Bogotá Bandit: The Outlaw Life of Charlie Mitten: Manchester United's Penalty King

by Richard Adamson

This is the story of Charlie Mitten, the man the FA once admitted was the greatest outside-left England ever had, but who stepped out of line as a trailblazer in the player's contract revolution, walking out on club and country in 1950 to play in South America. During one short season with Bogota Santa Fe, Mitten won a place in South American folklore as orchestrator-in-chief of one of the most sensational upsets in soccer history—a makeshift Combian XI's victory over the newly-crowned world champions, Uruguay. Rejecting an offer from Real Madrid, Mitten returned to Britain only to find he was a football outlaw, frozen out by the FA selectors and by United who refused to take him back. After a spell at Fulham, he went into management at Mansfield and Newcastle, but his attempts to produce a more skilful approach to the game and his warnings of an impending soccer hurricane from South America were largely ignored.

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005