Just watched the programme on BBC2 called 'United' about the Man Utd Munich air disaster. Just puts everything into perspective - thoroughly enjoyed it. I am wiping away the tears as I write this article.
Good team, but much of what goes round these days about them is a myth built up by Man. U. as a marketable commodity. They won two championships and lost a cup final. In the same period, Wolves won three championships and won a cup final - they were the successful team of that time, not Man. U. The Babes contained one really great young player - Duncan Edwards - and a very under-rated and now largely forgotten half-back of immense promise, Eddie Coleman. Apart from that, they were a good team but nothing remotely like the modern hype makes them out to be. The Man. U. side of the 1960s - Law, Best, Crerend &co. - would have absolutely murdered them. The real Munich tragedy for me was the loss of an ex-player, then working as a journalist - the unforgettable Frank Swift.
Don't mean to sound rude but several young lads with lives still to live died. Mr Swift, from what I know lived a much fuller life. However I think each death's as sad as the next, the non-footballers included.
Sure, I'm not making light of the lad's deaths, by any means. It's just that Swiftie was one of the most irrespressible and loveable characters ever to play the game, and anyone who'd seen him just had to be saddened. The whole thing was tragic, as was the great Dynamo Tbilisi team lost in a plane crash in the 1980s.
Tragic loss of life. I also recall Sunderland attempting to sign Ernie Taylor in an attempt to stave off a very first relegation. They magnanimously stood aside to let Man U have him.... and we got relegated.....
