6 footballers who received knighthood

Sir Bobby Charlton

One of the members of the Manchester United holy trinity

One of the greatest midfielders of all time, Sir Bobby Charlton was born on the October 11, 1937 in Ashington and started his footballing journey with Manchester United. Sir Bobby Charlton spent 3 years in the United Academy and joined the main team in 1956.

The attacking midfielder was one of the first members of the Busby Babes and is one of the survivors of the tragic Munich air disaster.

Charlton spent 17 seasons with the Manchester giants making 758 appearances, ranked second with the most number of appearances for Manchester United, and scored 249 goals, the second highest goal scorer in United history, in his time with Manchester United.

The Balon d'Or winner won 3 First Division titles, 1 FA Cup and 1 European Cup during his time with Manchester United.

Charlton then went on to join Preston North End in the 1974/75 season making 38 appearances in the third division before moving onto to join Waterford United the very next season.

Charlton then went on a tour down under making appearances for Newcastle KB United, Perth Azzurri and Blacktown City as a celebrity guest. Sir Bobby Charlton in total made 807 official appearances and scored 260 goals.

Sir Bobby Charlton made 106 appearances for the Three Lions, 7th most capped player in English history, and scored 49 goals for this country, the 2nd highest goal scorer in history. The attacking midfielder was the heartbeat of the 1966 England side that won the 1966 World Cup.

Manchester United renamed their South stand, Sir Bobby Charlton Stand in honour of the legendary midfielder.

The English FA also honoured the legend by naming one of the ground in the St George's Park after him.

---

Sir Tom Finney

Statue outside Preston North End made in memory of the 1956 Photograph which shows Finney beating 2 Chelsea players at Stamford Bridge

One of the greatest players ever to come from England, Sir Tom Finney was born on the April 5, 1922 and started his footballing journey with the Preston North End joining their academy aged 15. But it took 10 years for the striker to make his professional debut for the Lillywhites due to the Second World War.

On August 1946 Finney made his Preston debut, aged 24, and spent 14 seasons with the club making 473 appearances and scoring 210 goals in the process. The One club man won the Second Division title and an FA runners-up trophy during the time with the club.

The Striker made his England debut a month after his Preston debut against Northern Ireland. He went on to make 76 appearances and score 30 goals for the Three Lions during his international career.

Considered by some as one of the greatest strikers ever, Sir Tom Finney sadly died on February 14, 2014.