6th February 1958
It’s been everywhere this week so I may as well blog about it.
To be a Man United fan is to know about Munich, and once you know about it you recognise what a massive part of the club it is. Alex Ferguson said that the way the club is based today is entirely due to the events of that day. 23 people died including 8 players; additionally, 2 players would never play again: that’s 10 players who had been part of the most exciting young team the world has ever seen.
The Babes won the league in 1956 with an average age of 21 and were invited to play in the second ever season of the European Cup. They were the first English club to enter the competition against the wishes of the FA who thought it was a worthless tournament. Their first match was away at Anderlecht who they beat 2-0, the return leg saw the Babes win 10-0. They got to the semi finals where they were beaten by another of football’s greatest ever teams, the Real Madrid side of the 50s including players such as Di Stefano. That was a lesson and having retained the league in 1957 they again entered the competition and again reached the semi final – many around at the time said that the babes were so good the trophy was in the bag.
Having reached the semi final the plane crashed on the way home during a fuel stop in Munich. The average age of the 8 players who died was 23.
That’s why this week’s been so full of Munich. I went down to Old Trafford on Wednesday to mark the anniversary and there were thousands of people there – not bad considering it was a Wednesday afternoon. There was loads going on but the centerpiece was the reading out of the names of the 23 who died followed by a minute’s silence and singing The Flowers of Manchester.
It all went swimmingly and all eyes were on today for the derby. There was a lot of hype as to whether City fans would respect the minute’s silence and various pleas from both sides (especially as former City Kkeeper Frank Swift was one of the dead as he flew with the team as a journalist for the MEN). The teams wore special kits with no sponsors; Man Utd wore a replica of the 1958 jersey with numbers 1 to 11 on the back and the fans were given commemorative scarves.
The silence was perfectly observed with 75,000 scarves aloft. I think on a day like this it would be inappropriate to mention any aspect of the game, the United team performance, our inability to defend or indeed the scoreline.
This also gave me an opportunity to try out a new slideshow thingy on this blog, below.
