On This Day In 1956: 18-Year-Old Wonderkid Bobby Charlton Scores Twice On His Manchester United Debut

Martin Cloake

6th, October 2015

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bobby-charlton-1956

Round Old Trafford way, they’ve known a thing or two about winning with kids for some time.

On 6th October, 1956, Sir Matt Busby gave prodigious youth team midfielder Robert Charlton his senior debut, just five days short of his 19th birthday.

The visitors were, coincidentally, Charlton Athletic, and 41,439 spectators turned up to see the game. United ran out 4-2 winners, with Charlton getting two goals – that’s Bobby, as well as Athletic.

The youngster went to score his first league hat-trick in the return fixture the following February as United racked up a 5-1 victory at The Valley.

Bobby Charlton would eventually make 606 appearances for the Old Trafford club, scoring 199 goals – and, of course, being the only human being ever to make a comb-over look halfway respectable.

Here’s Sir Bobby himself recounting the build-up to his United debut, from the 13:30-mark…

You can follow Martin Cloake on Twitter at @MartinCloake and find more about his books and writing at www.martincloake.com

Posted in Man Utd, Newsnow, Retro

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1 Comment

  1. Vasko says:

    Brilliant! What a legend.

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