Sir Bobby Charlton - interviewed by James Davies

It's not often you get to meet a living legend. Sir Bobby Charlton, a member of the England World Cup winning team of 1966 is someone who has done it all. He is still the highest international scorer the three lions have ever produced, a former European player of the year and winner of the European Cup with Manchester United, the team that made him a star.


Q: The 1966 World Cup was over 40 years ago now. Sir Bobby, you were 29 years old, England beat Germany 4-2 in extra time. How much of that game do you remember?


A: I remember almost all of it. My mind was totally focused on the game. We'd beaten Portugal in the semi-final and reached the World Cup final. For every player that dreamed of being a footballer, this was the ultimate. You were actually getting a chance to win the World Cup.


Q: When did the team think to themselves we can really do this?


A: I think the 2-0 win over Mexico, and my goal was a turning point because it actually made people say, oh yeah ok we're going to win it. But the players felt we were going to win it confidently about two years before. Alf Ramsey was the manager and he suddenly decided the system was going to be 4-3-3, where you didn't play with wing players, which was unheard of. But once we got into the system, we beat everyone. And we knew that we were the favorites for the World Cup and we expected to win it.


Q: Why do you think England haven’t won, or really come close to winning a major tournament since the World Cup in 1966? What’s gone wrong?


A: I really thought we had a good chance, a realistic chance, of winning the last World Cup. We had strength in every position, and were going to a country where the climate wasn’t that different to our own. But from England's point of view I think we've always had this philosophy of going forward and being adventurous, which has sometimes been to our cost.


Q: As a player, is there something that you didn't achieve that you wish you had?


A: No. I couldn't have been so lucky again. I was really lucky. I played with good players, every competition that I went into, you know we succeeded. I won the FA Cup, the European Cup, and the World Cup. I'm not greedy.


Q: You survived a near death experience in Munich. The air crash tragically killed seven of your teammates in 1958. What impact did that have on you? How did that change your sporting outlook?


A: Suddenly at that particular time when it happened I'd just got into the first team and I didn't expect I'd be in the first team forever. And I was one of the young players. But afterwards I suddenly was one of the older ones and there was a responsibility in that.


Q: You played alongside George Best, in my opinion, one of the greatest players the world has ever seen. He very famously went off the rails, but you never did. What was the difference between the two of you? You were at the same level; you were equally as talented…


A: Well I think it was the timing you know. George was like the swinging 60s that came in and this sort of culture of building up someone to star status was never known in the football world - but suddenly it was. Suddenly if you were a footballer like George Best, who was unbelievably gifted and was everything that anybody ever wanted. He was exciting, he was good looking, and all the girls went crazy over him. The papers couldn't get enough of him. And I think that since that time that's what's created what we have now. Footballers are famous for late nights, girls and heavy drinking.


Q: What is your ideal night out?


A: Somewhere with really good food and a nice glass of wine.


Q: What would you have been had you not been a footballer and why?


A: I probably would have been in the Merchant Navy because I like to travel.


Q: What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become, if possible, the next Bobby Charlton?


A: Work hard. You don't get anything unless you work hard.