Bobby Charlton survived Munich and went on to win almost everything
In 1958 a 20-year-old Bobby Charlton was pulled from the wreckage of the Munich air crash by his goalkeeper. A decade later he captained Manchester United to the European Cup, two years after winning the World Cup with England and the Ballon d'Or. Across his whole career he was cautioned just twice.
A coal miner's son from Ashington in Northumberland, born on 11 October 1937, Charlton grew up with several professional footballers among his mother's Milburn relatives. United's chief scout Joe Armstrong spotted him playing schools football. Because his mother worried about so insecure a career, he started training as an electrical engineer before turning professional in 1954. He was one of Matt Busby's Busby Babes, and he marked his first-team debut against Charlton Athletic in 1956 with two goals while doing National Service in Shrewsbury.
United won the league in 1957, and the next season they were beating Red Star Belgrade in a European Cup quarter-final when their plane stopped to refuel in Munich. It crashed on a renewed attempt to take off in worsening weather. Harry Gregg dragged Charlton and Dennis Viollet clear; the pair had swapped seats with Tommy Taylor and David Pegg, both of whom died. Of 44 people aboard, 23 lost their lives, eight of them United players. Charlton was back in England eight days later and back playing within weeks.
The rebuilt team won the FA Cup in 1963, his third final, and the title in 1965 and 1967. In 1968 he scored twice in the European Cup final as United became the first English winners. With England he went to four World Cups, lifted the trophy in 1966 alongside his brother Jack, and retired in 1970 as the country's most capped player with 106 appearances. His 49 England goals stood as the record until Wayne Rooney passed them in 2015.
His 758 United games lasted as a club record until Ryan Giggs overtook him in 2008, and his 249 goals until Rooney did so in 2017. He later managed Preston and joined United's board in 1984. From Gregg's death in 2020 until his own on 21 October 2023, he was the last living survivor of Munich.
Source: Bobby Charlton
