Needless to say, I was always a fan of the 1966 World Cup winning Three Lions Team.
They were slightly before my time but legends are legends.
I can tell you of many conversations I have had starting at age 14 about the 1966 squad. People who were not born yet and who had spent their lives living outside of the UK (some behind the Iron Curtain) would talk about the 66 squad with great reverence and the player most admired was Bobby Charlton.
It seems like everything about Charlton has been chronicled. But one thing (not on Wikipedia) that isn’t common knowledge is the teams he played for after PNE.
Not much is known about the matches he played for the NASL team The Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
I had the pleasure of Interview Ron Newman. The winningest coach in American Soccer History. While Newman was coaching The Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1978, the Florida team would tour the UK and play friendly matches with Stockport County, Blackpool, Workington, Portsmouth, Portvale and Swindon Town in the month of February.
1966 Goalkeeping hero Gordon Banks was already playing for The Strikers so Ron Newman asked Bobby Charlton to join them. The Preseason tour was a success and The Strikers went on to have a fairly good NASL regular season making it to Semi Finals of Soccer Bowl 78.
You can hear my interview with Ron Newman on this website. Look for it.
Thank you to Guy Newman for the photos and the history lesson.
Comments are closed.