Former Manchester United and England great Bobby Charlton claims the secret of the huge success he enjoyed during his playing days was being a “little bit lazy”.
Charlton won the World Cup with England in 1966 and the 1968 European Cup with United, for whom he played 758 games and scored a club-record 249 goals.
However, after being presented with a lifetime achievement award by GQ magazine at a ceremony in London on Tuesday, he said his “whole career was really fortunate”.
“I’ve been lucky,” said the 75-year-old, who is now a United director.
“I’ve spent almost 50 years in the game of soccer and I’ve been so lucky I’ve never had one injury in 21 years of professional football, and I think it was because I really was just that little bit lazy.”
Current United defender Rio Ferdinand, who presented Charlton with his award, said he was “one of the greatest sportsmen that has ever been produced by this country”.
He added: “All the young foreign lads who come into the club, Manchester United, they are are shown his picture and how he carries himself as an ambassador for not only our football club, but our country”.