary | 13 Townsend | 14 Hughton | 15 Slaven | 16 Sheridan | 17 Quinn | 18 Stapleton | 19 Kelly | 20 Byrne | 21 McLoughlin | 22 Peyton | Coach: Charlton

	Republic of Ireland squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup
1 Bonner | 2 Irwin | 3 Phelan | 4 Moran | 5 McGrath | 6 Keane | 7 Townsend | 8 Houghton | 9 Aldridge | 10 Sheridan | 11 Staunton | 12 G. Kelly | 13 Kernaghan | 14 Babb | 15 Coyne | 16 Cascarino | 17 McGoldrick | 18 Whelan | 19 McLoughlin | 20 D. Kelly | 21 McAteer | 22 A. Kelly | Coach: Charlton