Jack Charlton and the night he united a Leeds youth club – Yorkshire Post Letters

It is sad, as a Leeds United fan and season ticket holder during the Revie years, to hear of the death of Jack Charlton following on from the loss of Norman Hunter and Trevor Cherry earlier this year.

I have a great memory of Jack Charlton. My then best friend Mike Ullman ran a youth club in Beeston, Leeds, near the Elland Road stadium and he was also a big Leeds fan.

At the height of the club’s success, he wrote to Jack Charlton to ask if he would speak at the youth club never expecting a positive reply.

However, Jack said “Yes” and I went along on a Monday night during the football season when he came.

He said he did not want to make a speech but would answer questions from the young people. He did this for well over an hour.

We assumed he would then leave, but he asked what the youngsters usually did then and Mike replied that they usually played table tennis and pool (I think).

Jack said he wanted to stay on and he did for the whole evening mixing with and playing with the members.

What a treat for the young people and what a great bloke Jack showed himself to be. No fuss, no publicity and, of course, no fee!

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James Mitchinson

Editor