Charlton embodies footballing values of bygone era

Date Published: 03-May-2011

THE Champions League Final that most football fans have wanted from way back moved a giant step closer to fruition this week as Manchester United and Barcelona warmed up for a Wembley date by brushing aside their respective semi-final opponents ahead of the second leg.

Watching it all – as he has been as a player and director for well over half a century – was Bobby Charlton, described by Alex Ferguson as the greatest player of all time and a man who achieved everything there was to achieve as a footballer.

His own story also featured heavily on the small screen over the last ten days; last Thursday the BBC aired a wonderful tribute to his life in and out of football, and that followed a weekend documentary that told the story of his lowest ebb after the Munich Air Crash, followed by the slow path back to his greatest high.

Sir Bobby Charlton: Football Icon might seem like hyperbole in any other case but this time it was more than apt – the man with the world’s most famous comb-over was a genius and a legend, whose quite demeanour belied a steely determination and ocean of skill.

Describing him as one of the nicest men in football might seem like damning him with faint praise, but the tributes from Fergie, David Beckham – before his trip to the tailors for his Royal wedding suit – Franz Beckenbauer, Eric Cantona and his more loquacious brother Jack clearly come from the heart.

And when you hear the man himself, you can see why; here stood a footballing legend in front of the Old Trafford statues of those three great United legends – Best, Law and Charlton – and yet he’s looking up at the bronze image of himself on a plinth as though he had won a prize to stand on the same platform as his heroes.

We didn’t have Sky in his heyday but the goals that were captured in glowing colour or grainy black and white would have been the work of genius in any era – and still in his seventies, this one club man stands on the turf of Old Trafford with the hairs still pricking on the back of his neck.

For more of Dave’s TV column see page 14 of this week’s Connacht Sentinel