What Sir Bobby Charlton was like on the soccer pitch, few can judge as well as his one-time teammate Denis Law. The 83-year-old looks back wistfully
There have been some special attacking trios in the long history of world soccer. But which one can claim that each member has once won the prestigious Ballon d’Or?
Cast in bronze, Manchester United’s “Holy Trinity” now stands as a statue in front of Old Trafford: George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law. Now only one of them is still alive. “I’m very sad, like all soccer fans,” Law, now 83, was quoted as saying on the Red Devils’ club website the day after Charlton’s death.
Alongside wing dribbler Best – a Northern Irishman – and dynamic playmaker Charlton, Law, a Scotsman, was the goal-scorer who often benefited from the two-footed Englishman’s powerful long-range shots. “Bobby could shoot so hard that most goalkeepers didn’t stand a chance,” he recalled. “And if they did manage to clear a ball, it fell so comfortably at my feet that all I had to do was push it in. “
Charlton, Law and Best formed the core of the United team that returned to the national and international top in the years following the devastating Munich air crash that wiped out half the team of the promising “Busby Babes” in 1958. Twice together they became English champions, while in 1964 first Law, in the world championship year of 1966 Charlton and finally in 1968 the young Best was named the best player in Europe.
The heart of this team was Charlton, who made the lives of his teammates much easier. “He was a joy to play with,” Law enthuses. “He always knew where every player was on the pitch at any given time, which was a dream come true for me.” That sense of each other was what made the United Trinity, Law says – “if one of us was having a bad day, the other two noticed it right away. That was what made our bond so special. “
