News about Bobby Charlton

A current England star has insisted that they do have what it takes to win the Ballon d'Or and end a 23-year wait for football's biggest solo honour to be handed out to a Three Lions international.  Over the years, England have had some success in the Ballon d'Or, with Michael Owen winning in 2001 to become the fourth to do so since Stanley Matthews won the inaugural gong in 1956. Wins for Bobby Charlton and two in succession for Kevin Keegan put England eighth on the all-time list for success, behind the likes of Brazil, France Germany and Argentina who traditionally dominate. 

Footballers today are too namby-pamby, and they're badly marred by gamesmanship. The sight of players diving to gain an advantage - to get a foul or win a penalty - is disgraceful. Stratospheric salaries have created a huge gap between the players and the fans whose season tickets and TV subscriptions pay their wages. The afternoon after my hat-trick, I went home to Hornchurch and mowed the lawn. The car looked like it could use a wash, so I did that, too. I think it's safe to say Judith's experience had almost nothing in common with the glamorous life of a modern footballer's wife.

Normandy veteran Tony Johnson credits reading the Daily Mail and cracking the newspaper's puzzles every day with helping to keep his mind razor sharp. Each morning Mr Johnson starts with the front and back pages, then reads the share prices, before turning to the crossword page. 

A new book telling the story of The Lost Lionesses has not spared details of the misogyny faced by teenagers representing England in the first Women's World Cup. Gail Emms, who won a silver medal in Badminton at the Athens Olympics , tells stories of the players' experiences in her book, including an anecdote from her mother Jan, of sexist yobs shouting 'get your t*** out' at training games. The cup was held in Mexico from August - September 1971, 20 years before the first official FIFA women's world cup would take place. Women playing in the tournament might not have guessed that just 50 years later England's Lionesses would storm to a historic victory of their own, beating Germany in the Euro 2022 cup. Refusal by the Football Association to sanction the Lost Lionesses' trip in 1971 meant the team were obliged to call themselves the British Independents instead of England - though everyone in Mexico referred to them as England or 'Las Chicas de Carnaby Street'.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY IAN LADYMAN: Sitting on a small wooden chair in a small wooden hut in the grounds of a garden centre in Staffordshire is one of a select group of special footballing men. To his side - gleaming a little as the light filters through the door - is proof of his membership. Dennis Mortimer and the European Cup. Forty-two years after Aston Villa shocked Bayern Munich in the final in Rotterdam, they still look quite at home together. Mortimer is 72 now, a little grey. He was Villa's captain back then, back when they did what nobody thought possible. When he lifted the trophy that night in 1982, he was only the fourth Englishman to do so, after Bobby Charlton, Emlyn Hughes and Phil Thompson. Others have followed. Not many, as far as we know, have paid to have a full-size replica of the trophy made for their home.

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he misses life as a football manager, in his first extended interview in years.  The iconic manager retired from management at the end of the 2012-13 season, after leading Manchester United to their 13th Premier League title in what was his 27th year at the club. United have struggled for success ever since his departure with Manchester City leading the way for much of the last decade.  

IAN HERBERT: The cover image selected for writer David Peace's re-telling of the Munich Disaster depicts Bobby Charlton in cardigan, tie and smart trousers, dribbling a football up a terraced backstreet in his home village of Ashington, Northumberland, as three spellbound boys look on. He had returned there to come to terms with the death of so many friends in the crash and there was clamour for interviews. Appearing for the photograph was as much as he could possibly bear. The book's early pages capture the apocalyptic vision which confronted him when he first opened his eyes amid the slush of Munich-Reim Airport's runway; a vision which would still have been raw as he kicked that brown ball down Ashington's Beatrice Street. 

JOE BERNSTEIN: Tens of thousands of Mail Sport readers have voted over the summer to choose the greatest-ever player at every current Premier League club. Thank you to everyone who participated either through our online poll or by email. With the 2024-25 top-flight season beginning on Friday, August 16, we are revealing all the winners this week.

OLIVER HOLT AT ROLAND GARROS: In the history of British sport, never did there beat a greater heart or burn a more defiant spirit than Andy Murray's. So when his tennis career came to an end on a court of red clay in a half-empty stadium at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, a light went out. Murray's last match bore the same weight as Bobby Charlton's last game, Lennox Lewis's last fight, Jackie Stewart's last race, Ian Botham's last innings and Nick Faldo's last round.

The much-loved quiz show was a staple on our TV screens for more than 50 years until it was axed by the BBC last year. The 68 year-old said presenting the programme was the 'best fun' she ever had on television and was a rare opportunity for sports stars to show off their personality. Speaking on the Monday Mile podcast, she said: 'It was just the best show.. And I'm really disappointed for this next batch of athletes that they won't have that experience.'

Amid three group-stage exits, two heart-breaking Wembley eliminations, a Dutch demolition, no shortage of fan trouble and a Parisian river cruise, Three Lions fans have seen it all at the Euros… aside from that elusive victory, that is. Here, Mail Sport's men on the ground relive the good, the bad and the ugly from each of England's Euro expeditions…

Sir Geoff Hurst (pictured left and right, centre) shared how he is filled with 'great sadness' when he looks back on memories of his early career as the last surviving member of the 1966 World Cup-winning team. The England striker famously scored three as Sir Alf Ramsey's side beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley to win the national men's team's only major trophy 58 years ago. But the death of Sir Bobby Charlton at the age of 86 last October following a battle with dementia left Hurst - who spent the bulk of his career at West Ham - as the only remaining hero from the final-winning team.

Whatever apprehensions or doubts he has, two things are cast iron cetain: he has made it, and he is capitalising on his talent off the pitch as much as on it. Foden has been crowned men's Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association for the first time, an honour steeped in the prestige of Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Bobby Charlton. He scooped up 42 per cent of the vote. Not that he needed the confirmation - he's already a five-time Premier League winner and one-time European champion. But it is a waypoint an an ever-upward trajectory, a journey from a brick terraced house to a £3million mansion and global stardom.

IAN HERBERT and SIMON JONES: There have been moments in the recent history of collisions between Manchester United and Liverpool, where grace under pressure from a promising young talent was all it took to prevail. This week, a teen Phil Thompson made his Liverpool debut for Bill Shankley's Old Trafford and almost immediately discovered George Best running toward him. Not bad for a replacement who had come on for John Toshack in an unaccustomed No 10 role. Shankham's players were imbued with such self-confidence. United's struggling under Frank O'Farrell after Sir Matt Busby stepped away, fielded Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, but the team lost 3-0. On Sunday, it is not a completely different dynamic.

Since a goalkeeper reacted angrily to an opponent's Panenka-style penalty, a Brazilian football clip has gone viral. Following Antonin Panenka's breakthrough spot kick for Czechoslovakia against West Germany in 1976, where he lifted the ball to deceive a diving shot stopper, the move has gained a lot of attention among many football fans. A goalkeeper in Brazil was less interested in the rival's behavior during a penalty shootout moment shared on Instagram earlier this month.

OLIVER HOLT: Any list - your list as well as mine - can be dominated by those who are not on it. However, it should really be about the participants who are on it. This list is meant to be a salute to them and of football's rich, rich past, as well as what the game means to all of us and what players represent and why they capture something in us. You'll disagree with some of the names on the list, and you'll be correct. Another man's garbage is another man's treasure. The depth of our passion for the game and the ferocity of our opinions about the players are only two of the factors that make football so beautiful.

Wembley, as they say. With a simple aim that could have major repercussions, a boy from Brazil with music in his soul took over this grand old stage by storm. Endrick has been promising to burst out of world football for months, preparing for Real Madrid in the summer, dubbed the country's next outstanding talent out of a region with the most impressive track record. He pounced to score the first international goal at the iconic stadium in the 80th minute of Saturday's friendly against England.

IAN HERBERT: Pele, the 25-year-old boy who stepped out from a wooden cabin on Scotland's west coast in 1966, was immaculately dressed as the Brazilian football team was back then, boots polished to a shine, and white towel in hand. He was already a superstar on his own when he competed for the Jules Rimet trophy on English soil in July, but the Brazilian team had to prepare for Troon's improvable surrounds. The climate was supposed to suit them, but the Marine, a fine hotel, was still standing two miles up the road today, although it was not made clear that it would. They were unemployed, according to the news. It was the talk of a hosiery factory near Kilmarnock, where Elsie Cook, a knitter, became aware of the alert when one of the company's mechanics noticed it while trying to repair one of the machines.

Franz Beckenbauer died at the age of 78. The German legend spoke to Mail Sport's Jeff Powell ahead of the 2016 World Cup final in Wembley, Germany.

Antoine Mille, a French footballer, scored a penalty in his team's shootout victory over Les Herbiers, making him a contender for the worst Panenka of all time. Following a 2-2 draw between the two teams, who both play in the French third tier, the French Cup game came to spot-kicks. In the shootout, Chateauroux were victorious, winning 4-3, but not without Mille's disastrous attempt at a Penenka penalty. The striker, who had already started scoring for his team during the 90 minutes, stepped up to take the kick but it went horribly wrong from there. As the ball just trickled off the forward's feet and rolled into goalkeeper Teo Hamelin's arms, his cheeky Panenka failed miserably.

Andrew Knott, 65, was given the Mexico 70 world cup's almost complete sticker book as a 12th birthday gift from his auntie, 53 years ago. It features some of football's most popular figures, including England's Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer of Germany, Portugal's Eusébio, and Brazil's Pelé. When the album commemorating the tournament from over a half-century ago goes under the hammer on December 5, it could sell for £11,800 to £11,800. If it sells for the higher estimate, it would go beyond the record-breaking £1,550 earned for another 1970 Panini album back in 2018.

The late Sir Bobby Charlton, who died on Friday night, was paid a personal respect by Wembley in honor of England's Euro 2024 qualifying match against Malta. Sir Bobby, who is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever grace the game, died in April at the age of 86 following a battle with dementia. The gifted footballer was born in Ashington, Northumberland, on October 11 1937 and was instrumental in England's 1966 World Cup triumphs. He made 758 appearances for Man United while still earning 106 caps for his adopted country and has a stand at Old Trafford named after him.

On the same day as the Manchester United and England icon's funeral was held in Ghana, Sir Bobby Charlton's funeral took place in Ghana. Fans descended on Tesano, a suburb of Argentina's capital Accra, on Monday, witnessing supporters marching out to perform the funeral rites for Charlton at an outdoor venue festooned with photos of the 1966 World Cup champion. Supporters at the festival were dressed in funereal garb with hints of United red, and there were songs sung, musical performances, and addresses given by the event's promoters.

On an emotional day, Charlton's family and United supporters and players, both past and present, bid their final farewell to the all-time great. Hundreds of people gathered on the streets to watch Charlton's funeral cortege arrive at Old Trafford, where it was welcomed with applause before heading to Manchester Cathedral. Charlton, a United Kingdom tribute who made 758 appearances for United, has died at the age of 86. A number of well-known figures from the game, including Ferguson, a close friend of Charlton, were on hand for the service and expressed their gratitude. Canon Nigel Ashworth led the service, although family members and club representatives provided eulogies. It will be kept private and not filmed.