The 21st February, 22 years ago today, was a very sad day for all Leeds United supporters. Every one of our heads were lowed at the death of our very own John Charles. King John – Il Gigante Buono – had passed at the age of 72. I was fortunate to see John play for Leeds United before he went to Juventus (where he is still worshipped to this day ) in 1957, for a record fee of £65,000 (a massive fee) in those days. When we talk about players being ‘World Class’, this is a phrase that these days is easily bandied about. As Leeds fans we have been lucky to witness dozens and dozens of class players grace our Elland Road but in terms of ‘World Class’, there has been just the one. JC is ranked amongst the likes of Pele, Eusebio, Cruyff, Maradona, Sivori (John’s partner at Juve), Puskas and of late, Messi and Ronaldo; these are some of the other world class players. King John returned to Leeds in 1962. Over all my years at Leeds United, I could write a book (and I just might…!), and not least about some of the stories JC told me during his last ten years or so with us. Over the years we became good friends and every time he saw me he would say “Stix boyo, have we time for a coffee”, and another mesmerising story would be divulged. One of these stories involved his Mum Lillian, who did everything she could to stop him leaving Swansea for Leeds, even saying in the end, ” he can’t go the Leeds, he hasn’t a passport” Such fantastic stories. John Charles was so worshiped. His funeral at Leeds Parish Church on March 1st was attended by hundreds of celebrities and VIPs and afterwards at Elland Road, where there were literally thousands of supporters wishing to pay their last respect to OUR, world class player, William John Charles CBE- 21/02/2004.
