30 Facts About Mel Charles

Melvyn Charles was a Welsh international footballer.

Mel Charles spent three years with Cardiff, winning the Welsh Cup in 1964, his only domestic honour before he joined Porthmadog in the Welsh League in 1965.

Mel Charles joined Haverfordwest in 1967, where he spent five years before he retired from the game.

Mel Charles scored 122 goals in 401 league and cup games in the Football League.

Mel Charles captained Wales at the international level, whom he represented at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Mel Charles went his whole career without being booked or sent off.

John and Mel Charles seemed destined to begin their careers at local club Swansea Town.

However, due to his homesickness, Mel Charles never returned to Yorkshire once he made it back to Swansea.

Mel Charles was offered a professional contract with Swansea Town at the age of seventeen, and he immediately settled into the Second Division side.

Mel Charles went straight back into the first team upon his recovery.

Mel Charles played mostly at centre-half or in his preferred position at right-half.

Mel Charles remained in the first XI under Ron Burgess, who was appointed manager following McCandless' death in July 1955.

Mel Charles spent seven seasons with the "Swans" from 1952 to 1959, all ending with Swansea finishing between tenth and twentieth.

Mel Charles employed Neil Harris to act as his 'business manager' in his pending transfer move, thereby making him the first-ever agent in the English game.

The physios used whatever methods they could to reduce the swellings in his knees, and as he was a big-money signing, Mel Charles would be forced to take to the field week in and week out, despite his injuries.

Altogether, Mel Charles played 64 matches in three seasons for Arsenal, scoring 28 goals.

However, Mel Charles picked up an injury, and Cardiff's promotion hopes began to fade after a poor run of form in the Christmas period.

Mel Charles scored a hat-trick against Swindon Town but was dropped by Scoular for the next game after he told his striker that he hadn't worked hard enough for the team.

Mel Charles played a further six games, including a rough encounter with Walsall, another one of Vale's rivals, before he decided to head back to Wales.

Mel Charles signed on a free transfer to Oswestry Town in May 1967 before moving on to Haverfordwest County later in the year; both clubs competed in the Welsh Football League.

Mel Charles enjoyed his time in Pembrokeshire and went on to play close to 200 games for County, mostly as a centre-half.

Mel Charles left the club in 1972 to return to the Cwmbwrla district of Swansea, where he set up an amateur side called Cwmfelin.

Mel Charles helped Wales to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden after they were drawn in a difficult qualifying group consisting of themselves, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany.

Mel Charles later recalled that Pele miskicked the ball, and even in later life it upset him greatly to remember the ball trickling across the line.

Pele himself said that Mel Charles was the best centre-half of the tournament, and the Brazilian swapped shirts with Mel Charles after the game.

Mel Charles served as captain for a number of these games.

Mel Charles was the brother of all-round player John Charles and father of former Wales international Jeremy Charles.

Mel Charles tried jobs as a door-to-door shoe salesman, as a scrap metal dealer, as a butcher, and as a potato merchant, often failing in a spectacular and humorous fashion.

Mel Charles' autobiography, entitled In the Shadow of a Giant, was released by John Blake Publishing in 2009.

The title is a reference to his elder brother, John Charles, who became one of the biggest names in football as Mel was building his own career.