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Paddy Crerand: 'My friend Sir Bobby Charlton was a genius – and the shyest man God ever created'
(www.telegraph.co.uk)
From Paddy Crerand, writing for The Telegraph:
You know something about Bobby Charlton that people didn’t realise? He was the shyest man that God ever created. If anybody gave him praise, he blushed.
He was a lovely fella, Bobby, there’s no question about that but he was totally different from his brother, Jack. Jack was much more outgoing than Bobby. You cannot believe that, somebody who did the things that he did, when people would speak to him about it, he would go red-faced. He was so shy, it was ridiculous.
But what a player.
We always used to talk at Old Trafford: what was his natural foot? His right one or his left one? And nobody bloody had a clue what his natural foot was. That was how good he was with both feet. You never knew which one was the fricking natural one.
Of course, the Munich air disaster had a lasting impact on him. You’re a young kid at a club and you go there when you’re 14, 15, and you’re playing with players that you’ve come through the ranks with, and, all of a sudden, they’re dead. I remember that and I suppose everybody does in my age group. But, funnily enough, he never mentioned it. I played at United when Harry Gregg was playing and Harry never mentioned it either. You mentioned Munich and both of them went quiet. Never said a word.
I remember when we won the European Cup, Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy having a go at us because it was one each and we should’ve won the game. We were all at one another’s throats more or less. All that sort of stuff that you do when you’re playing. People don’t think that but you argue with each other and you have a go at each other to lift your game and that sort of thing. That’s what all the arguments and moaning are all about. And, 15 minutes later, we were bloody winning 4-1! He was great, Bobby, in actual fact.
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