24 October 2023 , 19:21
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A treasured family photo shows a young Bobby Charlton playing footy with his mum, long before he became a global superstar.
Cissie is seen passing the ball to Bobby, then around 13 years old, as his younger brothers Tommy and Gordon look on. The picture was taken in the backyard of their home at 114 Beatrice Street, Ashington. The line of terraced houses produced no fewer than three Footballers of the Year, all awarded in the 1960s: Bobby, his brother Jack and Burnley star Jimmy Adamson.
The Charltons lived there for 18 years until 1966 when Cissie and Bob Snr moved into a new house. World Cup winner Jack bought them a new house in the town’s College Road. Tommy, 77, now the only surviving Charlton brother, told the Mirror how much he missed his famous brothers growing up.
Jack signed for Leeds United after a spell down the mine with his dad. Bobby left home at just 15 when he signed for Manchester United. “Other families grow up together, and I would have loved that,” said Tommy, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who still enjoyed walking football at the age of 70.
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Bobby, 20, miraculously survived and went on to become a sporting icon. His mum Cissie had four brothers who played professionally. She was a big football fan who guided him through his early playing days. She told of the extraordinary tactics used by a host of top clubs to sign Bobby.
They included an £800 ‘backhander’, a huge sum of money in those days. A Sunderland scout even boarded the train that Bobby took when he went to sign for United, so desperate was he to persuade him to change his mind. In her autobiography, Cissie, ‘Football’s Most Famous Mother’ recalled: “In 1953... no less than 18 clubs wanted to sign Bobby, including Wolves and Arsenal.
“Our Beatrice Street home was besieged by football scouts. The Arsenal scout, in particular, was always on the doorstep. Charlie Ferguson from Sunderland seemed to be behind me every time I turned around in my tiny kitchen. Charlie even got onto the Manchester-bound train with us when Bobby was going down to sign formally for United.
Tributes at Old Trafford statue (AFP via Getty Images)"He hoped he might persuade us to change our minds at the last minute.” She added: “(Bobby) joined Manchester United for £10, the maximum signing fee. The biggest backhander offered was £800. That was a fantastic amount of money, especially to a family like ours. But we wouldn’t accept bribes.”
United met FC Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night, United’s first home game since Sir Bobby’s death on Saturday. The 1966 World Cup winner was on the cover of the match programme, with a wreath laid on his seat in the director’s box and players and staff wearing black armbands.
Around 1,500 people, including club greats Brian Kidd, Pat Crerand, Gary Neville and Wes Brown, visited the club’s stadium to pay their respects and share their tributes to Charlton within a book of condolence. The ‘Holy Trinity’ statue of George Best and Denis Law alongside Sir Bobby has drawn floral tributes from fans around the world.
The legendary player won three league titles and the FA Cup with the club as well as skippering the Red Devils to their first European Cup triumph in 1968, 10 years after the tragedy at Munich.