Portrait of a great man

[Lawrie Madden]

7 hours ago, Bearwood Owl1 said:

Just got a copy of his autobiography, written in the 1990s I think, well worth reading. Not only for the Owls section. He writes a thoughtful, if rather sad, epilogue about his (non) relationship with his brother Bobby.

One of my fave Footy Biogs and agree about his relationship with Bobby or Robert as he called him always writes and speaks of how great a player he was though even though their personal relationship had broken down 

[theowlsman]

I remember him doing a fishing video at Worsborough Reservoir with Dennis White.

 

Feeder fishing for skimmers.

 

I really got Jack Charlton.

[sternlad]

This kind of appointment, along with that of Big Ron, was ideal for a club like ours...right charismatic personality, with a hint of the hard edge and more than enough common sense. Big Jack’s signings were very canny, and when they arrived they would give their all every week...exactly what a Hillsborough crowd demands...you may lose occasionally, but leave everything on the pitch and let the fans know you’ve tried for 90 minutes. A bit of a contrast with some of the squad we have now!

[bigthinrob]

8 hours ago, matt68owls said:

 

we were in the north stand sat 2 rows in front of him, my dad explained who he was as I didn't have a clue, got his autograph. He turned out to be my favourite Wednesday manager of all time.

He got almost mobbed coming out of the ground.

 

Wednesday fans begging him to join us.

 

Was a mad time, Tony Toms training regimes & big Jack who could never either remember or pronounce names.

 

Top man.

 

 

 

 

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

6 hours ago, S36 OWL said:

 

My favourite ever Wednesday manager and my favourite ale. 

Agree. Great manager. Lovely drop as well. Might have to get some to break the monotony of drinking my home brew.

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

1 hour ago, theowlsman said:

I remember him doing a fishing video at Worsborough Reservoir with Dennis White.

 

Feeder fishing for skimmers.

 

I really got Jack Charlton.

Wosborough reservoir was full of them. Days of the Barnsley Blacks being one of the best match fishing sides in the country. Happy times!

[nevthelodgemoorowl]

No RIP's can't possibly be an Obituary !

 

He were rate, but the best ? 

[Utah Owl]

6 hours ago, nevthelodgemoorowl said:

No RIP's can't possibly be an Obituary !

 

He were rate, but the best ? 

I'd say he was the best because he took a club that was on it's knees and turned it around. The sheer professionalism and confidence of the man, from the moment he joined us I knew we were on the way back. It was a long road, but good times (some of them very good indeed).

[Señor Sam]

I used to play snooker with Jack and Maurice at Middlewood hospital. They used to bring their cars in to be washed (part of the occupational therapy unit) after training, I looked after the unit before anyone asks !

 

They came in one day and I was on crutches after the incident at the Rovrum game, Jack sent me to see the physio at Hillsbrough. Can't remember who I saw but was in there with the players awestruck at the age of 20.

 

Physio saw me a few times and I was reyt as rain, walking again unaided after 8 months (Abdi springs to mind)

[Nut]

There were some great stories about Jack at the BDM reunion just before Christmas. My favourite was one where the players turned up for a night match and he wasn't there. Maurice Setters picked the side and they kicked off without him. When they came in at half time Jack was there. He told them he'd been fishing and had forgotten there was a game. He only found out because he'd put the radio on in the car on his way home and they mentioned the game so he'd shot straight to the ground. 

[Bramhall Owl]

23 hours ago, Musn't Grumble said:

I don't think we can underestimate what a great job Jack Charlton did for us.

 

When he took over in October '77, playing-wise, the club was a basket case. We were bottom of Division Three and not looking like avoiding the drop after nine or ten games.

Absolutely. The younger generation of owls fans (and by that I mean the under 40's) won't appreciate how dire things were. We were looking as though we were again staring at the abyss of Division 4 (having managed to just avoid it 2 years earlier) but within 2 months he'd put out a team that gave a decent Everton side a run for their money in the League Cup in front of 33,000......bearing mind were doing very well if we got 15,000 for a league game.

The following season, whilst we weren't particularly good in the league, he was starting to put a team together resulting in the never to be forgotten cup games v Arsenal. It wasn't just that we took that seasons cup winners to 5 games (and with a bit of luck would have beaten them), it was his attitude that restored belief to the club. After the draw at Highbury, the norm was to throw for home ground for the second replay but if one team didn't agree then it was off to a neutral ground. He actually thought we could beat them so rather than take the guaranteed money from a decent crowd at either ground but risk playing at Highbury he wanted to play at a neutral ground. The rest is history and the irony is that we made money than if we'd lost in the second replay

 

[DJMortimer]

58 minutes ago, Nut said:

There were some great stories about Jack at the BDM reunion just before Christmas. My favourite was one where the players turned up for a night match and he wasn't there. Maurice Setters picked the side and they kicked off without him. When they came in at half time Jack was there. He told them he'd been fishing and had forgotten there was a game. He only found out because he'd put the radio on in the car on his way home and they mentioned the game so he'd shot straight to the ground. 

 

I remember reading one (might have been Mark Smith telling the story) where they were working on free kicks in training and he was getting irritated that the standard wasn't good enough. Eventually, he put down his cup of tea, strides up to the ball, belts it into the top corner in his brogues like it was the easiest thing in the world then goes back to his cuppa saying, "Is it really that difficult?"

 

 

[daveyboy66]

My favourite story about Jack was after that fabulous night at Blackburn. I had gone with my girlfriend and on the way back we stopped at a pub. There were about 25 wednesdayites in there when the team coach pulled up and the team and Jack got out. He was first one to the bar and he pointed to us  and said " before you serve us make sure that lot have a drink on me " proper gent

[Nut]

Another one I read was where we were playing in London one Saturday and then playing another London club at home the week after. Jack decided to watch next week's opponents rather than our own game so the team coach dropped him off and picked him back up after the game. He got on the coach and went straight to the back and started playing cards with some of the players. After about half an hour he said 'oh by the way, how've you got on today?'

[Jeffjohnsonmyhero]

Great days to be an OWL we were a working mans team ,Payed what we could  afford ,Made  some astute  signings ,Thanks to our chief scout ,John Harris ,Bannister and Shelton to name just 2 ,Both are  better than anything up front and midfield now . Great awaydays .

[sheriwozgod]

Couple of stories i remember................apparently Dave Grant once had a disagreement with Big Jack in training and said something along the lines of "what makes you right all the time?"..........................next day Jack came in and threw his World Cup winners medal on the table and said "hope that answers your question"

 

The other one , Jack had got wind of one of the Directors slagging off the team and his management in his local boozer.  Apparently Jack barged straight into a board meeting and said to Bert McGee "outside now"., where he then proceeded to tell him in no uncertain terms that if he didnt shut this director up he would do it himself and then walk !......................problem solved .

 

Actually, whilst typing this , something else occurred to me , but this is more of an insight into what managers must sometimes have to put up with.

 

Around about 1980 ish when i was an apprentice my work "dad" Graham (RIP) told me he had got us two tickets to an evening forum type thing at one of the WMC,s on City Road....think it was The Arundel , and due to appear were Big Jack, Brian Clough and  Danny Bergara from the blunts.

 

It was a Q&A  type thing and all 3 of them were really good value...............about halfway through someone came on stage and whispered something into Jack,s ear and off he went.

 

He came back about 2 minutes later and you could see Cloughie looked concerned but Jack gave him the thumbs up.

 

A bit later in the evening someone asked Jack why he famously always said 5 years was long enough at any club for a manager........he replied "sometimes its more trouble than its worth............when i left the stage earlier it was because i was told there was an urgent phone call for me, when i got to the phone the caller said my wife had been killed in a traffic accident...................you long legged, long necked, blue and white bas***d".....................as the crowd gasped and struggled to take this in he said "so as you can see when you have to put up with $hit like this you think 5 weeks is too much never mind 5 years"

[theowlsman]

16 hours ago, airborne_rat_of_s6 said:

Wosborough reservoir was full of them. Days of the Barnsley Blacks being one of the best match fishing sides in the country. Happy times!

 

Andy Kinder is a mate of mine. He fished for Barnsley Blacks. Still fishes matches now but mostly into venues where it’s all about catching carp. Hayfield, Barston, The Glebe etc. Good lad is Andy.

 

Big Jack would’ve just called him little man though. Big Jack was crap at remembering his players names.

[theowlsman]

17 hours ago, sternlad said:

This kind of appointment, along with that of Big Ron, was ideal for a club like ours...right charismatic personality, with a hint of the hard edge and more than enough common sense. Big Jack’s signings were very canny, and when they arrived they would give their all every week...exactly what a Hillsborough crowd demands...you may lose occasionally, but leave everything on the pitch and let the fans know you’ve tried for 90 minutes. A bit of a contrast with some of the squad we have now!

 

This type of manager is what suits this club best.

 

Ask Ollie.

[Nut]

11 minutes ago, theowlsman said:

 

Andy Kinder is a mate of mine. He fished for Barnsley Blacks. Still fishes matches now but mostly into venues where it’s all about catching carp. Hayfield, Barston, The Glebe etc. Good lad is Andy.

 

Big Jack would’ve just called him little man though. Big Jack was crap at remembering his players names.

Lots of stories about him forgetting names as well as naming sides with 10 or 12 players in them, normally written on the back of a fag packet. 

[theowlsman]

4 hours ago, Nut said:

There were some great stories about Jack at the BDM reunion just before Christmas. My favourite was one where the players turned up for a night match and he wasn't there. Maurice Setters picked the side and they kicked off without him. When they came in at half time Jack was there. He told them he'd been fishing and had forgotten there was a game. He only found out because he'd put the radio on in the car on his way home and they mentioned the game so he'd shot straight to the ground. 

 

Yes, I really got Jack Charlton.