That's a very good point, Nostalgic, and one that's all too often forgotten these days. That 1948 Cup win was the first trophy Man. U. had won for nearly forty years (1909). And even the 1948 team crumbled in the next couple of years. Charlie Mitten went illegal to Colombia in 1949 or '50. Allonby Chiltern retired. Another Cup winner, Johnny Morris, disliked Busby and went into his office and demanded a transfer. Busby refused, but had forgotten who he was talking to. Johnny was a professional standard golfer. He went back to Busby a couple of days later and asked for his P45! He'd decided to pack up football and earn his living as a golf pro. Busby had no choice but to transfer him to Derby County or lose him for nowt! Man. U. were skint - they'd had to re-built Old Trafford after the war because it had suffered a direct hit during an air raid. They played the first season of league football after the war at Maine Rd. It was the crumbling of the '48 team that led Busby to build a team of low-cost kids - the Busby Babes were built on financial necessity. Today's idea that Man. U. have always been giants is drivel. As you say, they were anything but giants back then.