John Charles

Lore & Background

Charles began his career at Leeds United, having moved there in 1949 from his hometown club, Swansea Town. He was equally adept as a defender or a forward, due to his strength, pace, technique, vision, ability in the air and eye for goal. After returning from national service in 1952, Charles began to be used more often as a forward and was the Second Division's top scorer in 1954. The following year, he was named club captain; in his first season as captain, he led the club to second place and promotion.

Charles ended the 1956–57 season as the First Division's top scorer and an eighth-place finish for Leeds. In the summer of 1957, Charles joined Juventus, where he partnered Giampiero Boniperti and Omar Sívori, with the trio becoming known as The Holy Trident. In his five seasons with the club, he won the scudetto three times and the Coppa Italia twice; he was also the capocannoniere winner for the 1957–58 season. In 1962, Charles returned to Leeds, but his time there proved unsuccessful as he was accustomed to the style of play in Italy, and by the end of the year, he had joined Roma.

Charles moved back to his native country to play for Cardiff City and ended his career in non-league football in player-manager roles at Hereford United and Merthyr Tydfil. He was never cautioned nor sent off during his entire career, owing to his philosophy of never kicking nor intentionally hurting opposing players. This led to the nickname he acquired while playing for Juventus, Il Gigante Buono (The Gentle Giant). In 1998, Charles was included in the Football League 100 Legends and, in 2002, was one of the inaugural inductees to the Football Hall of Fame.

Charles played for the Welsh national team over fifteen years, from 1950 to 1965. Alongside his brother, Mel Charles, he was a member of the Welsh squad at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. At the tournament, he scored in a 1–1 draw with Hungary but was injured in a play-off match against the same opposition and ruled out of the quarter-final against Brazil, Wales lost the match 1–0, with Pelé scoring the winner. Wales manager Jimmy Murphy opined that had Charles been fit, Wales might have won the match.

Reader's Guide

Charles was born in the Cwmbwrla district of Swansea during late 1931. He played football as a child with younger brother Mel Charles, who also became a professional. The brothers grew up on Alice Street in Swansea, being neighbours of fellow future Welsh internationals Ernie Jones, Mel Nurse, and Jackie Roberts. While still at school, Charles joined the boys section of Swansea Town.

When he left school at age 14 he was taken onto the groundstaff at Vetch Field, but because of his young age Third Division Swansea never gave him a first-team call up. His only senior appearances came for the reserve side in the Welsh Football League. While playing for Gendros, a local youth club, he was scouted by Leeds United and given a trial in September 1948. He impressed and signed for them at age 17.

Charles made his first team debut as a centre back for Leeds in a friendly versus Queen of the South on 19 April 1949. He made his league debut against Blackburn Rovers in April 1949, playing at centre-half. From 1950 until 1952, Charles was away on National Service with the 12th Royal Lancers at Carlisle. After his return to the Leeds side in November 1951, Charles played at centre-forward and centre half.

In October 1952, he was switched to centre forward. In 1955, he was appointed club captain. In August 1957, he joined Juventus for a then British record £65,000 transfer fee. His debut came on 8 September 1957 against Hellas Verona.

In his first season in Italy, Charles was Serie A's top scorer with 28 goals, and was voted player of the season as Juventus won the scudetto. He played in Turin for five years, scoring 108 goals in 155 matches, winning the scudetto three times, and the Coppa Italia twice. He placed third in the Ballon d'Or in 1959. Following his time at Juventus, Don Revie paid a club record £53,000 to secure the return of Charles to Yorkshire in 1962.

After 11 games and three goals, Charles was sold for £70,000 to Roma. He left to join Cardiff City where he stayed until 1966. He later became manager of Hereford United, Merthyr Tydfil and the Swansea City youth team, and technical director of the Canadian team Hamilton Steelers, whom he became coach of midway through the 1987 season.