54 years ago today... The Munich air disaster... Only seen documentaries and the like....but some might remember it well... How good was that team, and how far could it have gone? Anyhow a sad day.... 1958: United players killed in air disaster Seven Manchester United footballers are among 21 dead after an air crash in Munich. The British European Airways (BEA) plane caught fire shortly after take off this afternoon with 38 passengers and six crew on board. The footballing world is reeling from the loss of some of its most talented young players - known as the Busby Babes. Their average age was 24 and they included Roger Byrne - the captain - Mark Jones, Eddie Colman, Tommy Taylor, Liam Whelan, David Pegg and Geoff Bent http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_2535000/2535961.stm
Basically, a good team, grossly over-hyped. For a start, they weren't the most successful team of the 1950s. They won two league titles and lost two cup finals, whereas Stan Cullis's Wolves won three titles and won one cup final. The best prospect of them all was far-and-away, Duncan Edwards. He was exceptionally mature for an eighteen year-old, and looked like he'd been a first division player for donkey's years. He was capable of nice football, but always knew when not to - I've two photographs of England v Scotland games, and he's giving it big boot in both of them - he never messed about when Scotland's Lawrie Reilly was about (very wisely!). Another player I always thought was very under-rated was right-half Eddie Colman. Skill coming out of his ears. What's created the Busby Babes legend, is that, around 1950, Louis Edwards (the chairman) had a club on it's knees. They won nothing from 1909 to 1948 - and the cup winning side of '48 was ageing and quickly fell to pieces. He couldn't buy new players - club finances had been crippled by the necessity to build a new ground after the war (Old Trafford had been bombed). Busby had built from youth because he had no choice. They were good, and they were tragically lost. Edwards saw his chance. He hyped and marketed that plane crash like mad - and the money began to roll in. It turned them from a second rate club with a good young side into world renowned heroes. In the 1980s, the Dynamo Tbilisi team that stuffed Liverpool at Anfield (no mean feat in the '80s!) lost more of their players in a plane crash, but there was nothing like the hype about that. So really, what the modern documentaries show is Louis Edwards' business acumen. As I said, a good side, but grossly over-hyped today. Frankly, the 1968 side with Law, Best, Crerand &co would have murdered the Babes.
