Players for PNE & Manchester United.
Michael Appleton;
Jimmy Bannister;
David Beckham;
Tommy Brogan;
Francis Burns;
William Campbell;
Bobby Charlton;
Jonathan Clark;
John Cunningham;
John Curtis;
Alex Dawson;
Ritchie DeLaet;
Arthur Fitton;
Alan Gowling;
Deinol Graham;
David Gray;
Davis Healy;
Bill Henderson;
Matty James;
Sam Johnstone;
David Jones;
Josh King;
Nobby Lawton;
Eddie Lewis;
Mick Martin;
James McLelland;
Sammy McIlroy;
Colin Murdock;
George Mutch;
Dick Pegg;
Danny Pugh;
Tom Rodger;
David Sadler;
George Sapsford;
Albert Smith;
Nobby Stiles;
Jimmy Turnbell;
Joe Walton;
Jeff Wealands;
Danny Welbeck;
Neil Whitworth.
Player Profile – Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert (Bobby) Charlton CBE was born in Ashington on 11 October 1937. One of Manchester United and England’s greatest-ever players, Charlton came from a football family. His mother (a Milburn) had four brothers who all played professional football.
One of the original Busby Babes, he won Schoolboy international recognition before later adding Youth and Under-23 caps and represented the Football League. Charlton was a member of three of the Reds FA Youth Cup winning teams in the early 1950’s and established himself in the first team shortly before the Munich air crash.
Charlton made his football debut for the Reds came ironically against Charlton Athletic at Old Trafford on 6 October 1956. He wore a pair of Roger Bryne’s old boots and scored a brace in a 4-2 win. At the same time, he was doing his National service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Shrewsbury, where Busby had advised him to apply as it meant he could still play for Manchester United at the weekend. Also doing his army service in Shrewsbury at the same time was his United team-mate Duncan Edwards.
His first hat-trick for United also came in a league game against Charlton at the Valley which the Reds won 5-1. He went on to score more than 250 goals in well over 750 senior appearance, with only coming on a substitute twice which were both in league matches.
Charlton scored twice in United’s 3-3 draw against Partizan Belgrade as the Babes sealed a place in the semi-finals of the European Cup . It was on their return that disaster struck, and Charlton was among those injured on 6 February 1958. His wounds were relatively minor, however, and he was back in action within a month. Charlton proved an integral component of the post-Munich rebuilding,
His best season in front of game came in the 1958/59 season with 29 goals in 38 league appearances. His first match of the season saw him score a hat-trick with a 5-2 win over Chelsea. The other time he scored over 20 league goals in a season was in 1960/61 with 21 goals in 29 matches. He scored a brace in the 4-2 win against Preston at Deepdale on 22 April 1961 which was the last home match for PNE in the top division.
He had tremendous shooting power and won three First Division Championships in 1957, 1965 & 1967. Charlton played in three FA Cup Finals in 1957, 1958 & 1963. He won one winner’s medal in the latter versus Leicester in a 3-1 victory. He also skippered United to victory and netted a brace in the European Cup Final in 1968 against Benfica. Charlton had played in five major Cup Finals from 1957 to 1968. He also won four Charity Shield winners medals in 1957, 1958, 1965 & 1967.
Charlton started as an out and out striker before moving to a position which was pioneered by his hero Alfredo Di Stefano which was in a withdrawn centre-forward role.
In July 1966 Charlton helped England win the World Cup with his brother and Leeds Defender Jack. Charlton was voted both European and PFA Footballer of the Year. England drew the opening game of the tournament 0–0 with Uruguay, and Charlton scored the first goal in the 2–0 win over Mexico. This was followed by an identical scoreline against France, allowing England to qualify for the quarter finals.
England defeated Argentina 1–0 , the game was the only international match in which Charlton received a caution, and faced Portugal in the semi-finals. This turned out to be one of Charlton's most important games for England.
Charlton opened the scoring with a crisp side-footed finish after a run by Roger Hunt had forced the Portuguese goalkeeper out of his net; his second was a sweetly struck shot after a run and pull-back from Geoff Hurst. Charlton and Hunt were now England's joint-highest scorers in the tournament with three each, and a final against West Germany beckoned.
The final turned out to be one of Charlton's quieter days; he and a young Franz Beckenbauer effectively marked each other out of the game. England won 4–2 after extra time
He was Capped to a then record 106 times for England and scored 49 international goals, which is currently still the England record. Charlton also scored four hat-tricks, his first iIn 1959 his hat-trick helped England demolished the US 8–1; and his second England hat-trick came in 1961 in an 8–0 thrashing of Mexico. He also managed to score in every British Home Championship tournament he played in except 1963 in an association with the tournament which lasted from 1958 to 1970 and included 16 goals and ten tournament victories (five shared).His final goal came in Bogata in May 1970 against Colombia. His final England match came a month later in the World Cup Quarter Final defeat to West Germany in Leon.
His final League appearance for United came in April 1973 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Charlton became the manager of Preston in 1973, signing his former United and England team-mate Nobby Stiles as player-coach. His first season ended in relegation and resumed his player career in 1974/75. His Preston debut was a 1-0 home win over Plymouth on 17 August 1974, his first Lilywhite goal came on his fourth appearance with a 3-2 win against Walsall on 31 August. Charlton also scored three days later with a 3-0 home win over Bury. Charlton netted 8 goals in 38 league appearances. His last goal came in a 2-1 defeat at Plymouth on 18 March 1975 with is final match was 11 days later with a 2-1 defeat at Port Vale.
He left Preston early in the 1975/76 season after a disagreement with the board over the transfer of John Bird to Newcastle. He was awarded the CBE that year and began a casual association with the BBC for punditry on matches which continued for many years. In early 1976, he scored once in 3 league appearances for Waterford United.
He joined Wigan as a director, and was briefly caretaker manager there in 1983. He then spent some time playing in South Africa. He also built up several businesses in areas such as travel, jewellery and hampers, and ran soccer schools in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and China. In 1984, he was invited to become member of the board of directors at Manchester United, partly because of his football knowledge and partly because it was felt that the club needed a "name" on the board after the resignation of Sir Matt Busby. He remains a director of Manchester United as of 2014 and his continued presence was a factor in placating many fans opposed to the club's takeover by Malcolm Glazer.
In June 1994 he became the second footballer behind Stanley Matthews to be knighted for services to football.
On 14 December 2008 Charlton was awarded the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. On 2 March 2009, Charlton was given the freedom of the city of Manchester
In January 2011 Charlton was voted the 4th greatest Manchester United player of all time by the readers of Inside United and ManUtd.com, behind Ryan Giggs (who topped the poll), Eric Cantona and George Best.
He is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy. On 6 February 2012 Sir Bobby Charlton was taken to hospital after falling ill, and subsequently had a gallstone removed. This prevented him from collecting a Lifetime Achievement award at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
In the 2011 film United, centred on the successes of the Busby Babes and the decimation of the team in the Munich crash, Charlton was portrayed by actor Jack O'Connell.