Jack Charlton's no-nonsense methods as a player with Leeds United led to a 1966 World Cup winner's medal for England.

As a manager, he earned promotion with Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday and then entered Irish folklore when he guided the Republic of Ireland to the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals.

In a new book by Colin Young, Jack Charlton: The Authorised Biography, former players tell their favourite stories about Big Jack.

Jack Charlton, pictured playing in the 1966 World Cup final, is the subject of a new biography

Norman Hunter (Leeds United 1962-76)

Being a Geordie, like Jack, he really took me under his wing and liked to look after me. He was always the boss and, looking back, he was never wrong and it was never his fault but we learned a lot from him.

When he really and truly put his mind to it, 100 per cent, I don't think there was a better centre half at that time. But getting him to put his mind on the job all the time was difficult. I used to like it when a centre forward battered him in the first five minutes because then he got angry and he would be superb.

Norman Hunter (left) says fellow Geordie Charlton took him under his wing at Leeds United

Jack and goalkeeper Gary Sprake had a love/hate relationship. There was a mutual respect but they were always very close to exploding. I remember Sprakey coming out for a ball once, and he shouted 'MINE . . . JACK' and then 'JACK . . . YOURS' and when he came out, he punched Jack and the ball.

I went over, Jack had broken his nose and there was blood everywhere. He said to me, 'Why doesn't that stupid **** shout for the ball?'

He played for six weeks with a broken nose and I remember to this day we'd say, 'Go on big man . . . head that one . . . head this one' and he did. And if he didn't head it with his forehead, it would invariably hit him on the nose and you'd hear him swearing.

Charlton (left) played for six weeks with a broken nose after a clash with keeper Gary Sprake

David Hodgson (Middlesbrough 1978-82)

We were on the pitch next to the first team when Jack played in one of his last five-a-sides with the first team. John Craggs put him on his a**e, right in front of the TV cameras. Almost as soon as he hit the ground, Jack got up and ran after Craggsy, who thought he was joking. But he wasn't.

Jack was going mental . . . shouting and screaming at him, and would not give up running. He must have chased him for 20 minutes, with the cameras filming the whole thing.

David Hodgson tells a story about Charlton getting angry with John Craggs in training

Gary Megson (Sheffield Wednesday 1981-84)

I know quite a few stories of him helping players out who were in financial trouble and he never asked for it back.

When he signed Gary Shelton, the club put him in a hotel, while Gary Bannister and myself were in a club house. After training Jack told us we had to take Gary Shelton out for a meal to make him feel welcome, so we arranged it and had dinner at the hotel with him.

A week later Jack pulled out this piece of paper and said, 'What's this?' It was a copy of the bill for the meal. 'I told you to take him out for a meal,' he said, 'not that we were bloody paying for it.' And he made us pay back the money to the club.

Charlton (pictured with Billy Bremner) was unhappy with Gary Megson not paying for a meal

Peter Beardsley (Newcastle United 1983-87)

We played Arsenal away midweek in his fourth game in charge in September 1984, when we were top, and we got absolutely battered. And we were going to Old Trafford on the Saturday.

As we were leaving Highbury, he said, 'I'll see you at Old Trafford on Saturday, lads.' And we were all looking at each other thinking, 'He's taking the p*** isn't he?' But he says, 'I'm off grouse shooting.'

We really thought we'd see him tomorrow, or we're bound to see him at training on Friday.

But no, sure enough, we didn't see him until the Saturday when he came into the dressing room at a quarter to two. He didn't even come to the pre-match meal at the hotel.

Charlton (right) is pictured reading a book with his mother Cissie Charlton back in 1973

Chris Waddle (Newcastle United 1980-85)

He was brilliant with names. Like the day of George Reilly's first game. Jack came into the dressing room on the Friday as he usually did to name the team. We were all sat round waiting and he goes, 'Right . . . ghoulkeeper is the ghoulkeeper. Right back is the big laird, two centre backs . . . the big laird and the big laird, left back, (which was Kenny Wharton) the little laird. Right wing (me) . . . the big laird, centre mids . . . the two big lairds, left wide (Peter Beardsley) . . . the little laird, up front . . . the big laird and . . . '

And he started to click his fingers as he looked at George Reilly.

And he said, ' . . . and up front . . . erm . . . erm . . . erm . . . what's your name, son?' Still clicking his fingers.

George Reilly looked at the rest of us as if to say, 'Is he serious?'

And then he said, 'You signed me yesterday from Watford for £200,000 . . . I'm George Reilly'.

And Jack said, 'Aaah . . . is that your name? I always knew George Reilly as the big laird.'

Charlton sometimes struggled with names while he was managing the Republic of Ireland

Niall Quinn (Rep of Ireland 1986-2002)

I walked into the reception of the hotel and Jack was holding court with a few journalists. As I came close to the group, Jack turned to his assistant Maurice Setters and said, 'Bloody hell, Maurice. We haven't picked that lanky buggah . . . have we?'

'Think we had to,' said Maurice.

And there it was. Elated to deflated in one nanosecond. You could see the journalists all thinking . . . 'Christ . . . now Quinn doesn't even know he's been picked.'

Niall Quinn (second left) tells a hilarious story about Charlton not knowing who he'd picked

Andy Townsend (Rep of Ireland 1989-97)

Charlton arranged for his squad to meet Pope John Paul II the day before they faced Italy in the quarter-finals of the Italia 90 World Cup.

The Pope made a bit of a fuss of our goalkeeper Packie (Bonner) because he'd been a goalkeeper in Poland. When he came into the private room he told Packie, 'I will be keeping a special eye on you and keep my fingers crossed for you.' We lost 1-0 and Packie spilled Donadoni's shot for Schillaci for the winner. We were in the dressing room and we were all disappointed. Jack was trying to lift us. 'You gave everything, I can't ask for any more. I am proud of you, we will have a great night tonight and a good drink and we'll enjoy it.'

A few of the lads are still sitting there not moving, one of them was Packie. Jack cajoles him to get into the shower and as he wheeled away, Jack turned to me and said, 'The f****** Pope would have saved that.'

Charlton arranged for his squad to meet Pope John Paul II during the Italia 90 World Cup

John Aldridge (Rep of Ireland 1986-96)

Jack used to tell me, 'When their defenders get the ball, you chase the b*****ks off them.' They talk about the pressing game now, but that was how we played under Jack.

He treated you like a man. If he saw someone drinking a Coke, he'd say, 'What are you drinking that s*** for? Guinness is better for you'.

On the Tuesday, I used to feel guilty if I'd had a skinful, so I'd be running my nuts off to get a good sweat on, and Jack used to b*****k me and shout across, 'Aldo . . . stop f****** running . . . save it for the game tomorrow.'

Two days before we were due to play Italy, the lads were getting restless so Jack said we could have a couple of pints each when the Guinness truck came to the hotel in Rome.

Charlton told his players Guinness was better for you than Coke, according to John Aldridge

The Guinness was set up round the pool with all the media people hanging round, plus the Italian police who were guarding us.

The cops couldn't believe that the Ireland players were drinking two days before we were due to play Italy, and that the manager was in the thick of it.

We started playing the penny game, which basically involved putting a penny on your forehead, hitting the back of your own head until the penny falls off.

And being the ultra-competitive person that he is, Jack said he wanted a go. Andy Townsend placed the coin on Jack's forehead — only he took it off at the last second, without telling Jack.

And Jack was winding his arms up like a windmill to hit himself and was belting the back of his own head while the lads, and the Italian cops and the press, were absolutely p****** themselves.

He must have hit himself about 10 times, full pelt as well, and then twigged and tried to grab Andy and clip him round the ear.

Aldridge (left) says Charlton told him to slow down in training when he was trying to impress

Graeme Souness (Middlesbrough 1973-77)

When Jack came, I was in the reserves and I used to drive him mad, telling him I should be in the team from the age of 18 onwards.

And he said, 'Look, you've got the talent but I have seen hundreds of players like you in the history of football that have had talent and have not used it and wasted it. There are two doors for you. There is one you can walk out of to use your talent, make something of yourself and perhaps be a player one day. The other one is to throw it all away.'

He was not an arm-round-the-shoulder manager; it was blunt, straight to the point. He said what he had to say in a very basic and straightforward manner. It was great for me at the time.

He liked aggressive players. And he liked everyone to have a right go. Aggression in football comes in many different guises. It can be the goalkeeper commanding his box or the centre forward running at full throttle in a race for a through ball and knocking people out of his way to get there. And he liked aggression in midfield and I enjoyed playing for him.

I needed strong management and he gave me that. He knew in those days we liked a night out. And sometimes we bumped into him in the same places. He enjoyed himself as well. There was a time for that, and a time to work hard. And we were all terrified of him, so we did as we were told. He had a temper on him, which we saw a few times. But you knew where you stood with him. You just had to deal with it.

Charlton with his son John (left), wife Pat (second left) and daughter Debbie (right)

John Charlton (Jack's son)

We used to live in a house on a street opposite Elland Road.

To me, around about 11, 12 years of age, Elland Road was like a playground to me. I had the freedom of the ground, every day, not just match days. But I didn't know any different. That's how I was brought up and it was the norm for me.

I'd walk out of the house, round a horseshoe, couple of hundred yards and the ground was in front of me. On a match day I never had a ticket, never had a pass. They'd let me in; I'd go to a refreshment bar in the ground where this woman used to always give me a hot drink, like a combination of oxtail soup and Bovril which I can still taste now.

There was a big fat ex-policeman who still used to be in his uniform, always on duty. He was the laundry man as well and he would clean the players' strips. Then he'd hang the shirts on coat-hangers on rails across the walls in this boiling hot room to dry them off. And there was a boot-room with all the players' boots on pegs, and there were big boxes, just full of studs for replacements.

I'd spend most days during the school holidays at the ground and I could go anywhere I wanted. At one point they built a sauna, and me and my dad used to go in there after training, then have a shower or a bath and head home.

Charlton's wife Debbie (centre) says she started a club shop at Leeds with her husband

Duncan Revie (Don's son)

It's neither here nor there, but the correct pronunciation of our surname is 'Ree-vie', and for some reason, Jack always insisted on saying 'Rev-vie'. But then he didn’t know the names of half the players in the Ireland team, so I guess we were lucky he remembered!

I'm only speaking anecdotally but they had two major conversations. The first when my dad was playing alongside Jack and told him if he was manager, he wouldn’t play Jack because he didn't take his football seriously enough.

The second was after my dad had taken over, and he and said, 'Listen, you silly bugger, if you play the game properly, you could play for England'. Jack didn't really believe him when he said it. After the '66 final, my dad went into his office, and Jack's medal was on the table. Jack had left a note.

That's for you boss.

Don Revie (left) told Charlton he could play for England if he played the game properly

Pat Charlton (Jack's wife)

The front page of Jack Charlton: The Authorised Biography, out now

Leeds United had tried to run a football shop but they were not very successful. So Jack and I just had this idea to start a club shop. To begin with it was a shed with a drop down window; we sold hats, scarves, little photos, shirts, etc.

I used to work before every match until about five minutes after kick-off, then, I'd come back out five minutes before the end of the game, and start selling again. It just got bigger and bigger and more popular, and in the end we had three shops. Leeds wanted to take them off us and start running them, but Don Revie said no.

He said it was Jack's business and he should be allowed to continue. For all the time Jack was playing for Leeds, we ran the club shops and when Jack left we sold them to the club.