Название: Jack and Bobby: A story of brothers in conflict
Автор: Leo McKinstry
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Биографии и Мемуары
isbn: 9780007440207
isbn:
JACK&BOBBY
Leo McKinstry
To James Perry,
whose devotion to Torquay United should have
resulted in a long spell in Broadmoor
Contents
CHAPTER TEN: The Internationals
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Managers
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: The Eccentric
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The Irishman
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Sons
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: The Millionaires
The images of that Saturday afternoon in July 1966 have become forever ingrained on our national consciousness: Jack Charlton falling to his knees at the final whistle, his face buried in his hands as if in grateful, exhausted prayer; his brother Bobby crying freely as he climbs up to the Royal Box to collect his World Cup winner’s medal. It was a display of emotion that perfectly captured the mood of triumph and relief that swept across the country.
‘Nobody can ever take this moment away from us,’ said Bobby to his brother as they hugged each other at the end of the match. He was absolutely correct. Whatever else they have achieved in life, the two Charlton brothers will always be best remembered for their part in England’s glory of 1966. Indeed, their contrasting roles on the field symbolized the virtues of England’s performance during that unique campaign: Jack, the rock of the defence, ungainly but uncompromising, lacking sophistication but never valour, as tough and honest as the mining stock into which he was born; Bobby, the fulcrum of the attack, gliding across the turf like a thoroughbred, destroying opponents with his explosive goals, long-range passes and incisive runs. Never, it seemed, were there two more patriotic footballers, willing, in Churchill’s phrase, to give ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’ in the national cause.
The bond between the brothers, forged at birth and reinforced by their mutual choice of a career in football, must have seemed unbreakable that day at Wembley. Any belief that they were close to each other can only have been strengthened by a host of other striking parallels about their lives. Both played the game obsessively in their youth and turned out for the same local YMCA side. Both joined major city СКАЧАТЬ