Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton survived the Munich Air Disaster – but it never left him.
Sir Bobby Charlton’s death in 2023 saw an outpouring of grief from Manchester United supporters. In his later years he became known as a stoic club ambassador, and in his playing days he was one of the greatest of all time.
Until 2017, Sir Bobby Charlton was the club’s record goalscorer with 249 goals, netting goals in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
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While proud of his modest upbringing, Charlton became a miracle man, a survivor of the Munich Air Disaster in 1958.
He scored two goals in the team’s last match, a 3-3 draw away at Red Star in the European Cup.
The ensuing tragedy saw eight of his teammates die in the disaster on the way home from the game, including prolific scorer Tommy Taylor and the team’s great hope Duncan Edwards.
Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, David Pegg, Mark Jones, Geoff Bent and Billy Whelan also lost their lives, along with 14 non-playing staff and reporters on the flight.
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Sir Bobby Charlton recovered physically, was haunted emotionally
Sir Bobby Charlton was one of the survivors of the Munich Air Disaster, in just his second full season as a player.
Charlton spent a week in hospital after the crash, escaping with only cuts and bruises in terms of physical wounds.
He was back playing football one month later, becoming a beacon of hope to Manchester United supporters and the families of those who died.
But despite his physical recovery, Charlton had to deal with the emotional scars of the death of his teammates.
Writing in his autobiography in 2007, Charlton wrote: “All the time the question came pounding in: ‘Why me, why did I survive?
“Even now … it still reaches down and touches me every day. Sometimes I feel it quite lightly, a mere brush stroke against an otherwise happy mood.
“Sometimes it engulfs me with a terrible regret and sadness – and guilt that I walked away and found so much. The Munich air crash is always there.”
Charlton was an emerging star with 44 appearances, with one league title at the time of the crash. He went on to play a total of 758 games for the club.
Speaking in a documentary in 2017, he said: “I wondered what would happen, I wondered how we would be able to recover but recover we had to do. We had to make the effort.”
He led United to win the European Cup 10 years later, the greatest sporting comeback story of all time, after winning the Ballon d’Or and the World Cup in 1966. He won a total of three league titles.
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The death of a dream, and what might have been
While Manchester United recovered from the tragedy led by Sir Matt Busby and Sir Bobby Charlton, there is still incredible grief for the victims of the crash.
From a sporting perspective, Sir Bobby Charlton expressed regret that United winning the European Cup was delayed, as he believed they would have triumphed sooner.
Speaking at the 50th anniversary of the tragedy in 2008, Charlton remarked: “The team that was decimated in Munich would, I think, have been the first British team to win the European Cup.”
United were pipped by one year with Celtic winning the trophy in 1967 for the one and only time.
Prior to the tragedy United had reached the semi-finals of the European Cup with the 5-4 aggregate win over Red Star Belgrade.
Remarkably the team competed in the semi-finals, beating AC Milan 2-1 in an emotionally charged game at Old Trafford before losing the second leg 4-0. Real Madrid won the final 3-2 against Milan.
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