Former Ireland manager Jack Charlton’s family has valued the late World Cup winner’s medal and jersey to be worth €240,000.
Son John says they have no plans to part with the treasured items from his dad’s heroics at the 1966 tournament but had them valued for his estate.
Meanwhile, John also revealed that he and his mum Pat are planning to return to Ireland to read the books of condolence that were signed by thousands of well-wishers from all over the country when Irish citizen Jack died in 2020.
John, 63, said: “When dad died, we got his shirt and medal valued.
“It is done on the basis of the last ones sold and I think that they came in at about £100,000 to £200,000 [€239,987]. Like everything else, it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.”
Dad-of-three John added: “I am pretty sure that my dad and uncle Bobby are the only players from the team [England’s 1966 World Cup winners] not to have sold their medals.
“We have no plans to sell. My dad’s was valued as part of his estate.”
Jack, who was affected by dementia in his later years, was aged 85 when he died on July 10, 2020, less than a year after he was diagnosed with lymphoma in November 2019.
He quit the coal mines of rural Newcastle as a teenager to become the famous towering Geordie who helped Ireland’s soccer team conquer world football powers like England and Italy in the 1990s. He was given the Freedom of Dublin in 1994 and made an honorary Irish citizen in 1996, a year after he retired from the Irish national side.
He led Ireland to its first ever major tournament, the European Championships of 1988, then the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
When he died, just as Ireland was emerging out of the first Covid-19 lockdown, books of condolence were opened in cities such as Derry, Dublin, Kerry, and in Mayo – where Jack had a house and went fishing – and also online by the FAI.
John said that he and his mum Pat, 87, hope to visit Ireland soon to view the heartfelt messages. One of Jack’s most famous Ireland players Roy Keane, 50, last year revealed how the top boss would let the stars out for a few pints in Dublin.
Keano recalled fondly how Jack would tell him to be back in the team hotel by midnight, but the former Man United skipper would persuade him to give a drinking pass until 2am and later.
Keano said: “Jack would eventually say, ‘OK, I’ll see you here in the morning for training’.
“We’d come in at seven or eight [o’clock] in the morning and Jack would push training back to the afternoon because we had to sleep off the hangovers.”
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