Autographs of John Charles
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 time at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from the British Isles. Charles is sometimes considered to be one of the greatest footballers in history.
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.
He played for the Welsh national team over fifteen years, from 1950 to 1965. Alongside his brother, Mel Charles, he was a member of the Welsh squad at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. At the tournament, he scored in a 1–1 draw with Hungary, but he was injured in a play-off match against the same opposition. Ruled out of the quarter-final against Brazil, Wales lost the match 1–0, with Pelé scoring the winner. Wales manager Jimmy Murphy opined that had Charles been fit, Wales might have won the match.
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Current items with a signature of John Charles
These are the most current items with a signature of John Charles that were listed on eBay and on other online stores - click here for more items.
Traded items with a signature of John Charles
The most expensive item with a signature of John Charles (John Charles Signed Limited Edition Print) was sold in November 2025 for £777.84 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 (24) was August 2025 with an average selling price of £47.50 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 £12.50.
Most recently, these items with a signature of John Charles were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
Latest News about John Charles
Hall of Fame... John Charles: A gentle giant, feared forward and divine defender (27/03/2014): 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. 
