RED DEVIL NBS: June 2009

The Flowers of Manchester
One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,Seven great football stalwarts conceded victory,Seven men will never play again who met destruction there,The flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester
Matt Busby’s boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,This great United family, all masters of their trade,The pilot of the aircraft and the skipper Captain Thain,Three times they tried to take her up and twice turned back again.
The third time down the runaway disaster followed close,There was ice upon the wings and the aircraft never rose,It ran upon the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.And seven of the team were killed when the battered aircraft burned.
Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England’s side.And Ireland’s Billy Whelan and England’s Geoff Bent died,Mark Jones and Eddie Colman, and David Pegg also,Before the blazing wreckage went ploughing through the snow.
The trainer, coach and secretary, and a member of the crew,Also eight sporting journalists who with United flew,and one of them was Big Swifty, we never will forget,the greatest English ‘keeper who ever graced a net.
They said that Duncan Edwards had an injury to his brain,They said that Jackie Blanchflower would never play again,Matt Busby he was lying there, the father of the teamSix months or more did pass before he saw another game
Oh, England’s finest football team its record truly great,its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate.Seven men will never play again, who met destruction there,the flowers of English football, the flowers of Manchester.
The Flowers of Manchester. It leaves a lump in my throat, every time I sing it. I’m sure it’s the same for multitude of Manchester United supporters across the world.
5th February 1958
On a surprisingly warm and sunny day in Belgrade, Man Utd took the field to play against the mighty Red Star Belgrade. It was the second leg of their Quarter final in the European Competition.
It was a typical battle of attacking football and robust tackles, with a young team willing their bodies and minds to greater heights. This was Man Utd, and this was what they were famous for. People flocked to see United play. Back in 1958, it was a refreshing change for the public, who were torn apart by lengthy wars. With emphasis on the exuberance of youth, Man Utd took England by storm. Always willing to play attacking soccer, with a carefree attitude, they raised the profile of the game in the home of football. They were the Busby Babes. They played romantic football.
“Play to the situation”, they knew not that phrase!!! It was the same brand of attacking football, home or away. They believed in expressing themselves on the football pitch, and they were fully supported by Sir Matt Busby, the manager. They were a sight to behold. On 1st February, United travelled to Highbury to play against Arsenal, in what turned out to be their last match in England. Within no time, United had raced to a 3-0 lead. Pat Rice, the current assistant manager at Arsenal, was an on looker who was swayed on that day by the Babes. Incredibly, in what is still considered as the greatest match played at Highbury according to Rice, Arsenal scored 3 goals in 3 crazy second half minutes to tie the match at 3-3, only for United to win it 5-4.
Back to Belgrade, and the match kicked off. Barely 90 Seconds on the clock, Dennis Viollet scored to put United 1-0 up. In what turned out to be a dominating half, United raced to a 3-0 lead, thanks to a young Bobby Charlton double before the break. All this against a side which boasted the best goal keeper in the whole of Europe that day, in Beara. Incredibly, Man Utd did not sit back and defend, and went for the kill. Red Star scored a quick opener after the break and the game became an enthralling spectacle for the 52000 odd home supporters.
But United never seem to do it the easy way. One penalty and several anxious moments later, Red Star Belgrade fought back to 3-3 with minutes remaining on the clock. But United saw the game off with some tigerish tackles and ferocious defending from Foulkes, Byrnes and Edwards. It ended 3 all, and United were through to the semi finals with a 5-4 aggregate, by virtue of the 2-1 win at Old Trafford in the first leg. AC Milan awaited them in the Semi’s.
A jubliant Manchester United team started it’s journey to England on a chartered plane on Thursday, 6th. Little did the team know the fate that was awaiting them. Little did Manchester know about the woe that was about to strike them. While Manchester was getting ready to welcome it’s young heroes, the Gods were getting ready to welcome the Busby babes to play for Heaven’s football team.
The Aborted Attempts and the Crash
The Airspeed Ambassador plane belonging to the British European Airways was ready to bear the team back to Manchester, where they were scheduled to play against Wolverampton Wanderers on the weekend. As fate would have it, the ever affable Winger Johnny Berry, who had lost his place in the first team to the precociously talented young Welsh wizard of yesteryear Ken Morgans, had lost his passport.
After an hour’s delay because of the passport fiasco, the plane started it’s fateful sojourn towards Manchester. There were 44 passengers on board, players, coaching staff and journalists included. Legendary English goal keeper Frank Swift, was one among them. He was working for News of the World as a journalist covering the match. Old timers swear that Big Frankie’s hands were so big that he could catch the ball as if a normal person could catch a cricket ball. Swift’s career was cruelly cut short by World War II, and thus the keeper widely regarded as the finest of all time English goal keepers, even better than the legendary Gordon Banks had only a handful of wartime appearances for England and 20 odd full fledged appearances.
The plane stopped for a routine fuel stop at Munich. Cruelly, the plane never left Munich. The unthinkable happened. Under questionable weather conditions, two attempts to take off, already ended in failure and the airplane was forced to return to the terminal. Safety measures in those time were pretty rudimentary, and nothing to compared to the present conditions. Though the players wanted to be in Manchester as soon as possible, there was resigned feeling that the night might be spent at Munich. There were even telegraphs sent by the United contingent to the near and dear ones in Manchester, about the impending bad weather.
The runway of the Reim airport in Munich, was inundated with snow. It was late afternoon and just when it appeared that the team was going to stay overnight at Munich, Thaine, the captain of Airspeed Ambassador, after consulting with engineers, decided to try a final attempt to take off. And it was a terrifying try. A try which changed the club forever. As the saying ‘The blood of the martyr is the seed of the Church’ goes, that try would change Man Utd forever. They were no longer a club, who provided relief to the war ravaged people by playing high octane football. That single try, changed the club with a carefree and joyous attitude towards life in general to the one synonymous with Hope, hard work and perseverance.
Before the third attempt for the take off was made at around 3 in the afternoon, Captain James Thaine and co pilot Kenneth Rayment made sure that there was no ice present in the wings of the airplane. This was a known hazard, and they took engineering advice too. Normally when ice starts melting, the combination of ice and the liquid water becomes a mild paste like liquid, which often mixes with other minerals and dirt and becomes dark in colour. This is called as Slush.
The runway was filled with slush, and the effect of slush on aircrafts like the Airspeed Ambassador was unknown at that time. The excess slush on the aircraft’s wheel can have a negative effect during take off. This is now a known hazard, but not back then. This would be the cause of the demise of a precociously talented football team. The plane shot down the runway hitting full throttle, but it could not take off as it entered the slush hit part of the runway, as it lost speed and veered away.
The highly religious Catholic Liam Whelan, was heard shouting ‘If this is death, then I’m ready for it. How right those prophetic words were? The airplane, as it lost speed, crashed the airport fence and hit an unoccupied house. As the house caught fire, the starboard side of the plane hit a wooden hut.
As fate would have it, the hut had a truck filled with fuel and tyres parked inside. The truck exploded as the plane hit the truck. Before any help could arrive, 21 lives were lost. 7 of them players, and 8 journalists. Fate, had it’s last laugh. The best team in England was brutally torn apart by one swift and sadistic swish of fate’s blade. The players dead included Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam Whelan. The journalists who died on the scene included Alf Clarke, Don Davies, George Follows, Tom Jackson, Archie Ledbrooke, Henry Rose, Eric Thompson, and the legendary Frank Swift.
What happened after that, a mixture of miracles, heroism in face of diversity and the sheer agony of having to live the life without so many close friends for the survivors. The newly signed ‘World’s most expensive keeper’, former Doncaster Rovers player Harry Gregg, was more than a hero on that fateful day. Gregg had suffered only bruises and he was thrown out of the plane. Gregg raced back to the plane, as he remembered there was a little girl Vesna Lukic, and her mother, Vera on the plane.
After he had hauled back both the mother and the daughter to safety, he raced back to save more people. He saw Sir Matt Busby lying there, with his legs pointing haphazardly towards the wrong directions. He slowly hauled the hapless United manager to safety.
Bill Foulkes, was another lucky survivor. The plane had broken almost under his chair. As a result of it, Foulkes escaped without any injury. Apparently, the only injury he suffered was a blow to his head by his own whiskey bottle. In his own accounts, the first instinct that he knew was to run far away from the plane. As he had reached about 50 paces, he realised that the plane wasn’t going to blow to pieces.
He raced back to help Gregg save some of the survivors. Young Bobby Charlton had passed out on the floor, with a head injury and concussion. Johnny Berry, a severely injured Jackie Blanchflower, Albert Scanlon, Dennis Violett and Ray Wood were the other survivors. After the search had been called off, a full five hours later, a couple of German journalists found Kenny Morgans buried deep underneath the plane debris and rescued him. The other survivors included a couple of Photographers and the only journalist of the lot, Frank Taylor.
The full horror of the tragedy did not strike Foulkes till he visited the survivors the next day in the hospital. He made an enquiry where the others were, and promptly told that no one else survived.
While back home in Manchester, the newspapers ran the story of the crash. This was going to be one long day. Particularly heart wrecking is the account given by Nobby Stiles. This soon to be United legend was a 15 year old apprentice player in the United youth ranks at the time of the tragedy. He vividly recalls the day with terror and fear when he read the news about the tragedy and how he hoped that it was a sick joke by Chronicle. But it was so not to be.
The Heroic Big Dunc
Special mention has to be given to Duncan Edwards, or otherwise called the ‘Big Dunc’. Arguably or for the old timers of football, unarguably the best footballer Great Britain has ever produced, The Big Dunc was destined for great things, no, amazing things.
There are people who insist if Munich had not happened, it would have been Big Dunc, instead of Bobby Moore lifting the trophy in 66. Dudley born Duncan, joined Man Utd as a 16 year old amateur. In his first two seasons, he played for the regular Man Utd XI in the league and FA Cup, as well as in Youth cup competitions, where he helped United win the cup for three seasons. Along the way, he set records for the youngest player to appear in the Football League, and the youngest England International player, broken only by the precocious Michael Owen. Along with Dennis Viollet, and Jackie Blanchflower, Duncan Edwards was the future generation of talent at that time.
Alas, but ‘The Big Dunc’ had already played his last match against Red Star Belgrade. Duncan Edwards was injured seriously with multiple leg and rib fractures and severely damaged kidneys. Doctors were sure that he could never play football again, but were fighting to save his life. They knew for any chance of survival, they would need a kidney transplant. In the days of artificial kidneys, he was fitted with one.
But the artificial kidney reduced his blood’s ability to clot and the internal bleeding began. Newspaper reports and the hospital workers of Rechts Der Isar Hospital of that day, swear to this day, that the doctors were amazed at his fight for life, in spite of the odds against him, and the sheer pain of his injuries. This, they said, was a heroic man.
So undying was his optimism, when Jimmy Murphy, United’s assistant manager stepped in to see him, The Big Dunc asked him,
“What time is the kick off against Wolves, Jimmy? I musntn’t miss that match”,
reducing Murphy to a heap of tears.
But after a long and painful fight against the injuries and pain, the candle that could never be put out, finally burned bright and ended in a blaze of glory on 21st February. Edwards was buried at the Dudley Cemetery five days later, alongside his sister Carol. More than 5,000 people lined the streets of Dudley for his funeral.
His tombstone reads,
“A day of memory, Sad to recall, Without farewell, He left us all”.
His grave is regularly visited by fans today.
The show must go on
When Jimmy Murphy visited Sir Matt in the hospital, he uttered the famous words,
“Keep the flag flying, Jimmy”.
Instantly, Jimmy knew that he had a job on his hands. The Football League as it was called those days, and the Football Association had postponed both the league game and the FA cup game for a week.
But Murphy knew that he had to put a XI out their on the pitch on February 19 against Sheffield Wednesday for the FA Cup game. Even with the 5 Reserve team players and 2 fit enough Youth players, he still needed 4 more players. He looked up the survivor list to see if he can get anybody to play. Unbelievably, Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes stepped up and took the field.
Murphy signed Ernie Taylor from Blackburn, and Stan Crowther from Aston Villa. Both were able to play for Man Utd only because FA had given special dispensation to field cup tied players citing special circumstances. Particularly Stan was signed one hour before the Sheffield Wednesday match for 18 Grand from Villa. All in all, there were eleven eligible players on the pitch now.
The match programme of the day itself was a poignant one. It had a stirring rallying call from the then United chairman, Harold Hardman. Quoting ‘The Guardian’,The front of the programme carried a rallying call from the chairman, Harold Hardman:
“An unprecedented blow to British football has touched the hearts of millions,” he wrote. “The road back may be long and hard but, with the memory of those who died at Munich, of their stirring achievements and wonderful sportsmanship ever with us, Manchester United will rise again.”
Jimmy Murphy had left the team line up blank for the match programme. Partly because he himself did not know the team that was going to play. More poignant to the supporters because, it was a sickening reminder of what they were missing, and how much the household names of Man Utd will be missed henceforth.
Roared on
by emotion and a very partisan crowd of 60000, It was a match that United would never have lost. Bill Foulkes, and Harry Gregg took the field to raptures of emotions and tears from the crowd. They ran out 3-0 winners with Bobby Charlton watching from the stands, and Duncan Edwards still fighting for his life then, at the Rechts Der Isar Hospital. That day, belying the rumours that United will fold, they rose like Phoenix. The whole of England watched them, cried with them, and cheered them on, as they stuttered towards survival.
The Rest of the Season
Even though, United won the match, and were running on Adrenaline and emotion alone, soon the hard reality would catch up with them. They regularly lost in the league. In fact, they won a single match after the crash. They ended the season in 9th place, before the crash, they were competing with the pace setters Wolverhampton Wanderers coached by Stan Cullis for the title.
United would never be undone though. They were still running on emotion and that saw them beat AC Milan 2-1 at home in the European Cup semi final, but they were thoroughly beated 4-0 on the return leg at Milan. As Bill Foulkes would later observe, they had nothing to give anymore. They were running on empty fuel and were drained by all the forces in the field, and outside it. On the field matches, off the field nightmares, a thread bare squad and the quality of the opposition, everything would make sure that there was no fairy tale ending.
United still made it to the FA Cup finals were they faced Bolton at Wembley. Gregg, Foulkes and Charlton played in the final amidst tears. The whole of England rooted for them. But it wasn’t to be. They were beaten 2-0 by Bolton. Thus the season with so much promise for United, ended with so much tears and no trophies. But the club would soldier on.
Sir Matt Busby
Alexander Matthew “Matt” Busby, later Sir Matt Busby, is,was and forever the soul of United. Fittingly, the club opens it gates to ‘Sir Matt Busby Way’. The affable Scot began his playing career at bitter rivals Manchester City and then moved to Liverpool. He captained Liverpool with pride and success.
But soon, his playing days would end because of World War II, and he had signed up for national service in the King’s Liverpool Regiment. Busby would return to management and having been turned down by Liverpool, he took up the job in Man Utd. Thus the journey began , which would see him become the ‘Soul of Man Utd’ forever.

Even though he was inexperienced, he quickly learned the tricks in the trade, and led United to Runner up spots in the league on 4 occasions. The crowning glory of his career would come in 1952, when Man Utd, led astutely by Sir Matt and captained by Johnny Carey would win the championship, while Liverpool watched. Worryingly, the title winning United side had a lot of older players and the age was beginning to show.
While the fans and the country was expecting United to invest heavily in popular league players, Matt Busby showed his true legacy to football. Matt Busby had employed a good scouting system who would often sign young players in the age group of 16-18 and trained them well in the Youth team of Manchester United. At that time, this was unheard of. He developed a competitive Youth team filled with outstanding talents.
He slowly replaced the older players in the senior team with the talented youngsters. These included players like right-back Bill Foulkes, centre-halves Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones and Jackie Blanchflower, wingers Albert Scanlon and David Pegg and forward Liam Whelan. The team was affectionately called as the ‘Busby Babes’. This in turn, helped Busby with a lot of money to spend, which was wisely invested on quality players like Harry Gregg and Tommy Taylor, who was the world’s expensive keeper at the time, signed from Doncaster Rovers.
The 57-58 season, was one full of promise for Busby. He had enrolled the team for the European Cup, and United were contesting for the treble, the Football League title, FA Cup and European Cup. It all ended in tears for Matt Busby. He was so critically wounded in the crash, being the staunch Catholic he is, that he has given the ‘last rites’ two times.
He survived the Crash, and a limping, weak and pale Busby walked around the ground at Wembley, during the FA Cup final that season. He saw United lose 0-2 at Wembley to Bolton. With a lot of prodding from friends and family, Busby took up the job again. Close relatives have given their account on how ‘Busby felt personally responsible for the death of the team’, as he had enrolled them in Europe.
Most of the team members who survived, had expressed their ‘Criminal guilt’ feeling, when they were questioned about their dead team mates, and not having died in the crash. Busby felt this anguish more so often, as he was virtually the father of the team. After thinking about the job on hand, and willing himself to leave an everlasting tribute to the Heaven’s team that died on that fateful day, Busby decided to carry on.
Quoting his wife,
“I don’t think that the boys who have gone would want you to finish. They would want you to go on,”
Quoting his son Sandy,
“He was still very ill. I used to help him with dressing and getting into bed.”“My dad took time thinking about it and decided to carry on.”
Busby decided to carry on. And on, he did.
The rise of the Phoenix
Matt Busby, had a huge job on his hands. He took over from Jimmy Murphy the following season. He took over a squad, which was haunted by the painful past, and tried to build a team out of it. It’s incredible to think of what Sir Matt Busby had achieved in his time. The survivors of the crash had to be willed on to continue. The memories of their dead teammates would come back to haunt them time and time again.
But none more troubled than Busby himself. Knowing fully well, that he was the principal reason for United competing in Europe, and being responsible for the travel ordeals, he had to rise above himself and inspire his new team to develop the mentality of winning, again. And, as a father figure, he sought to give the survivors, the faith and belief in life itself.
Slowly, the wounds in the minds of the players would heal, but the scars remained. A rejuvenated Busby realised that the only way he could do justice to the team of 58, was to build another side to glory. Driven by that thought, Busby willed himself to work towards that goal.
By then, Matt Busby had been appointed the manager of Scotland, albeit temporarily. He would give Denis Law his debut during his stint as Scotland manager. He would eventually go on to buy Denis Law for a British record fee of 115,000 Pounds from Torino. This would prove to be a crucial signing, as Denis Law, would go on to become an Old Trafford legend, and would be called as ‘The King of Stretford End’.
Busby made shrewd signings like Albert Quixall and Denis Law, and along with the Munich survivors Harry Gregg, Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes, they would go on to form the backbone of the team. Busby would go on to successfully rebuild the team and in 1963, the silverware would duly arrive, with Leicester City outclassed in the FA Cup final.
In the same year, another significant signing was made. Bob Bishop, the Man Utd scout, sent a telegram to Matt Busby.
It only said,
‘I think I’ve found you a genius’.
George ‘Simply the’ Best, was signed by United in 1963. All of 16 years old, considered by many as the most gifted footballer in the world, George Best would leave an everlasting impact at Manchester United.
Together with Denis Law, and the ever present Bobby Charlton, George Best formed ‘The Holy Trinity’. Manchester United, driven by them and the astute leadership of Matt Busby, would go on to win the League in 1965 and 1967 as well.The Pinnacle of Glory
But the crowning glory of Matt Busby would come in 29th May, 1968. Competing in the league against a very strong Man City side led by Joe Mercer, Man Utd went on to achieve the one thing that they set out to do, especially after Munich.
On a glorious night at the Wembley Stadium, Man Utd became the first English team to reach and win the European Cup when they beat a very strong Benfica 4-1 in a thrilling match, which went to Extra time. Benfica, were one of the most feared teams in that era, boasting players like Eusebio.
The teams cancelled each other out in a cagey and tense first half, and the match exploded into life in the second. 8 Minutes into the second half, United took the lead after same clever play from Sadler who swung a glorious cross from the left for Bobby Charlton to head home. United had gone into the match with 3 up front, with Best, Aston and the young Brian Kidd, all of 19 years old.
Charlton, Sadler and Crerand played midfield and a 4 man defence in Foulkes, Brennan, Dunne and Stiles along with Stepney in goal completed the team. Benfica eventually equalised with 10 minutes to spare, as Eusebio tried all his might. Deep in the injury time, Eusebio set on a powerful run and found himself one on one with Stepney who stood his ground and pulled off a magnificient save, saving the match as well. Eusebio stood back and applauded the save!!
The match went into extra time and Man Utd played like a team possessed. In a glorious display of all round football skills, United scored 3 goals in no time. The hardworking Best, who was subjected to some heavy tackling by the Benfica through out the game, scored the second goal for Man Utd. He dribbling a defender and rounded the goal keeper before slotting the ball in.
Two years earlier, Best had scored a brilliant hat trick which blew away Benfica. They had learnt their lessons on that day, and were determined to stop Best, with some questionably heavy tackles. After the match, Best admitted that his original intention was to dribble the ball to the goal line and stop the ball, and nod it in with his head into the goal, but stopped from doing so, because the defenders made ground quickly. To even think about such an act, shows pointers about the heavenly talent that Best got.
Two more goals went in the first half extra time, with the young Kidd scoring an immaculate header after a game of mini pin ball in the Benfica box, and Charlton rounding off the match in style with an immaculate shot from a fairly tight angle. The night ended in raptures of glory for Matt Busby, the Man Utd team and England. Man Utd had won the European Cup.
It made a special night for the Munich survivors, who made their peace with their mates in Heaven.
Back in England, they finished a close second to Manchester City losing the crown in the final day of the season, but the European Cup more than made up for the disappointment in the league.
Matt Busby was knighted for his exploits and for the Man Utd supporters, he’ll forever be the affable Sir Matt.
As they say,
“Maradona good. Pele better. George BEST.”
And as the banner says,
“Eusebio and I say Kiddo…Kiddo,Kiddo - Wembley’68″
The After years
Sir Matt Busby retired soon after, and Man Utd struggled to replace Sir Matt. A spate of new managers and players were tried unsuccessfully, but the club was relegated in 1974. By then, there was no Bobby Charlton, Denis Law or George Best.
Wilf McGuinness, Frank O’Farrell, Tommy Dochetry and Dave Sexton all were tried as managers, but could not effectively replace Sir Matt. Eventually, the colorful Ron Atkinson would bring silverware back to the club by winning the FA Cup twice, in 1983 and 1985. He signed outstanding players like ‘Captain Marvel’ Bryan Robson for the cause.
In 1986, after a promising start, the club’s form imploded and Atkinson was replaced by a young manager from Scotland, who had shown considerable promise at Aberdeen guiding them to European trophies.
That man was Alex Ferguson.
The Ferguson Era
Alex Ferguson, lovingly Fergie for Man Utd fans, will go on to become the most successful coach in the history of Man Utd. Amazingly, he is still the manager of Man Utd, and in today’s climate of football coaching, such longevity at a club is unheard of, and it will probably never be emulated.
After a suspect 3 initial years in charge, when Ferguson built his own team, and dismantled the drinking culture at the club, He won his first silverware, The FA Cup in the 1989 season.
First success in Europe after 1968’s historic triumph followed next season, when United beat a Maradona led Barcelona the next season. Soon, the trophy everyone craved for, the English League would arrive at the club in 1992-93 season, a full 26 years after the 67 season.
Then there was no stopping Man Utd and Fergie. To date, he has won an astonishing 10 League winners medals, 5 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 7 Community Shields, 2 European Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup, and 1 Inter Continental Cup. All these trophies were won at his time at Manchester United. His exploits with Aberdeen haven’t been taken into account.
All of Ferguson’s team played attacking football and were easy on the eye. He put his faith on youth like Sir Matt and was generously rewarded.
Rock on Fergie. Give us a wave.
1999 Treble and 2008 Double
Even though, Ferguson kept accumulating domestic titles, the Europe is what he craved for. He realised for a club as big as Man Utd, European recognition is a must. With no limitation on players nationality anymore, Fergie led United to glory in 1999.
26th May 1999, Sir Matt’s Birthday. United faced Bayern Munich, and in one of the most nerve wracking ends to the final, scored 2 injury time goals to overturn a one goal deficit and won the European Cup. The team boasted of exceptionally talented players like Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Peter Schemichel, Paul Scholes, Andy Cole, David Beckham and they performed magnificiently well.
The year 1999 would be a historic year as United won the Treble. An unique achievement, winning the FA Cup, The English League and the European Cup. No team has ever done it before or ever since.

“Football, Bloody Hell.”
2008 Team, came close to doing it. Driven by Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42 goals and wonderful attacking play by Rooney and Tevez, powered on by a strong midfield including Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, and Owen Hargreaves, and protected by a rock solid defence commanded by Rio Ferdinand Vidic, with astute goal keeping by Edwin Van Der Saar, the team was on course for a treble.
On 6th February 2008, Manchester United played Manchester City in the English Premier League. Exactly 50 years before, the Munich Air disaster had wiped out half the Man Utd squad. A special dispensation was given to both the teams, and both the teams sported jerseys without sponsors. The jerseys worn by the players were from the ill fated 1958 season.
A minute’s silence was immaculately observed by both sets of supporters, who held the scarves that were given to them before the match. Manchester City surprisingly beat Man Utd, who seemed a little overawed by the occasion. But they would still reserve the best possible tribute for the team of 1958.
They were beaten cruelly by Portsmouth, in the FA Cup Quaterfinal, despite dominating the entire match. They would not be denied the glory of success.
Chelsea battled United all the way both in the league and Europe. The league was won on the last day when United beat Wigan, and Chelsea were held by Bolton, and United beat Chelsea on penalties in the European Champions League final in Moscow.
On the 50th year of Munich, the team fittingly gave the perfect tribute to the Lost Busby babes.
As the song goes,
“We’ll keep the red flag flying high,We’re Man Utd, We’ll never die.”
The club will go on. But we will remember our martyrs.
The next time, we put on our club jerseys and cheer for the team, we are not only cheering for Rooney’s and Scholes’. We are cheering for that team from heaven too, who made the club what they are. We will forever remember them with a little tear on the corner of our eyes, as we joyously support United and will them on to more and more success.
RIP, The Busby babes.Lest we Forget.
*We would like to say our sincere thanks to Mike Thomas, and Munich58.co.uk for providing some of the images in this article. Some of the facts in this article have been taken from Munich58.co.uk. Please visit the site for further details.
*The writer of this article did not live at the time of the incident, and this article is based on the collection of facts about the Munich incident across various internet sites and books. Any mistakes found in this article is regretted. Feedbacks regarding this article is appreciated. Let us know the mistakes and we would be glad to correct it.
*No line from this article has been taken from any other website intentionally. If similar lines are found in other articles, it’s purely by accident.
*If you do use the article to quote in other forums/public gatherings, please credit manutdasia.org as the source. Your co-operation is much appreciated.

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