William John Charles CBE (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Wales. Charles is sometimes considered to be one of the greatest footballers in history. More about John Charles
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John Charles began his career at Leeds United, having moved there in 1949 from his hometown club, Swansea Town. He was equally adept as a defender or a forward, due to his strength, pace, technique, vision, ability in the air and eye for goal. After returning from his National Service in 1952, Charles began to be used more often as a forward, and he was the Second Division's top scorer in 1954. The following year, he was named club captain; in his first season as captain, he led the club to second place and promotion. Charles ended the 1956–57 season as the First Division's top scorer and an eighth-place finish for Leeds. In the summer of 1957, Charles joined Juventus, where he partnered Giampiero Boniperti and Omar Sívori, with the trio becoming known as The Holy Trident. In his five seasons with the club, he won the scudetto three times and the Coppa Italia twice; he was also the capocannoniere winner for the 1957–58 season. In 1962, Charles returned to Leeds, but his time there proved unsuccessful as he was accustomed to the style of play in Italy, and by the end of the year, he had joined Roma. Charles moved back to his native country to play for Cardiff City, and ended his career in non-league football in player-manager roles at Hereford United and Merthyr Tydfil. He was never cautioned nor sent off during his entire career, owing to his philosophy of never kicking nor intentionally hurting opposing players. This led to the nickname he acquired while playing for Juventus, Il Gigante Buono (The Gentle Giant). In 1998, he was included in the Football League 100 Legends, and in 2002, he was one of the inaugural inductees to the Football Hall of Fame.In total, we tracked 583 items since 01/09/2012. The chart below shows the trade volume over time.
The most expensive item with a signature of John Charles (John Charles Signed Framed Photo Display Juventus Autograph Memorabilia + COA) was sold in November 2018 for £249.99 while the cheapest item (John Charles ex Leeds 1949-57 original autograph) found a new owner for £0.99 in November 2020. The month with the most items sold (14) was July 2020 with an average selling price of £9.99 for an autographed item of John Charles. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in September 2016 with £199.99 and the month that saw the lowest prices with £0.99 was December 2016. In average, an autographed item from John Charles is worth £9.99.
Most recently, these items with a signature of John Charles were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
Item Title | Price | Store | |
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1956-57 DIV 1 LEEDS UNITED v ARSENAL SIGNED BY JOHN CHARLES | £4.99 | ||
JOHN CHARLES ( Wales ) Signed Book Picture. | £2.95 | ||
John Charles signed 17 x 10 limited edition coloured print. | £5.99 | ||
John Charles Signed Leeds Fc Football Photograph In A Picture Mount Presentation | £39.99 | ||
John Charles Signed Leeds Fc Football Photograph In A Picture Mount Presentation | £39.99 | ||
John Charles SIGNED Wales, Juventus, Cardiff, Leeds United RARE 6x4 | £19.99 | ||
JOHN CHARLES----signed and mounted | £9.95 | ||
LEEDS UNITED THE JOHN CHARLES STORY HANDBOOK SIGNED BY JOHN CHARLES | £15.27 | ||
Signed John Charles Leeds United Wales Football Cutting Signature Autograph | £7.99 | ||
Signed X3 John Charles Jimmy Dunn + Leeds United Football Signature Autograph | £14.99 |
Hall of Fame... John Charles: A gentle giant, feared forward and divine defender (03/27/14): JANINE SELF: Imagine for a second that the Premier League’s top scorer is also his club’s best defender. Impossible, surely. Not for William John Charles, CBE.