Bobby Charlton — From Munich to Wembley

[harms]

I have to admit, before making this video I never understood how incredible Bobby Charlton was throughout the first post-Munich months. He was only 20 years old, a youngster that was just finding his feet in professional football, slowly but surely getting more and more playing time week after week. Then, suddenly, Munich happens and he (alongside Dennis Viollet & Harry Gregg) becomes one of the most important players in the team. He simply has to make the difference — because if he doesn't do it, no one else would. That season's FA Cup run is truly one of the most inspiring stories in history of English football.


6 February 1958 — Manchester Air Disaster. 14 people died, including 7 Manchester United players. Among others — Duncan Edwards, arguably the greatest British talent of all time; Tommy Taylor, an insanely prolific striker & Roger Byrne, Busby Babes' captain.

19 February 1958 — the depleted United squad beats Sheffield United to advance to FA Cup quarter finals.

22 March 1958 — FA Cup quarter final. United draws with West Brom, the score is 2:2.

5 March 1958 — FA Cup quarter final replay. United steals the victory in last seconds of the game: Bobby Charlton steals the ball, beats his marker and makes a match-winning assist to Colin Webster.

22 March 1958 — FA Cup semi-final. Charlton scores two goals to keep United in contention — a 2:2 draw with Fulham earns United a chance to beat them in replay.

26 March 1958 — FA Cup semi-final replay. Charlton makes an assist & scores a brilliant goal to secure a 5:3 victory over Fulham that leads United to their second consecutive FA Cup final, which no one expected them to reach.

3 May 1958 — FA Cup final. Manchester United faces Bolton and... loses 2:0

And yet, you can't overestimate the incredible impact that this run had on Manchester United — both as a team and as a club. Before that, the club stood on the brink of extinction. Bobby Charlton showed us the way towards club's renaissance — way before Busby would sign Denis Law or Georgie Best. Simply impeccable.

 

[Joga Bonito]

Great display, seemed to pop up everywhere and a matured performance where he showed flashes of what's to come. What an unique player Sir Bobby was, his elegance, two-footedness, dribbling were all deceptively mesmerizing, before he'd go on to blast in a 30 yard scorcher .

Great work @harms

 

[Falcow]

Should be much higher up the GOAT rankings. No other player has had the career he had all things considered.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Bump

 

[Haddock]

@harms Thanks. Interesting performance. Heavily involved, a permanent threat and a risk taker but a fair share of poor and underhit passes. I wonder if that was reflective of his game in general. Reminds me of a certain bearded Portugese midfielder.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

The greatest English footballer of all time.

 

[harms]

@harms Thanks. Interesting performance. Heavily involved, a permanent threat and a risk taker but a fair share of poor and underhit passes. I wonder if that was reflective of his game in general. Reminds me of a certain bearded Portugese midfielder.

He became way more refined over the years, especially in terms of the passing... but I also see quite a lot of similarities between him and Bruno.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Should be much higher up the GOAT rankings. No other player has had the career he had all things considered.

He is definitely up there as one of the best, but it is difficult to put him in the top 10 just because of who the other players in that list are, of the below who are usually the main popular candidates mentioned, (not listing the greats that always seem to get overlooked).

Pele,
Maradona,
Messi,
C.Ronaldo,
Cruyff,
Di Stefano,
Puskas,
Gerd Muller,
Eusebio,
Beckenbauer,
Platini,
Best.

It would be tough to put him in that list, it is obviously all up for debate, but who should Charlton be there instead of?

 

[Eriku]

I had a phase where I nerded out and downloaded old matches to see for myself what legends were like. Sir Bobby didn’t disappoint. Looked so incredibly comfortable on the ball, great passing whether it be short, medium, or long range, and he of course knew how to smash it as well. What really messed me up was his two-footedness. In his dribbling and passing, I genuinely could not tell which foot he was most comfortable with, and seeing him saunter over to take a corner with the left... never seen another player switch feet on corners.

Absolute legend.

 

[simplyared]

He is definitely up there as one of the best, but it is difficult to put him in the top 10 just because of who the other players in that list are, of the below who are usually the main popular candidates mentioned, (not listing the greats that always seem to get overlooked).

Pele,
Maradona,
Messi,
C.Ronaldo,
Cruyff,
Di Stefano,
Puskas,
Gerd Muller,
Eusebio,
Beckenbauer,
Platini,
Best.

It would be tough to put him in that list, it is obviously all up for debate, but who should Charlton be there instead of?

Muller

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Muller

Definitely not Muller, he has 487 goals in 555 games. No way should he be the first removed form that list.

 

[Falcow]

He is definitely up there as one of the best, but it is difficult to put him in the top 10 just because of who the other players in that list are, of the below who are usually the main popular candidates mentioned, (not listing the greats that always seem to get overlooked).

Pele,
Maradona,
Messi,
C.Ronaldo,
Cruyff,
Di Stefano,
Puskas,
Gerd Muller,
Eusebio,
Beckenbauer,
Platini,
Best.

It would be tough to put him in that list, it is obviously all up for debate, but who should Charlton be there instead of?

I'd probably have him as number 4 on that list to be honest. I'm amazed you rate those players as better than him. The sheer number of goals alone for a midfielder, left foot right foot with a ball that weighed a tonne. World cup and european cup winner.....something numbers 1 to 4 cant say, actually how many on that list can?

I am probably also factoring in surviving the crash and coming back to do all of that, what a story and yes it does say a lot about his ability that he was able to do so.

My father in law who doesnt have a word of english and has never set foot in England and who is 80, says Charlton when asked who is the best footballer of all time.

 

[SinNombre]

He is definitely up there as one of the best, but it is difficult to put him in the top 10 just because of who the other players in that list are, of the below who are usually the main popular candidates mentioned, (not listing the greats that always seem to get overlooked).

Pele,
Maradona,
Messi,
C.Ronaldo,
Cruyff,
Di Stefano,
Puskas,
Gerd Muller,
Eusebio,
Beckenbauer,
Platini,
Best.

It would be tough to put him in that list, it is obviously all up for debate, but who should Charlton be there instead of?

There are tiers to this.

Tier 1 (top 4) - Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cristiano
Tier 2 (next 4) - di Stefano, Cruijff, Beckenbauer, Puskas
Tier 3 (9 - 15) - Muller, Eusebio, Platini, Best and also Charlton, Zico, Garrincha, Maldini, Ronaldo

Muller for me is in the same tier as Best, Garrincha and Charlton.

 

[Yagami]

Saw this in my sub box. Looking forward to watching this later. Thanks, @harms !

 

[The holy trinity 68]

I'd probably have him as number 4 on that list to be honest. I'm amazed you rate those players as better than him. The sheer number of goals alone for a midfielder, left foot right foot with a ball that weighed a tonne. World cup and european cup winner.....something numbers 1 to 4 cant say, actually how many on that list can?

I am probably also factoring in surviving the crash and coming back to do all of that, what a story and yes it does say a lot about his ability that he was able to do so.

My father in law who doesnt have a word of english and has never set foot in England and who is 80, says Charlton when asked who is the best footballer of all time.

I never said he wasn't better I just said it is tough as they are all GOAT level, that list wasn't my order by the way.

How could Pele have won the EC when he played in Brazil for his career, when the Brazilian league was as good as any in Europe. To answer your question, Muller and Beckenbauer both won the WC, European Championship and the European Cup.

Muller actually scored 1 goal in the winning WC final, 2 in a winning European Championship final and 1 in another winning final, and he also scored 3 goals across 2 winning European Cups with Bayern. All in all he won the WC, European Championship x2 and European Cup x3 while scoring all but one final. All of that along with scoring 487 goals in 555 games for Bayern, yet he always gets dismissed when named against the other GOAT's, if anything he should be higher up than most of them including Charlton.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

There are tiers to this.

Tier 1 (top 4) - Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cristiano
Tier 2 (next 4) - di Stefano, Cruijff, Beckenbauer, Puskas
Tier 3 (9 - 15) - Muller, Eusebio, Platini, Best and also Charlton, Zico, Garrincha, Maldini, Ronaldo

Muller for me is in the same tier as Best, Garrincha and Charlton.

Muller scored 1 goal in a winning WC final, 2 in a winning European Championship final and 1 in another, and he also scored 3 goals across 2 winning European Cup finals with Bayern.

He also has 14 WC goals which was not broken until R9 in 2006.

All in all he won the WC, European Championship x2 and European Cup x3 while scoring in all but one final. He has 14 WC goals and scored 487 goals in 555 games for Bayern, all of this needs to put him up there with the best.

What have the 8 done in tier 1 and 2 that Muller hasn't?

 

[harms]

Saw this in my sub box.

Good man

 

[SinNombre]

What have the 8 done in tier 1 and 2 that Muller hasn't?

Be the best / main player of great team(s). Beckenbauer was always the key player of those teams.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Be the best / main player of great team(s). Beckenbauer was always the key player of those teams.

So you are telling me a player can score 14 goals in WC's and hold that record for 30 years, while scoring in a WC final, score 3 goals across 2 EC finals with Germany, score 3 goals across 2 EC's with Bayern, score 388 goals in 455 games for Bayern and still not be the key player? What a load of rubbish, of course he was the key player, Beckenbauer is obviously a GOAT but them stats show Muller was also a GOAT and top 5 of all time for me.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I'd probably have him as number 4 on that list to be honest. I'm amazed you rate those players as better than him. The sheer number of goals alone for a midfielder, left foot right foot with a ball that weighed a tonne. World cup and european cup winner.....something numbers 1 to 4 cant say, actually how many on that list can?

I am probably also factoring in surviving the crash and coming back to do all of that, what a story and yes it does say a lot about his ability that he was able to do so.

My father in law who doesnt have a word of english and has never set foot in England and who is 80, says Charlton when asked who is the best footballer of all time.

There used to be a story going round, long time ago, that you could go into the deepest, remotest, jungle and come across a small village in a clearing.

All you had to do was mention Manchester United and you'd be met with big smiles, head nodding and shouts of "Ah, Bobby Charlton!"

 

[Jeppers7]

The greatest English footballer of all time.

Has anyone even come close?

 

[The Cat]

I really don't rate Platini above him.

 

[harms]

Has anyone even come close?

Both Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney are somewhere in contention, at least in terms of ability, but Charlton's still ahead of them with all his records, European Cup and the only World Cup that England ever won. Gazza and Rooney showed great promise early on, but ultimately failed to establish a true claim on the English GOAT status. Moore is within a shout, just like Sir Bobby he had played a crucial part in the 1966 win, played magnificently 4 years later and overall performed admirably over the course of his career. Playing for West Ham slightly affected his reputation though, although it was a common occurrence at the time for players to stay in their home club for most of their career.

T1 Charlton
T2 Finney, Matthews, Moore
T3 Gazza, Rio, Scholes, Robson, Greaves, Barnes, Beckham, Banks, Keegan etc.

 

[Jeppers7]

Both Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney are somewhere in contention, at least in terms of ability, but Charlton's still ahead of them with all his records, European Cup and the only World Cup that England ever won. Gazza and Rooney showed great promise early on, but ultimately failed to establish a true claim on the English GOAT status. Moore is within a shout, just like Sir Bobby he had played a crucial part in the 1966 win, played magnificently 4 years later and overall performed admirably over the course of his career. Playing for West Ham slightly affected his reputation though, although it was a common occurrence at the time for players to stay in their home club for most of their career.

T1 Charlton
T2 Finney, Matthews, Moore
T3 Gazza, Rio, Scholes, Robson, Greaves, Barnes, Beckham, Banks, Keegan etc.

Great post....Can only think Duncan would’ve topped the list but for Munich sadly.

 

[simplyared]

Definitely not Muller, he has 487 goals in 555 games. No way should he be the first removed form that list.

Agree Muller was a goal machine and especially inside the box he was lethal. However Romario has 772 goals and is not on your list. I've experienced both players and if I were to choose it would be Romario before Muller. Still can't get Sir Bobby on the list though