My England Years: The Autobiography

by Bobby Charlton

Sir Bobby Charlton is widely acknowledged as the greatest player ever to wear an England shirt. He won a record number of caps and scored a record number of goals. Here, in the second volume of his bestselling autobiography, Sir Bobby talks in detail about his phenomenal career with England. During the 12 years he played for his country, he was involved in some of the greatest England games of all time: the 9-3 thrashing of Scotland, the 1962 and 1970 World Cup games against the Brazilians, the classic 1970 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany and, of course, the triumph of the 1966 World Cup. His story encompasses drama, passion, goals, controversies, classic matches, world-class players, and moments of footballing genius. A truly inspirational story from a true football legend.

Genres: Football, Biography, Sports

434 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE (born 11 October 1937 in Ashington, Northumberland) is a former English professional football player who won the World Cup and was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1966. He played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts from midfield and his ferocious long-range shot.

He began to play for United's first team in 1956, and over the next two seasons gained a regular place in the team, during which time he survived the Munich air disaster of 1958. After helping United to win the Football League in 1965, he won a World Cup medal with England in 1966 and another Football League title with United the following year. In 1968, he captained the Manchester United team that won the European Cup, scoring two goals in the final to help his team be the first English side to win the competition. He has scored more goals for England and United than any other player. He had made more appearances for Manchester United than any other player (758), a record superseded by Ryan Giggs at the Champions League Final in Moscow on 21 May 2008. Charlton is considered by many to be one of the greatest English players of all time.

At the time of his retirement from the England team in 1970, he was the nation's most capped player, having turned out 106 times at the highest level. This record has since been eclipsed by Bobby Moore, Peter Shilton and then David Beckham.

He left Manchester United in 1973, becoming player-manager of Preston North End, but decided management was not for him and left after one season. After assuming the post of the director at Wigan Athletic F.C. for some time, he became a member of Manchester United's board of directors in 1984 and remains one as of May 2009. He set goalscoring records for both the England team and Manchester United, with both records remaining intact some 35 years after the end of his playing career. He was knighted in 1994.

Reviews

[Jack Barraclough]

This book was not as good as the first part of his autobiography - The Manchester United Years. I was sceptical of the need for two seperate books and I definitely feel that it would have been better to combine the two having read them both. The first 200 pages were fairly slow moving and a little disjointed. I have never been conviced about James Lawton as a writer - he often uses 10 words when one would suffice - and this was the case here too. The book was worth reading for Charlton's incites into the 1966 triumph though.

[Pete daPixie]

Having read Sir Robert's 'My Manchester United Years', autobiography Part One, it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on Part Two 'My England Years'. I've given four stars to both books. It has to be said that for a football autobiography both books contain more rich memoir than can be found in contemporary or modern publications.
Charlton's International career spanned an incredible 22 years, beginning at schoolboy level all the way to full internationals that began just weeks after the Munich air disaster in '58 and ended in a World Cup Quarter Final in 1970, 106 caps and 49 goals in all.
It must be very hard to select a player, of any nationality or era, who made such a journey and played the beautiful game with the style and integrity of this man. It was fascinating to re-visit memories of World Cup '66 through his eyes. I accept the narrative may meander slightly and this autobiography has been put together with James Lawton, but this is pure football gold. Yes, some people were on the pitch, they thought it was all over...and they were right! I'll never see his like again.

[Ben Skyrme]

The writing style felt clunky in parts, but worth persevering to read about the 1966 and 1970 World Cups...

[Andrew Ives]

I started reading this during the summer of 2018 while I was in a 'World Cup mood', having already enjoyed the autobiographies of Geoff Hurst, Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane and Brian Clough some time ago. As one might expect, Bobby writes in a classy, reserved kind of way, which borders on indirect and stodgy at times. He often flits back and forth to matches, players and events, which slightly confuses anyone who doesn't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of 1950s-60s England games - myself included - using sentences with a dozen commas and clauses. I suspect this is due more to the Independent writer who helped him with this book. Whilst the meat of this book is, of course, the 1966 World Cup, it also contains a fair amount leading up to the Ramsey years, and a little about 1970 too. I read the first quarter quickly, but our views of the 'honour, glory and spectacle' involved with bullfighting differ greatly, so my enthusiasm for the book rather wilted around the middle. Fortunately, it picks up after that, although news and insider stories are still fairly few and far between. I always thought Bobby was a brilliant player and ambassador for football, and I still do, but at times I don't think this overlong book did him any great favours. 3.75/5

[Ben]

In my opinion this book should have been merged with 'my Manchester United years' as I feel he drags things on a bit and goes into a bit too much detail but it is still a very good book

[Ian Jickells]

Whilst reasonably enjoyable and informative, it was hard going at times

[Ash Harris]

A must read for any football fan interested in the man and the legend.

[Malcolm Triggs]

Some good insights into the life of one of the greatest players ever to wear an England shirt and talking as straight as many of his goalbound strikes. The only problem is that the two volumes - his Man Utd years and his England years - could easily have been subbed into one book. There are only so many times you can say the same thing, Bobby. Georgie Best may have enjoyed beating his man three times for the fun of it, but you really didn't need to tell us the same thing so many times. But a good read, nonetheless.

[Bpwillis]

This book was not that great at all. He provides a lacluster account of his playing days. The only parts I really liked was when he talked about playing with George Best and what a genius he was on the field despite his personal issues. I also like the comparison between the Busby and Ferguson eras and how United suffered a huge drought inbetween.

[Sebbastian Dangerfield]

That sir Bobby is as i imagined a great man.

[Ipswichblade]

Good biography of one of England's greatest players

[Madhur Katyal]

The journey,the man,the legend!