| THANK YOU, SIR BOBBY06/10/2016 08:40, Report by Steve Bartram
THE STORY OF SIR BOBBY CHARLTON'S DEBUT
Sixty years ago today (6 October), Bobby Charlton made the first of his 758 first-team appearances for Manchester United. Here, features editor Steve Bartram recounts how such a legendary career began...
There was never the merest sliver of doubt among the wise men of Old Trafford – manager Matt Busby, his assistant Jimmy Murphy, coach Bert Whalley, trainer Tom Curry – that Bobby Charlton was a unique and wondrous talent, even by the rarefied standards of the middle 1950s when Manchester United's buccaneering Babes were taking the English game by storm.
But for all the bouquets showered so lavishly and deservedly on his blond head, the unassuming young north-easterner himself needed the affirmation that only one event could bring – he was desperate for his first-team debut in a match that truly mattered.
Thus when ‘The Old Man’ – Bobby’s affectionate tag for Busby – called him up for the First Division home encounter with his namesake club, bottom-of-the-table Charlton Athletic, on 6 October 1956, just five days short of his 19th birthday, he was ecstatic.
As he recalled: "It didn’t matter how much praise I received, how often I was told just to be a little patient, I needed to play that first game. It would calm me down, confirm my status as a first-teamer in waiting. The trouble was there was so much talent stockpiled at Old Trafford."
Mercifully, just as he experienced the initial stirrings of frustration and despair, the yearned-for summons arrived. England chief Walter Winterbottom had selected United centre-forward Tommy Taylor, a close pal of Bobby with whom he shared digs, for the team to face Northern Ireland in Belfast, so on the Friday morning before the games of both club and country, Busby called hopeful rookie Charlton into his office.
Even then, though, the elevation to senior status of the miner’s son from Ashington, Northumberland, was not quite a nailed-on certainty. Bobby had recently damaged his right ankle in an inexpert tackle with Manchester City’s Keith Marsden in a reserve match, and though the swelling had gone down enough for him to resume training, it was still not quite right.
Naturally, then, the manager’s first question was: "How’s your ankle?" Bobby’s response was instant and unequivocal. Though still suffering twinges, there was no way he was going to miss his big opportunity and he informed his boss: "My ankle has never felt better."
The future Sir Matt, who doubtlessly possessed a shrewd insight into the youngster’s inner turmoil, gave a knowing smile and informed him: "OK, son, I’m playing you tomorrow."
Charlton didn’t sleep a wink that night through anxiety about what the next day might hold, but as he ran out at Old Trafford in Taylor’s no.9 shirt in front of 41,439 supporters, he was as alert as at any time in his life and he murmured to himself: "Bobby lad, there are no two ways around it. You are now in paradise."
It was an aptly eloquent reflection by the man who later came up with 'Theatre of Dreams' to describe the ground he was to grace for 17 seasons as a player and where much later, having attained his knighthood, he would have a giant stand named after him.
In that moment, though, his entire focus was on helping to maintain the reigning champions’ sensational start to the defence of their title, encompassing an unbeaten 10-game sequence since the opening day which left them as runaway league leaders, having dropped only two points.
But the visitors, who had shocked many of their own fans a month earlier by sacking their eminent manager Jimmy Seed after starting the term with five straight defeats and replacing him with erstwhile England trainer Jimmy Trotter, were not disposed to be cannon fodder.
Accordingly they showed plucky resistance during the opening exchanges, then stunned Old Trafford into temporary near-silence by taking a 24th-minute lead through inside-left Fred Lucas.
Stung by the unexpected setback, United retaliated immediately, with feisty little Johnny Berry, one of the most industrious and often underrated wingers in the land, supplying an equaliser.
And soon it was time for the starry-eyed debutant to take centre-stage. During his first half-hour of top-flight action, Charlton had raced around painlessly, not even registering the slightest discomfort in that dodgy ankle, courtesy, no doubt, of the adrenaline coursing through his system.
Despite knocking in some 300 goals for club and country since that landmark afternoon, what happened next, 32 minutes into the game, has remained vivid in his memory.
"The ball reached me at the left corner of the box at the old Scoreboard End, and I hit it instinctively with my left foot past keeper Eddie Marsh. It nestled beautifully – even if I say so myself! – just inside the far post and I turned away, arms raised in ecstasy."
Now the newcomer might have been walking on water and five minutes later he scored again from a similar position, this time with a volley, to stretch United’s lead to 3-1. The Londoners were not done, though, with Bobby Ayre reducing the arrears before the interval, and it took a Billy Whelan strike midway through the second half for United to clinch the points and consolidate their place at the First Division summit.
In truth the Babes’ superiority was more marked than the final 4-2 scoreline suggests, with Charlton missing a relatively easy opportunity to complete a debut hat-trick, which would have represented a fairytale even by the sensational standards of his meteoric career trajectory.
But beyond the goals he delivered, it was supremely satisfying for his manager to monitor the way he meshed so seamlessly with his fellow forwards – inside men Whelan and Dennis Viollet and flankmen Berry and David Pegg. Also, his running off the ball to receive the perceptive passes dispatched by wing-halves Eddie Colman and Wilf McGuinness indicated an instinctive football intelligence which would become ever more evident when he moved into central midfield halfway through the next decade.
Reflecting on his entrance into the big time, which he remembered as "a perfect day" despite the hat-trick that got away, Bobby said: "Now I knew that the fears that had come to me in the night had been without real foundation. I could play in the First Division, I could score – and I could feel at home."
Someone in the crowd that day who was mightily impressed by Bobby’s potential was a man with whom he would share the English game’s ultimate triumph, winning the World Cup in 1966.
Roger Hunt – who went on to become Liverpool’s record league goalscorer, a distinction he still holds – had expected to spend the afternoon playing for his local team, Stockton Heath.
"Our game was called off so a few of the lads decided to watch United instead, and I went along," Hunt said. "Bobby made a fantastic impact, fully justifying all the great things I had heard about his exploits for England Schoolboys. At the time I thought I had missed the boat because Bury had not offered me professional terms, and I could hardly have dreamed that our paths were destined to cross in the way that they did."
As that season’s championship race continued, the Reds romped away with a second successive crown, the equivalent of four wins clear of runners-up Tottenham Hotspur, and Bobby pocketed the first of his three title gongs. Manchester United’s most enduring star was born.
This feature first appeared in United Review, the official matchday programme at Old Trafford.
www.manutd.com/en/History/Thank-You-Sir-Bobby-Charlton/Thank-You-Sir-Bobby-News-And-Features/2016/Oct/United-Review-feature-about-Sir-Bobby-Charlton-United-debut.aspx