I recently read Charles' biography, and the feeling you get on finishing it is generally one of consternation that Charles' isn't regarded in higher esteem by Swansea fans. Born in Cwmbwrla, Charles was raised in a chaotic household and lived alongside what would now be considered a ridiculous amount of people. He admittedly struggled in school, but he excelled in sports, and when elder brother John signed for Leeds it seemed prudent that Mel should join too - taking on a groundstaff role at Elland Road. Unfortunately (for Leeds), Mel didn't settle well in Yorkshire, and when he was asked to escort another South Walian youth player back to Swansea on the train, Mel happily agreed - looking forward to a mini-holiday back at home. As it turned out, he never made it back to the train station; a Swansea scout persuaded him to sign for the Swans and he took a groundstaff role with the Swans instead.
Aged seventeen Charles made his debut away at Sheffield United, and the Brammal Lane club demolished the Swans 7-1. Hardly the most auspicious start, but for Mel personally better times would follow. After making his debut, Mel became a permanent fixture in the Swansea side - predominantly at centre-half but also at centre-forward and right midfield - until while on national service he suffered a knee injury sustained during "high jinks". He would apparently recover from this and resume playing for the Swans, and despite injury catching up with him later in his career he would go on to make 233 league appearances for the Swans - a total which is still respectable by today's standards.
Charles was part of a stand out group of players to come through the ranks in South Wales, and had the club not had a policy of continually selling their top stars who knows what could have been achieved. The running of the club during this period does seem to leave a lot to be desired, and Mel has told of times where (due to the club's refusal to pay for overnight accommodation) the team bus would arrive for a match literally minutes before kick-off, and the team would be getting changed as they all piled out - hardly ideal and no doubt this affected the team's form - with away results remaining poor throughout this period.
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| Charles (far left) in action for the Swans |
Another interesting fact is that during Mel's time with the Swans, he played in a team which contained three sets of brothers; Ivor & Len Allchurch, Bryn & Cliff Jones (the latter of whom went on to star for Spurs) and Cyril & Gilbert Beech. Possibly the most "local" team ever produced, the team also featured star names like Mel Nurse & Terry Medwin, and you have to wonder how far the club could have gone if some of these players had been retained. Charles, Ivor & Len Allchurch, Nurse, Medwin & Cliff Jones all left for respectable transfer fees - in fact Charles £42,750 transfer to Arsenal was a record for a transfer between two British clubs.
Charles rise to prominence came in the 1958 World Cup. Wales failed to qualify, but with Israel due to play Sudan in a playoff the African team refused to play for political reasons, so FIFA hastily arranged a solution. Israel were to play a playoff against a "best runner up", and after Belgium had rejected this opportunity it was offered to Wales, who had no qualms about accepting the offer. They duly dispatched Israel 4-0 over two legs (2-0 in each), with Ivor Allchurch & Cliff Jones scoring at Ninian Park in the second leg:
watch archive footage here.
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| Charles (centre) up against Pelé |
Once at the competition, Wales made a good fist of things and actually managed to get to the quarter finals, however sadly they had to make do without Mel's legendary brother John, who missed out as a result of the muling he took at the hands of a (by all accounts) despicable Hungary team in the previous round. That left Wales (and Mel) up against Brazil, and they held their own, only losing 1-0 to a deflected goal. Mel actually swapped shirts with the goalscorer, a 17 year old called Pelé playing in his first World Cup, but he's always said he doesn't put any significance onto shirts he's collected over the years. In fact, as manager of a Sunday league team in later life, he'd often send his team out in kits made up of swapped shirts from down the years - so at some point in the recent past a Sunday league footballer has literally been running around the parks of Swansea in Pelé's shirt. For that alone, Charles could qualify for inclusion in the All Time XI!
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| Charles as an Arsenal player |
On return from the World Cup he found himself a hot property, and after interest from Tottenham and Chelsea he eventually signed for Arsenal for the aforementioned figure, plus two Arsenal players. It was hoped he would emulate his form for both Wales and the Swans - despite his impressive performances over the last seven seasons Swansea hadn't finished above tenth in the league, so it would have been forgivable if Charles had wanted to move on in the pursuit of glory elsewhere, but that wasn't the case. It all boiled down to money; Charles wanted to earn what he felt he was worth, and with other clubs offering higher wages he even offered to work a second job to top up his earnings, but the club turned this offer down. It was made clear to him, like it was to Nurse and others, that if he didn't leave he had no future at the club, and so he found himself in North London preparing for life as a Gunner.
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Mel (L) preparing to face his brother
John (R) in a competitive fixture for
the first time. |
In truth, despite bagging twenty-eight goals in sixty games for Arsenal over three seasons Mel never really settled, and continued knee problems blighted him. He struggled with high-profile life in London, but more seriously a recurring knee problem saw him having to play through injury for large amounts of time - with such a high transfer fee there was naturally a great deal of expectation on Charles, and that's without considering that it's possible Arsenal were hoping he'd emulate his brother John. In 1962 Mel found himself moving on once again, and ideally he'd be moving somewhere closer to home. It was hoped Swansea would come in for him, but they would not (or could not) pay the £29,000 fee demanded, and so he transferred to Cardiff instead. I've been told many a time that the rivalry didn't use to carry the air of viciousness it does now, and despite his Swansea links he set about endearing himself to the fans.
During his time in the Welsh capital he managed twenty-four goals in eighty-one games, but injury, and ultimately a showdown with then Cardiff boss Jimmy Scoular, saw Charles moving on once again, and Cardiff would remain the last real employers of note for the Welsh international. He'd spend time at Porthmadog, Port Vale, Oswestry Town & Haverfordwest, but easily the best spell of his career came for the Swans where he managed sixty-nine goals in 233 appearances. At Swansea Mel enjoyed a longevity and a steadiness he never found away from the Vetch, and it is a shame he moved on like so many others of the time.
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| Jeremy Charles |
Mel still had one more contribution to make to Swansea City though. Normally when a player retires that's the end of his involvement as far as the field of play goes. Not Mel Charles. Anyone who witnessed the rise of the Swans under John Toshack will be familiar with Jeremy Charles - Mel's son. Jeremy became a fan favourite in his own right, making 247 appearances for the Swans in a career which spanned (like his father) seven seasons, before spells at QPR & Oxford United.
I remember reading a while back that the Swans were looking at Jake Charles (grandson of John) who is reputedly a talented youth footballer. If history is anything to go by, we should sign him up...
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| Mel Charles in 2012 publicising his book |
Decisions for this All Time XI have so far been relatively easy. That all changed when presented with the dilemma of who should be included in the centre of defence - so many names have been thrown at me in the last few weeks that it may be some time before the second berth is filled. There was, however, one name that stood out from others: Mel Charles.