Jack Charlton’s family has backed the Mirror’s call for him to be given a posthumous knighthood, along with the rest of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team.
Widow Pat and son Peter spoke of the need to recognise the epic “team effort” after a statue of the footie legend, known as Big Jack, was unveiled in his hometown of Ashington, Northumberland.
The death of Roger Hunt last year left three surviving team members from the historic 4-2 win over Germany at Wembley – Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst and George Cohen. Bobby and Geoff are the only two players to have been knighted and manager Alf Ramsey was given the honour in 1967.
Pat, 88, said of a knighthood for Jack: “I always thought he was a ‘Sir’. It would be lovely if they could do it. The Irish made him an honorary citizen, they have been tremendous, it is like being made a Sir in Ireland.”
Peter, 56, from Ponteland, Newcastle, added: “It was a team effort. I think they should all have been given it. There were so many great players in that team, you can go through the whole line-up.”
However, for any deceased players to get knighthoods the rules would have to change, as they cannot currently be awarded posthumously. Labour’s Ian Lavery, MP for Ashington’s constituency of Wansbeck, urged the Government to give Jack a posthumous knighthood following his death in July 2020, aged 85.
Skipper Bobby Moore died in 1993 and a 2016 campaign for him to be knighted posthumously failed, despite the support of then FA chair Greg Dyke and a cross-party coalition of MPs.
And the Mirror has told of how Gordon Banks missed out on a knighthood because officials lost key paperwork. Friends believe the goalie, who died in February 2019, was due to be made a Sir in that year’s New Year Honours.
The team were all made MBEs but five “forgotten” players – Nobby Stiles, Alan Ball, Roger Hunt, Ray Wilson and George Cohen – did not get their honours until 2000. Jack, Gordon and Moore also got OBEs and Jack was awarded his honorary Irish citizenship in 1996.
Jack’s playing career spanned more than two decades at Leeds United and he still holds the club record for most appearances. The defender also won 35 caps for England and managed Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United. And he took the Republic of Ireland to the 1988 European Championships and 1990 World Cup while in charge.
The statue of Jack at Hirst Park is part of a wider project which also aims to honour brother Bobby, their uncle Jackie Milburn and another Ashington-born player, Jimmy Adamson.
Pat said of the statue: “Jack would have been chuffed to bits to think you thought so much about him. One thing about Jack, he played away a lot with his career but he’s come home at last.”
Councillor Liam Lavery , who was the driving force behind the statue, added: “Everyone loved him, I used to see him walking around having craic with people, he was such a down-to-earth man. We don’t just love him here for his football, it’s him as a person – he’s a legend.”
