William John Charles was born in Swansea in South -Wales on December 27 1931.
While still at school he joined the boys section of Swansea Town who later became Swansea City. He left school at 14 but due to his young age never got a first -team call up with Swansea who were in the Third Division.
In 1949 he moved to Leeds in Yorkshire, England. Leeds United were in the Second Division. He made 3 league appearances in the 1948-49 season. The following season he became a regular and played 42 league games with 1 goal and 5 games in the FA Cup. In 1950-51 he played 34 games with 3 goals and 2 games in the FA Cup. In these early years he was used more as a defender than a forward.
In 1951-52 he played less, 18 league games and 5 in the FA Cup, as he was doing his National Service and played for the Army team but also had operations to repair cartilages on both knees. When he returned, he started being used more as a forward and in the 1952-53 season scored 26 league goals in 40 games and 1 in the FA Cup. In 1953-54 he was the Second Division's top scorer with 42 goals in 39 games. The following season he scored 11 goals in 40 league games and 1 FA Cup goal. In 1955-56 he was made Leeds United captain and the Whites finally won promotion to Division One, under manager Raich Carter and helped by Charles' 29 goals in 42 games.
Back in the top flight in 1956-57 Leeds finished 8th and Charles was top scorer with 38 goals in 40 games plus a goal in the FA Cup. His influence on Leeds' success was so strong that reporters nicknamed the team "John Charles United".
In August 1957 he joined Juventus for the then record 65,000£ transfer fee. Lazio (through English manager Jesse Carver), Inter and Real Madrid also made offers but the Turin club had moved sooner. He was one of the first British professional players to go abroad after John Fox Watson had led the way by joining Real Madrid from Fulham in 1948.
At Juventus Charles was an immediate success scoring winners in his first three games. In his first season he was top Serie A scorer with28 goals, was voted player of the season and the Bianconeri won the Scudetto under manager Ljubiša Broćić.
He stayed in Turin for five years, scoring 108 goals in 179 matches, winning the Scudetto three times and the Coppa Italia twice. In 1959 he was third in the prestigious "Ballon D'Or". His prolific partnership with Omar Sivori and Giampiero Boniperti earned the trio the nicknames "The Holy Trident" and "The Magical Trio". His style of play combined with Sivori's in particular almost to perfection. In his Italian period Charles was also called the "Il Gigante Buono" (The Gentle Giant) due to his physical size and strength and also due to his fair play as he was never booked let alone sent off in his career. A famous episode was when he slapped teammate Sivori to calm him down while the Argentine was having a petulant outburst against the referee.
In the summer of 1962 Charles returned to Leeds who were now in the Second Division again. He only stayed until November playing 11 league games with 3 goals. In the autumn he returned to Italy.
He joined Roma but it was not a great success. Charles only played 10 league games with 4 goals (Bologna, Fiorentina, Genoa, Sampdoria), 2 games in the Fairs Cup with 1 goal (Real Zaragoza) and 2 games in the Alps Cup with 1 goal (Grasshoppers). Roma finished 5th but the main forwards were Pedro Manfredini, Antonio Angelillo and Alberto Orlando.
In 1963 Charles returned to his homeland and joined Cardiff City. The Bluebirds were in the Second Division and Charles stayed three seasons. He played 68 league games with 18 goals. Cardiff City finished 15th, 13th and 20th. In 1964 and 1965 they won the Welsh Cup and in 1965 reached the semi-final of the League Cup and the quarter finals of the Cup Winners Cup (Real Zaragoza 2-3 on aggregate).
In 1966 at 34 he joined Hereford United near the Welsh border. The Bulls were in the Southern Football League (7th tier). He stayed five seasons playing 173 league games with 80 goals and acting as player-manager.
His last club was back in South-Wales. He played one last season for Merthyr Tydfil in the Southern Football league before retiring at 41.
He stayed on at Merthyr as manager until 1974 and then had a brief spell with the Hamilton Steelers in Canada.
He then returned to Leeds and opened a pub on Elland Road, the New Inn.
John Charles is considered one of the greatest British players of all time. He was a versatile player who was used both as a centre-back and then as a centre-forward. He was a prolific goal scorer, netting with both feet and with his excellent aerial skills. Despite his size, 1.88, he was fast and possessed good technical skills and passing ability.
He is not only regarded as one of the best football players ever but also one of the greatest men to ever play the game. His human qualities included loyalty and honesty. His sporting behaviour led international referee Clive Thomas to say, "If you had 22 players of John's calibre, there would be no need for referees - only time keepers". This was confirmed by the fact that he never received one single yellow card in his whole career.
At international level played 38 times for Wales over fifteen years and scored 15 goals. He took part in the 1958 World Cup but missed the quarter final game against Brazil which Wales lost 0-1 to the eventual winners but manager Jimmy Murphy said that "with John Charles in the team we might have won". Along with Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale he is regarded as Wales' best ever player.
In Wales and at Juventus and Leeds United he is a legend. At Juventus he was voted best ever foreign player to have worn the Bianconero jersey. At Leeds he was voted second best player ever, only after the great Billy Bremner. His legacy lives on in Leeds with the West Stand named "The John Charles Stand", the John Charles Centre of Sport, a street name and a bust of Charles inside Elland Road. He continued to attend every Leeds United home game until his death.
In January 2004 he suffered a heart attack just before being interviewed for Italian television, and required the partial amputation of one foot. He then died in Wakefield, near Leeds, early on February 21, 2004. His ashes were returned to the city of Swansea.
A wonderful career and a wonderful man.
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