Bobby Charlton finally ended 42-year feud with brother Jack in live TV embrace
Manchester United icon and England legend Sir Bobby Charlton has sadly passed away – three years after the death of his older brother and former international teammate Jack.
Sir Bobby formed part of Matt Busby's successful United side of the 1960s, helping the club win three first division titles as well as the European Cup in 1968. He was one of the few players to survive the horrific Munich air disaster in 1958 which claimed the lives of 23 people.
Former forward Charlton was a crucial cog in England's World Cup-winning side of 1966, playing alongside brother Jack. His efforts that year won him the Ballon d'Or award for the world's greatest player, before finishing second in the same competition in 1967 and 1968.
Charlton was one of only nine players in football history to have won the World Cup, European Cup (now Champions League ) and the Ballon d'Or, with former Three Lions boss Sir Alf Ramsay noting he was the “lynchpin of our team”.
Of course, among his England teammates was his old brother Jack. The two brothers were very different characters; Bobby was shy and reserved, particularly in public, while Jack was loud and outgoing.
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A rare photo of the brothers together - the two shared a strained relationship (Popperfoto via Getty Images)Despite playing together for many years and lifting the World Cup alongside one another in 1966, Jack and Bobby infamously enjoyed a strained relationship. There was never any definitive conclusion as to why the two drifted so far apart, but Bobby’s 2007 autobiography suggested that the rift was sparked by his wife Norma’s strained relationship with his mother Cassie.
Eleven years earlier, Jack had criticised Bobby for failing to visit Cissie in her final years and suggesting that had been influenced by Norma. Bobby responded in his book: "My wife is a very strong character and does not suffer fools gladly. I am not suggesting my mother was a fool."
The two played together in a charity match for England in 1985 - a rare coming together (Bob Thomas Sports Photography vi)He added: “There was a clash and it just never went away really. Jack came out in the newspapers saying things about my wife that were absolutely disgraceful. Nonsense.” Bobby added he and his brother had “never been further apart than we are now” before going even further to say: “I just don't want to know him.”
It was a feud that lasted over four decades and had shown no signs of abating, with neither making a public (nor seemingly, private) apology. Yet that all changed in 2008 as the nation watched on with Jack presenting his brother with that year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jack Charlton presented his brother Bobby with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 (PA)"Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I've ever seen. He's my brother," said Jack as the audience applauded and Bobby bowed his head, overcome with emotion. The two brothers then shared a warm embrace, which put an end to the long-running standoff.
With neither brother giving media interviews or being drawn into any personal matters, it appeared that was that. A decade later, the duo were pictured together for the first time in years as they both attended the funeral of Ray Wilson – who played alongside them for England in 1966.
During the documentary Finding Jack Charlton , detailing his dementia before his death in 2020, Jack said of his role as an older brother: “I had to look after him during the day and make sure he was OK. I didn't like it. I liked the sea, I liked the countryside and Bobby didn't. He liked to be around my mother, he liked to be at home. I could have done more things without him than I had to do with him.”
Another recording from that programme has Bobby saying of Jack: “My brother was an uncompromising character. I watched him in a derby match - he gave a goal away and they lost. I said to him after: ‘You were stupid giving that daft goal away’. He punched me straight off the back of the couch on to the floor.” The two shared a complicated relationship, but both will go down as legends of English football.
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