John Charles

John Charles
Personal information
Full name	William John Charles, CBE
Date of birth	27 December 1931(1931-12-27)
Place of birth	Swansea, Wales
Date of death	21 February 2004(2004-02-21) (aged 72)
Place of death	Wakefield, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Centre Half, Centre Forward
Youth career
1946–1948	Swansea Town
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1948–1957 1957–1962 1962 1962–1963 1963–1966 1966–1971 1972–1974	Leeds United Juventus Leeds United Roma Cardiff City Hereford United Merthyr Tydfil	297 (150) 150 0(93) 011 00(3) 010 00(4) 069 0(18) 173 0(80)
National team
1950–1965	Wales	038 0(15)
Teams managed
1967–1971 1972–1974 1987	Hereford United (player-manager) Merthyr Tydfil (player-manager Hamilton Steelers
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

William John Charles, CBE (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004), commonly known as John Charles, was a Welsh international footballer best remembered for spells with Leeds United and Juventus. Rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Wales,^[1] he was equally adept at centre-forward or centre-back. He has since been included in the Football League 100 Legends and was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.

He was never cautioned or sent off during his entire career, due to his philosophy of never kicking or intentionally hurting opposing players. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, he was nicknamed Il Gigante Buono – The Gentle Giant.

Biography

William John Charles was born in the Cwmbwrla district of Swansea during late 1931. Charles would play football as a child, with younger brother Mel Charles who also went on to become a professional, later playing alongside each other for the Welsh national team.^[2]

While still at school, Charles joined the boys section of the local team Swansea Town, who would later become Swansea City. When he left school at age 14, he was taken onto the groundstaff at Vetch Field, yet because of his young age; Third Division Swansea never gave him a first-team call up. His only senior appearances came for the reserve side in the Welsh Football League.

Leeds United first spell

While playing for Gendros, a local youth club, he was scouted by Leeds United and given a trial in September 1948. At his trial he impressed and duly signed for them at the age of 17, relocating to Yorkshire.

Major Buckley, then manager of Leeds, selected John in a variety of positions including right-back, centre-half and left-half for Leeds Reserves.

John Charles made his first team debut as a centre back for Leeds United in a friendly versus Dumfries club Queen of the South on 19 April 1949. Charles was tasked with marking the Scotland centre forward who in winning 3-1 ten days before at Wembley had run the England defence ragged, Billy Houliston. The score was 0-0. After the game Houliston said 17 year old Charles was "the best centre-half I've ever played against".^[3]

Charles made his league debut against Blackburn Rovers also in April 1949, playing at centre-half. Two seasons later he played a couple of matches at centre-forward, scoring twice in the second match. This prompted a debate as to where John should play in the team, but he remained at centre-half until the 1952-53 season. He scored 150 league goals in eight years for Leeds, including 42 goals in the 1953-54 season.

He also played for the Army during his two years of National Service between 1950 and 1952, also dabbling in boxing, cricket, running and basketball. It was during this period that he suffered a serious cartilage injury, causing him to miss most of the 1951-52 season.

Playing in Italy with Juventus

In 1957 he joined the Italian club Juventus F.C. for a then-British-record £65,000 transfer fee. The transfer was notable as Charles became one of the first British professional players to be signed for an overseas team after John Fox Watson led the way moving from Fulham to Real Madrid in 1948. In his five years at Juventus he scored 93 goals in 155 matches, winning the scudetto (Italian league championship) three times, and the Italian Cup twice.

Charles with Sivori and Boniperti at Juve.

The respect Charles earned from Juventus fans was shown when, on the occasion of the club's centenary in 1997 they voted him to be the best-ever foreign player to play for their team.^[4]

Returning to Britain

Following his time at Juventus F.C., he returned to Leeds United but his second spell at Elland Road was less successful. After five years in Italy he found it difficult to adjust to life back in England. He returned to Italy to play for A.S. Roma, initially with success. However he then began to suffer from injuries and personal problems and left to join Cardiff City where he was to finish his league career.

He later became manager of Hereford and Merthyr Tydfil, and technical director of the Canadian team Hamilton Steelers, who he became coach of midway through the 1987 season.

International career with Wales

Charles first played for the Wales national team shortly after his 18th birthday.

He was the heart of the side which made it to the quarter finals of the 1958 Football World Cup (the country's only appearance in the World Cup), but was defeated 1-0 by eventual winners Brazil (a goal by the emerging Pelé) in his absence due to injury. In total for Wales, Charles made 38 appearances and scored 15 goals.

Charles played for the Great Britain team against Ireland in 1955.

Life after football

Following his retirement from football, John became the landlord of the New Inn public house on Elland Road, Churwell, Leeds which later was also managed by another Leeds United and Wales international legend Byron Stevenson.^[5] John Charles was awarded a CBE in 2001, and until shortly before his death he still attended every Leeds United home game. In 2002 he was made a vice-president of the Football Association of Wales, and in 2003, he was granted the freedom of the city of Swansea. There was a campaign to knight John Charles, but, in the end, this never happened resulting only in a CBE. Charles became an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. The West Stand of the Elland Road Stadium is named "The John Charles Stand" in his honour for the great service he provided to Leeds United and a bust has been created, financed by Leeds United Chairman Ken Bates, to be displayed in the entrance to the banqueting suite (attached to the back of The John Charles Stand) in his remembrance^[6]. The South Leeds Stadium, used by Leeds United for reserve matches, was renamed the John Charles Stadium in his honour. There is also a street named "John Charles Way" Close to the Elland Road Stadium^[7]

In January 2004 he suffered a heart attack shortly before an interview for Italian television, and required the partial amputation of one foot for circulation reasons before he was returned to Britain. He died in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, early on 21 February 2004.

John had a brother, Mel Charles and a nephew Jeremy Charles, who also represented Wales.

In 1998, the Football League, as part of its centenary season celebrations, included Charles on its list of 100 League Legends.

On 29 November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Wales by the Football Association of Wales as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.^[8]

In 2004, John was voted at number 19 in the 100 Welsh Heroes poll.^[9]

Ability

In the foreword for Charles' autobiography, Sir Bobby Robson described him as "incomparable" and classed him among the all-time footballing greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona and George Best. He also notes that Charles is the only footballing great to be world class in two very different positions.

Jimmy Greaves once stated that "if I were picking my all-time great British team, or even a world eleven, John Charles would be in it". Other footballers have also named him as one of the best, including Jack Charlton, Nat Lofthouse and Billy Wright.

Charles' accomplishments with Juventus led to him being voted 'the greatest foreign player ever in Serie A', ahead of Maradona, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Zinedine Zidane - this in 1997, 34 years after his last appearance in the league. In 2001 he became the first non-Italian inducted to the Azzurri Hall of Fame.^[10]

Honours

• Serie A: Champions (1958, 1960, 1961)
• Coppa Italia: Winners (1959, 1960)
• Welsh Cup: Winners (1964, 1965)
• Italian Player of the Year: 1958
• The John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds is named after Charles.
• The West stand at Elland Road is named "The John Charles Stand" and the entrance lobby to the Banqueting Suite attached to the back of the stand contains a bust of John, in memory of all John did for the club.
• A street near Elland Road in the Lower Wortley area of Leeds is named "John Charles Way"
• The John Charles Lounge in Aberystwyth Town Football Club's ground is named after Charles

Career statistics

These statistics are incomplete, missing figures indicated by –

References

External links

• English Football Hall of Fame Profile
• UEFA.com - Wales' Golden Player
• John Charles - A True Leeds United Legend - LeedsUnited.com
• Leeds United Fan Club - John Charles
• John Charles at the Wales Video Gallery

Wales squad – 1958 FIFA World Cup 1 Kelsey • 2 Williams • 3 Hopkins • 4 Sullivan • 5 M. Charles • 6 Bowen (Captain) • 7 Medwin • 8 Hewitt • 9 J. Charles • 10 I. Allchurch • 11 C. Jones • 12 K. Jones • 13 Vearncombe • 14 Edwards • 15 C. Baker • 16 Crowe • 17 Leek • 18 Vernon • 19 Webster • 20 Elsworthy • 21 L. Allchurch • 22 G. Baker • Coach: Murphy