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| Penalty king who dared to defy
the money men |
Man Utd star Charlie Mitten could take
a penalty blindfolded. But he became a pariah after following the
money to Colombia, writes Dan Carrier
Bogota Bandit – The Outlaw life of Charlie Mitten: Manchester
United Penalty King by Richard Adamson
Mainstream Publishing, £7.99
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Charlie Mitten playing at Old Trafford in 1949
Charlie and his family board a Pan Am flight at Heathrow
bound for Bogota in July 1950
Richard Adamson
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IT’S five metres wide and two metres high. You are 12 yards
out and you have had all week to hone your technique. If you manage
what is, after all, a straight forward trick to pull off, you’ll
be the darling of your supporters.
If you miss, you will look like a chump.
So how come is it that of the 33 spot kicks taken in the premiership
so far this season, almost a third have not been converted?
It is a figure that would irk Charlie Mitten, the man dubbed Manchester
United’s penalty king.
In a biography by the New Journal’s Richard Adamson, the story
behind one of the sport’s deadliest of dead ball specialists
reveals his secrets.
Mitten, who played in Matt Busby’s first post-war United side,
says: “Any half decent penalty taker should be able to beat
the goalkeeper blindfolded.”
“Mitten was a practice fanatic,” writes Mr Adamson. “Every
training day, he would stay behind and practice taking every conceivable
dead ball kick.”
Mitten would always tell the goalkeeper where he would put the ball.
He told Mr Adamson: “Still he couldn’t get to it. I was
aiming for accuracy with power. No goalkeeper in the world should
ever be able to save a penalty if the ball is struck correctly.
“Looking at the number of penalty misses by the supposedly
best players in the world during shoot-outs, I wonder how often
some of those players practice what is the simplest trick in the
whole of soccer. So many players today run at the ball as if it
were a bag of sweets and just whack it.
“You must aim: aim always for the corners of the goal. When
I was shooting I wasn’t watching the keeper. I was looking
for a place, the hole, where I was going to put the ball.
“You can kick it as hard as you like, but try keeping it a
foot high as well. A shot like that is impossible to save –
it is a certain goal.”
Adamson tested this theory by borrowing two reserve team players
at Manchester City. Mitten gave them five minutes’ worth of
coaching, handed them blindfolds and told them to do as he said.
They did not miss once.
Charlie’s record was superb: he missed only one penalty in
a long career, when he was player/manager at Mansfield Town. The
game was on Christmas Day, 1956 and it kicked off at 11am, prompting
some fans to wonder whether their hero’s mind was on the turkey.
It was such a surprise when the ball cannoned off the keeper’s
legs that people were discussing why for weeks afterwards.
Mitten had a work ethic born during the inter-war depression, and
a natural talent harnessed by his love of football.
He returned from the war to find United in turmoil.
“The main stand had been blitzed,” Mitten recalled. “The
pitch was unfit to play on.”
But United’s new manager Matt Busby collected talents who had
spent their war years working as physical training instructors and
turning out for services’ teams.
But the story of ‘Cheeky’ Charlie Mitten covers more than
his footballing life. Instead, it tells a story of how the heroes
of yesterday were wage slaves to uncompromising club owners.
Mr Adamson recalls the story of a player who was ostracised because
he believed he deserved a share of the spoils his talent was creating.
Mitten was the darling of United, but was treated like a criminal
when he chose not to rejoin them when his contract finished.
Instead he accepted a lucrative offer to play for Colombian club
Bogota Santa Fe. He played in Latin America in 1950/1 and when he
returned the FA fined him six months’ wages and banned him
from playing for the same period – and then, even though he
had no contract with them, United sold him to Fulham for £22,000.
Mitten’s misdemeanour was to challenge the rules that said
he was owned by his club – even when his contract had expired.
Professional footballers earned little more than skilled factory
labourers at the time.
In 1950 United went on a nine-game tour of America – and they
were feted like movie stars.
Mitten realised how big a star he was, yet how poorly rewarded footballers
were.
It was underlined when two other British footballers, Neil Franklin
and George Mountford, signed for Bogota. They were on a £5,000
contract with £35 win bonuses.
Then the call came: Mountford recommended Mitten to his club and
he was offered the same terms. Mitten knew in Britain a maximum
wage of £12 a week was on offer – not a lot for playing
for 80,000 spectators.
Although the player was out of contract, he was expected to dutifully
sign whatever the club laid in front of him.
“Busby was angry: ‘You can’t do that! You are not
allowed to!’” he recalls.
Mitten explained how at 29, with a family, the money was too good
to turn down.
On his return, he was frozen out by the FA selectors and United
turned their back on him, citing his behaviour as a lack of discipline.
Instead he spent the twilight of his career at Fulham.
Mitten’s story shows how thankful today’s stars should
be - and that they should get practising those penalties.
• Richard Adamson is a journalist who has worked for several
national newspapers and now works for the Camden New Journal |
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Don't waste your finest on relatives
DO you enjoy or endure Christmas? It isn’t only that we’re
bullied into spending money we haven’t got.
FULL STORY
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