Charlie Webb facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Charlie Webb

Pictured in 1910
Personal information
Full name	Charles Graham Webb
Date of birth	(1886-09-04)4 September 1886
Place of birth	Curragh Camp, Ireland
Date of death	13 June 1973(1973-06-13) (aged 86)
Place of death	Hove, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1902–1908	Worthing
1906–1908	Essex Regiment
1908–1909	Bohemians
1909–1915	Brighton & Hove Albion	248	(73)
National team
1909–1911	Ireland	3	(0)
Teams managed
1919–1947	Brighton & Hove Albion
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Charles Graham Webb (born September 4, 1886 – died June 13, 1973) was an Irish football player. He played for his country four times, once as an amateur and three times as a professional. He spent almost 40 years working for the English club Brighton & Hove Albion as both a player and a manager.

Early Life and Football Journey

Charlie Webb was born into a military family in Curragh Camp, Ireland. His father was a sergeant in the Black Watch regiment. Because his father moved often for work, Charlie lived in places like Edinburgh Castle before his family settled near Worthing, Sussex, England.

When he was just 16, Charlie started playing for his local team, Worthing F.C.. In his second season, he helped Worthing win three trophies: the Sussex Senior Cup, the West Sussex Senior League, and a local charity cup. This is often called winning a "treble."

In 1904, Charlie joined the Army, just like his family before him. He became a clerk in the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment. While serving in Ireland, he continued his football career. He played for his Army team in the Leinster Senior League. Later, he played for Bohemians in the Irish Football League. He was a great goal scorer for his regiment. In 1907, he scored all seven goals in a 7-4 win against Dublin University.

In 1908, Charlie had a tryout with the famous Scottish club Rangers. Later that year, he was chosen to play for the Irish League team against the English League. In November, he played for the Irish amateur national team against England. A newspaper reporter said he was "distinctly the best" player in his position. He scored Ireland's only goal in a 5-1 loss.

In January 1909, while on leave from the Army, Charlie played for Brighton & Hove Albion in a Southern League match. He even scored a goal! When he returned to the Army, they found out he had played with professional players. This was against the rules, so they banned him from military football for a year. The Football Association also fined Brighton for playing him. Charlie had to choose between his Army career and his football career. He decided to leave the Army and signed with Albion as an amateur player.

Brighton & Hove Albion Star

Just a few days later, Charlie Webb made history. He became the first Brighton player to play for his country at the highest level. He made his debut for Ireland against Scotland in March 1909. Ireland lost that game 5-0. A week later, he played his second international match against Wales. He even had to play in a different position because a teammate got hurt. His third and final game for Ireland was in 1911.

At the end of the 1909–10 season, Brighton & Hove Albion won their first major title: the Southern League. Charlie played in every game that season! This big win meant they got to play in the FA Charity Shield. In this match, they faced Aston Villa, who were the champions of the Football League. The game was played in London.

Charlie Webb scored the only goal of the game in the second half. After a corner kick, the ball came to him, and he "cleverly evaded" some defenders to score! When the team returned to Brighton, huge crowds gathered to welcome them home. The local newspaper even called them "Champions of England." The team received money from a special fund. Since Charlie was still an amateur, he couldn't take prize money. So, the club gave him a gold tie-pin instead. Soon after, he became a professional player.

In the 1912–13 season, Charlie was the club's top scorer with 13 goals. He also set a club record for the most goals scored in the Southern League, with 64 goals. Even though his international career ended, he continued to play in important representative matches. In 1912, he scored for the Southern League team against the Football League XI. In November 1914, he got a serious leg injury while playing against Millwall. This injury effectively ended his playing career.

Serving in World War I

When World War I began, Brighton & Hove Albion supported the war effort. They built a rifle range at their stadium, the Goldstone Ground. Charlie Webb even led rifle practice on the field, sometimes using wooden guns because there weren't enough real ones.

He re-joined the Army as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. From July 1917, he served on the Western Front in France. He was promoted to acting captain. In March 1918, while leading a patrol, he and his men were challenged by German troops. To avoid injury or death, Charlie surrendered. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Mainz, Germany.

While waiting to return home, Charlie received a letter from the chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion. They offered him the job of team manager! He accepted and started his new role after leaving the Army in 1919.

Becoming a Manager

The football club had closed down during the war. So, Charlie's first job as manager was not just to rebuild the team, but also to help rebuild the stadium. Football started again in 1919–20. The next season, Charlie led the team into the Football League. A new Third Division was created, mostly made up of teams from the Southern League.

In recognition of his long service to the club, Charlie was given a special "testimonial match." He chose a League game against Watford in April 1921. More than 10,000 fans came to watch, and the match raised almost £500 for him.

In the 1923–24 FA Cup, Charlie led Albion to the fifth round (the last 16 teams). They even beat Everton, a First Division team, along the way. Charlie later said this was "the best Cup exhibition" by any Albion team he managed.

Charlie Webb became known for being very good at finding talented players. After the war, he signed George Holley, a former England international. Even though Holley got injured, Charlie replaced him with Jack Doran, who became the club's top scorer. He also brought Tommy Cook from the junior teams into the main squad. When Cook left to focus on his cricket career, Charlie found Hugh Vallance, who became a "goalscoring phenomenon." He also signed Oliver "Buster" Brown, who scored 41 goals in his first two seasons.

Between the two World Wars, Charlie's teams often finished in the top five of the Third Division South. He led the team to third place in 1936–37. Even though he sometimes had a difficult relationship with the club's board and the press, he kept the team playing well. He once told a newspaper that Brighton had "a town full of people with money, yet hardly one of them will give us a hand." He believed that without new players and a winning team, they couldn't attract more fans.

Despite these challenges, national newspapers praised his work. One article in 1939 said that while other managers spent thousands of pounds, Charlie had to work with very little money. It called Brighton's consistently good football a "tribute" to him. It also mentioned that his great knowledge of the game saved the club money on player transfers.

Later Years and Legacy

During the Second World War, Charlie Webb joined the Home Guard because he was too old for active service. Albion continued to play in wartime leagues. Charlie was clever at using the rules that allowed players to make guest appearances for clubs near their military bases. For example, when the King's Liverpool Regiment was stationed nearby, he could pick players from Liverpool F.C.. Sometimes, if he didn't have enough players, he even had to ask people from the crowd to play!

At the end of the 1946–47 season, at the age of 60, Charlie stepped down as team manager. He handed the role over to former player Tommy Cook. Charlie stayed with the club in an administrative role as secretary and general manager. He helped his successor, Don Welsh, until the end of the 1947–48 season, then he retired from football.

Charlie was so respected that he was given a second testimonial match in 1949. Portsmouth, who were the reigning Football League champions, played against Arsenal at the Goldstone Ground. It was a memorable game. After retiring, Charlie wrote a regular column in the Sussex Daily News newspaper. He lived in the same house until shortly before his death in a nursing home in Hove in 1973, at the age of 86.

Personal Life and Character

Charlie Webb was married to Minnie for over 60 years. Their son, Ken, worked for a local newspaper. Sadly, Ken was killed during World War II while training to be a pilot. Their daughter, Joyce, was born on the same day as the 1910 Charity Shield match. She survived her parents.

Joyce spoke at the football club's centenary event, where her father was named one of 24 "legends" of the club. In 2003, she unveiled a special plaque on their former family home.

According to Jess Willard, a player Charlie signed after World War II, "everybody called him Mr Webb because he was a perfect gentleman." A magazine article in 1929 described him as "one of the most dominating personalities" at the club. It said he managed with "conspicuous success" and was "genial and popular" with everyone.

Statistics

Images for kids

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  Charlie Webb in 1910