Melvyn Charles (14 May 1935 – 24 September 2016) was a Welsh international footballer. Charles played as both a centre-half and centre-forward, with his preferred position being at right-half. After a short stint on the Leeds United ground staff, he turned professional with his local club, Swansea Town, in 1952. He spent seven years in the Second Division with the club, before he won a £42,750 move to First Division Arsenal in March 1959. His three seasons at the club were plagued by injury, and in February 1962 he was sold on to Cardiff City for a £28,500 fee. He spent three years with Cardiff, winning the Welsh Cup in 1964, his only domestic honour, before he joined Porthmadog in the Welsh League in 1965. He spent a brief period in the Fourth Division with Port Vale in the 1966–67 season, before he returned to Welsh football with Oswestry Town. He joined Haverfordwest in 1967, where he spent five years before he retired from the game. He scored a total of 122 goals in 401 league and cup games in the Football League. He captained Wales at international level whom he represented at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Charles also went his whole career without being booked or sent off. He also competed in eight British Home Championships, and became only the third Welshman to score four goals in a game when he scored all the goals in a 4–0 win over Northern Ireland. In total he earned 31 senior caps, in addition to one under-23 cap, and he scored six full international goals. Club career Swansea City Growing up in a poor family in the Cwmbwrla district of Swansea alongside elder brother John and three other siblings, John and Mel Charles seemed destined to begin their careers at local club Swansea Town. However manager Billy McCandless was unwilling to test youngsters in the unforgiving waters of the Third Division South, so the boys were not signed up to the club. This proved costly to Swansea, and the result was that John signed with Leeds United, and fourteen-year-old Mel also followed him to Elland Road to become one of the ground staff. Despite fitting in well at the club, he was unable to settle in Leeds; due to his poor background he was unable to afford trips back to Wales to visit his family and he was also illiterate so