John Charles Welsh Greats

John Charles was perhaps the finest footballer Wales has ever produced.

He was indisputably the greatest player in two positions I ever saw, centre-forward and centre-half.

Born in Swansea, he became a hero in Leeds.

His greatness came through word-of-mouth.

"You must go and watch this man John Charles." People came to see him

in person.

His time at Juventus made him an international legend.

I don't think we realised in Wales how good of a player and how much of a god he really was in Italy.

But it was John's qualities as a man that earned him the title, the gentle giant.

John Charles was born in 1931 in Cwmdu,

a solidly working-class area of Swansea.

The Charles's lived in a small terraced house they shared with another family.

John's father, Ned, was a steelworker

whose own promising football career for Swansea Town reserves was ended when he broke his leg.

Both John and his brother, Mel, would grow up to play football for Wales.

On me head, boys.

John was sports-mad from the start.

As boys, he and Mel spent every spare minute in nearby Cwmbwrla Park.

We were just saying about this park, it used to be full all day.

-Jesus, yes.

-At 4pm when you finished, if it was school time,

you finished school, came straight up here,

it would be two against two and it ended up 22 against 22.

First game I remember you playing for Gendros.

I was going down to see the Swans.

I will always remember it, you said, "Do you fancy a game today?" I said, "I'm going down to see the Swans."

You said, "I'll even play out." And I scored seven goals.

-I believe that!

-I can't remember that.

-I'll see you, boys.

-Yeah, take care.

I can't remember him scoring seven goals!

No, no.

At the age of 12, John played for Swansea schoolboys,

who in those days could attract a crowd of 20,000.

The one thing I remember particularly was an occasion when John Charles

hadn't done what he was supposed to do in class.

Charles was called out for the cane.

I could see the schoolmaster...

Wake up, Charles, wake up.

You'll never make a living playing football.

At the age of 14, John caught the eye of a scout for Swansea Town.

After a trial at the Vetch Field, he left school to take up a job as one of the ground staff there.

Cleaning boots and weeding the pitch was all part of a young footballers apprenticeship in those days.

But after two years of the Vetch, John was frustrated by the fact he was rarely given a chance to play.

Though Swansea Town failed to see his potential, it wasn't lost on one local man.

A fellow by the name of Jack Pickard.

Jack was a grass, what you'd call him now.

He used to sneak around and get players and sent them off to Leeds.

Jack Pickard was a scout who worked for Major Frank Buckley, manager of Leeds United.

Jack was in Cwmbwrla Park one day to watch a local Swansea league fixture

when he happened to catch sight of John having a kickabout.

I don't know what he saw in me because I didn't think I could

play at that time, I didn't think I could play at all.

But Jack Pickard's notebooks tell another story.

I noted a group of youngsters having a happy-go-lucky kickabout

with a soccer ball, behind the goal posts.

I was so enthralled by the potential of the biggest of the boys

that I was loathe to leave the spot when my wife gently turned my arm

and informed me that the match

I had really come to watch was already in progress.

So I mentioned that in my opinion he could be coached and trained into a top grade soccer player.

I'd like to know more about him.

Jack Pickard later said he felt as excited as a fight manager

who knows he's found a World Heavyweight Champion.

So I said, "I will see about sending him to Leeds."

My mother at the time said,

"He can't go, I'm very sorry, Mr Pickard."

He said, "Why?" She said, "He hasn't got his passport yet."

You've got to remember, she'd never been out of Wales...

She'd never been out of Swansea, really.

At the age of 16, John made his first ever trip outside Wales on the seven hour train journey to Leeds.

After two weeks of trials, Leeds signed him.

This caused uproar back home when Swansea Town realised what they'd lost.

At Leeds, John was on £3.10 shillings a week.

In his modest digs, he and the other apprentices slept three to a bed.

I made my debut against Queen Of The South.

Did your family come up and see you for your debut?

No, they didn't come up, they couldn't afford it,

and I couldn't afford to bring them out so they didn't come up.

John was put in at centre half, replacing Tom Holley who was injured and watching from the stands.

Holley later said, "Within 20 minutes I knew that

"my football days weren't simply numbered, they were finished."

John would remain in the Leeds first team for the next eight years.

Leeds was run like a military unit by the eccentric Boer War veteran, Frank Buckley, who wore plus-fours

and insisted that even his family address him as Major.

Major Buckley said, "You are playing centre-half today."

He was sitting on the line and he said, "Go up for the corner, John."

A fellow by the name of Chick Farr was in goal.

I went up for the ball and I heard a bang,

I got a smack right in the jaw and went down on the floor and Mr Farr,

which I called him then.

He said, "Don't come in the penalty area any more, will you, John?"

I said, "No, Mr Farr, I won't come in any more."

John was not an aggressive man but he was a formidable footballer.

Major Buckley said of him, "John Charles is the greatest I've ever had.

"I've never seen anyone like him in 50 years in the game."

What made John special was his versatility.

In 1952, Buckley moved him from defence to the attacking position of centre forward.

That season, John scored 26 goals in 28 League games.

There's only one thing to do in football, score goals.

When I was playing centre forward and I scored goals, that was the best position.

No matter what anybody else says.

When you didn't score goals it was better to play centre half.

For the final game of the season, Buckley paired John with a promising new 17-year-old at centre-half.

When they saw the first team for the game at Doncaster,

I remember John looking at it and going, "Who's that?"

Pointing to me. I didn't even know I was playing, nobody had told me.

Jack was just coming through then at the beginning.

As a matter of fact,

I went to centre forward and he came into centre half.

I remember at Elland Road once, I'd got settled into the team a bit then.

We had a corner against us.

John came back

and I said to him, "We don't need you back here, you are better up front.

"We've handled everything up to now, we are OK."

He went, "Don't you talk to me like that. I'll go where I want to go."

Then after the match he came and got me against the wall in the dressing room and had a right go at me.

"You don't ever tell me what I'm supposed to be doing on the pitch!"

Jack and John were soon working smoothly together as a team.

During the 1953-54 season, John set a new club record scoring 42 League goals.

A record that remains unbeaten to this day.

He was now Leeds' star player.

His physique and fitness, his ball control and heading power...

With the old fashioned football we used to play

in then days, it was tremendous. I think everybody admired him.

So when they played away from home

I think he was one of these players

who put 3,000 to 4,000

extra spectators on the gate, just to come and watch one man play football.

Tremendous player.

If we'd had television, the great, exposure of television in those days,

John would have been a much more famous character.

Everybody has seen Shearer, everybody has seen Zola,

everyone has seen Ruud Gullit on television.

But they didn't see John Charles on television.

But his reputation, his greatness, came through word of mouth.

"You must go and watch this man John Charles." People came to see him in person.

He was that much important to Leeds United

that the club used to unfairly

get called Charles United because he scored so many of the goals and did so much of the defending...

There were some good players in the side but I think any side would have paled in comparison to John.

John didn't let this adulation go to his head.

I remember being in a club in Stoke many years ago, a nightclub.

I was there to judge a beauty contest,

Miss Potteries or something like that.

I was standing at the bar thinking, what am I doing here?

I was tapped on my shoulder and I turned around and looked up, there was this big man.

WELSH ACCENT: He said, "You don't know me, my name is John Charles."

I said, "I don't know you?

"You are my hero! Come and sit down."

But it seemed to me he wasn't being affective.

He thought I genuinely didn't know him, that he would have to introduce himself.

I think that is an indication of the genuine modesty of the man.

Even as Leeds' top goalscorer,

John was on the standard wage of only £15 a week... With the odd bonus.

I remember when I scored a hat-trick,

I think it was against Doncaster.

I go around the ground on the Tuesday,

I'm walking into the ground and the chairman is coming round and he said, "Well done, Jack." He called me Jack.

"Well done, Jack.

"You go to my garage and get three gallons of petrol."

I looked at him and I said, "Mr Bolton, I haven't got a car."

In parallel with his success at Leeds, John was enjoying a career

as an international player alongside his brother, Mel.

However, John's Welsh debut, against Northern Ireland in 1950, didn't go well.

I had some shocking write-ups that I could repeat after that match.

And the worst one, I think, was a gentleman called Desmond Hackett, who didn't like me anyway, I don't think.

And he gave me some stick in the paper.

And I wasn't picked for two years after.

And I was only picked because Ray Daniels had gone with Arsenal to

Brazil on a tour and they were short of a centre half, so they picked me.

And from then on I didn't come out of the team.

COMMENTATOR: Judged from the size of the crowd, it seems as if all Welsh Wales has come to Wembley.

The 65th battle against of white shirts of England.

In those days, fixtures between the British home nations

were a highlight of the footballing calendar.

The atmosphere used to be terrific.

You know, you'd go to Hampden Park and there would be 100,000 there.

Or you'd go to Ninian Park and there'd be 50 or 60,000 at Ninian Park.

It was terrific, terrific.

It used to build you up.

When they used to play the national anthem, you used to get emotional and what have you.

It was absolutely terrific.

Wales had John Charles in their half-back line with his brother, Mel. Also a very alert mascot.

Top spectators were soon watching Welsh right winger, Cliff Jones, racing away.

Wales, in fact, made a pretty good start in this international at Ninian Park.

Half an hour had barely passed when Graham Williams beat Springett.

In spite of this opener, England looked the better side.

But they had those two Charleses to contend with that and Kelsey in goal.

Now John Charles cleared a certainty.

The match petered out as a draw but spectators had their heroes to

acclaim, notably of course, John Charles, who was mobbed.

Now enjoying a successful international career,

John was becoming frustrated with life in the Second Division at Leeds.

He now had a family to provide for.

At the age of 21, he had married Peggy White, whom he'd met at the Astoria Dance Hall.

With his wife, Peggy, and his six-week-old baby, Terrence,

John Charles, the Welsh international,

relaxes for a few moments

before he and the rest of the Leeds United team meet Hibernian.

Charles has been seeking a transfer from Leeds,

preferably to Arsenal or Cardiff.

But Charles, number five, learns his request has been turned down.

Equally at home as centre-half or centre-forward,

he shows the style that has brought Leeds offers of around the £50,000 mark for his transfer.

Despite Charles' magnificent efforts,

Leeds United go down to Hibernian.

Charles, the leading goalscorer last season, hears from manager

Raich Carter that the directors are unanimous in their decision.

John Charles, who is just 22 years old and has been hailed as the outstanding player of his age,

is keeping his name on the transfer list just in case.

Leeds resisted all advances from other clubs.

However, in 1957, after John had helped the club

win promotion to the First Division by scoring 29 goals,

Leeds were made an offer they couldn't refuse.

John was approached by an Italian scout representing Juventus.

Juventus had the backing of the wealthy Agnelli family, who owned the Fiat car empire.

They offered Leeds the highest transfer fee in British football history.

Tears mingle with cheers as John Charles scores his last goal for Leeds.

The feeling was of dejection and sadness.

Myself included, grown men had tears in their eyes that day.

The joke of the day was that when he was transferred to Juventus,

they said, "They've transferred John Charles to Juventus and the rest of the team to Fray Bentos."

I was going to Italy for two years.

I didn't know what I was going into. And I thought,

"Well, I've got a two-year contract with the Juventus club and I'm going to stick the two years out.

If I don't like it, I'm still young enough to come back and play in this country."

The man whom everyone acclaims as the greatest and gentlest footballer of our time

goes off to Italy in the most sensational transfer of the year.

£65,000 - that's the price Italy pays for the footballer of the year John Charles.

When he landed in Turin,

John was greeted by 2,000 Juventus fans shouting, "Equo il nostro salvatore".

"Here comes our saviour."

He earned a signing-on fee of £10,000, as opposed to the £10 he would have got in Britain.

He was also given an apartment and a car - a Fiat, naturally.

But despite these fringe benefits, the basic wages for a player in Italy were modest.

I was on £16 a week in Italy.

The way you make money in Italy is that you've got to win.

And anything from £100 to £200 bonus, that was what they used to pay you.

During John's first season at Juventus, the bonuses rolled in.

Having finished ninth in the league the previous season, Juventus now won it.

John was named the league's capo cannoniere, or top scorer,

a title no other Briton has ever won.

And memorable moments like this won him the title King Charles of the Soccer World.

Unlike many foreign players, John make the effort to fit into Italian society.

He learnt the language and the people of Turin loved him for it.

They also appreciated his sportsmanship and sense of fair play.

In a career that spanned four decades, John was never once booked by a referee.

The Juventus fans called him Il Gigante Buono, the gentle giant.

John revealed a hidden talent in Italy.

He loved to sing, and after an impromptu performance with other

Juventus players in a nightclub, he was signed up to cut a record.

As a matter of fact, I topped Nat King Cole in Rome on television.

They said to me, "You've got to sing after Nat King Cole."

I said, "Well, you know, Nat King Cole's a singer, he's top of the bill, isn't he?"

And they said, "No, but you're going to sing after him."

You know, it was unbelievable, really.

Unbelievable.

Having paid a record fee for their new star, Juventus were reluctant to release him for international games.

During his five years in Turin, John played for Wales only 14 times.

When Wales qualified for the 1958 World Cup,

there was doubt as to whether John would make it.

I missed a lot of matches.

In 1958 I had to beg to go to Sweden.

But I went in the end. They let me go in the end.

In Stockholm, having drawn 1-1 against Hungary

Wales faced them again in the group stages.

The Hungarians were a tough team and John was a marked man.

A series of shocking fouls on him went unpunished by the Russian referee.

They kicked hell out of me that day, and I was injured.

I think they kicked me in the back, I think I had back trouble.

The back of my legs were all black and blue.

And that was it, I couldn't play.

Without their star player, Wales lost the semi-final, beaten

by a Brazilian team that featured a 17 year-old newcomer called Pele.

In 1962, after five years at Juventus, John decided to return

to Britain so that his children could attend school in England.

Leeds United welcomed him back with open arms,

paying a transfer fee of £53,000.

The bill was passed on to fans with ticket prices rising by 150%.

John had great expectations to fulfil.

It's nice to come back but it's not right to come back to a place that you already been to.

You know, they expect, when you left, sort of thing, that you'd be the same when you came back.

And it didn't work out, really.

Under new manager Don Revie, Leeds was now a very different club.

Only two of John's old team-mates were still in the squad,

and John was no longer the player he had once been.

He never regained his old form.

Don Revie wanted to keep me, but I said, "No, I'll have to go because,

"you know, I'm not doing you justice either."

So I went back to Rome to see if I could handle it.

Rome was worse, actually.

John returned to Italy after only three months and 11 games at Leeds.

But his season at Roma was a washout and he was soon back in Britain.

For the first time in his career, John signed to a Welsh club.

For a fee of £22,500, he was bought by Cardiff City.

ARCHIVE: Then there's that well-known traveller, John Charles, exported

and re-imported until everyone was dizzy, including Charles,

and when he thought he'd finally settle down

with Cardiff, he's almost banned from playing because Leeds say Italy still owe them money for the last sale.

Gentlemen, please! Let's settle the horse-trading and get on with the football.

At Ninian Park, John passed on his experience to younger players such as John Toshack,

who later said, "I learnt as much from John as I did from years playing the game."

His presence on the pitch, you thought, well, if you got beat

there was always big John at the back to save you,

or if you were a goal down,

the big fella would go up and get a header in and score for you.

So you were always in with a chance.

But after three years with the Bluebirds, John, now aged 34, was suffering serious injury problems.

The end of his Football League career was in sight.

What was the deciding day, or the point that made you decide that

you could no longer continue to the standards that you'd set yourself?

Peter, when I got my letter from Cardiff that said,

"We will not be employing you next year. Please will you find another club?"

So I said, I'm finished.

For a player who'd been adored by millions in Italy and in Britain, this was a bitter pill to swallow.

You know, when you think it's going to go on and on and on and on, you know,

and you're not going to finish...

And all of a sudden, the day comes when they say, right, we don't need you any more,

and you've got a free transfer to go where you want to.

And you're shocked, I can assure you, shocked for about two months after that.

Why have they let me go, you know?

And then you realise that you're getting older anyway and you're not good enough to play in the division.

So began the slow, inevitable slide down the minor leagues.

John left Ninian Park to spend six years with Hereford,

where he became player-manager.

But in 1972, at the end of 40, his time there was up, too.

His last job as a player was at Merthyr Town, where he briefly introduced a lilac and yellow strip

in imitation of the colourful style of the Italian clubs.

In 1974, John's story came full circle.

He returned to Swansea to help develop the club's youth programme.

Yes, I enjoyed coaching youngsters.

Not the older players - the youngsters, because I think that

you see something when it comes out in the end, the end product.

When you see someone coming through, which I, at the time I was lucky -

I had a lot of good little players, actually. I had about seven of them.

I took them from the Fourth up to the First Division.

When he wasn't coaching, John helped the groundsman,

doing the same kind of jobs he had once done as an apprentice.

His love of the game was such he was just happy to be there.

After two years, John decided to return to Leeds, to run a pub.

The New Inn wasn't John's first businesses.

In Italy, he'd owned a share in a restaurant which had ended up costing him £35,000.

In Cardiff, a failed sports shop had cost him another £9,000.

This new venture fared no better.

The strain of running a pub together ended John and Peggy's marriage.

In 1984, John left the New Inn and took over a second pub, with his new wife, Glenda.

But this turned out even worse.

John ended up in court for non-payment of rates.

He was sentenced to two months in jail.

He was waiting for the prison bus to turn up

when Glenda arrived in a taxi with £943 in cash to pay the arrears.

It later turned out that the money had come from Leslie Silver, chairman of Leeds United.

A testimonial match at Leeds helped John get back on his feet.

He spent his retirement living in a modest house on the outskirts of Leeds.

On Saturdays, he could be found at Elland Road, where he remained a folk hero.

And whenever he returned to Italy, he was treated like a star.

MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN

-You are the best one.

-Thank you.

The best one.

In 1997, the Italian public paid John the greatest compliment possible.

There was a poll on the best foreign player to play in Italy,

and John Charles came out on top,

and for him to come out on top when the likes of Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, you know...

It's an incredible achievement.

When the Italian team played Wales at the Millennium Stadium in 2002, John was there.

BBC Radio News with David Woodward.

The Welsh footballing legend John Charles has died at the age of 72 after a short illness.

He was known as the Gentle Giant to a generation of Welsh, English and Italian fans.

Good morning, BBC Radio Leeds News at nine o'clock.

Football legend John Charles has died at the age of 72.

The former Leeds, Juventus and Wales player passed away

in the early hours of this morning.

NEWSREADER SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

NEWSREADER SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

After a lifetime of travelling,

John's ashes were laid to rest in his hometown of Swansea.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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