The ill-fated players, officials and journalists in 1958.Link of article:
The AgeDaniel Taylor
February 4, 2008
WHEN Sir Bobby Charlton comes up the stairs at Manchester United's training ground he is everything you would imagine: straight-backed and dignified, wearing polished shoes and a crisp suit, with a handkerchief in the top pocket.
His eyes are a little rheumy these days, his hands slightly unsteady, but he looks good for a man of 70 and it quickly becomes clear that he still possesses that rarest of gifts - the ability to silence a busy room with his mere presence.
To some people he can come across as a little stern sometimes, too standoffish, maybe a little unsmiling.
What you have to realise is that Charlton was once firmly established at Old Trafford as "one of the boys".
Everyone who survived Munich was affected in different ways and the people who know Charlton best, including his brother, say there is irrefutable evidence that he "stopped smiling" and left his sparkle in the wreckage of the Elizabethan aircraft.
Friends occasionally come up to Jack Charlton and say, "Your Bob goes around as if he has the world on his shoulders" - and what is clear is that the younger sibling is still terribly affected by the events in Bavaria.
If Charlton closes his eyes, he can still remember the awful noise of metal on metal, then the smoke and grit and the blare of sirens.
He can vividly recall coming to, outside the wrecked plane but still strapped into his seat, and seeing so many stricken teammates lying around him, some already beyond help, and he will never forget the following morning in hospital when a German in the next bed read out the names of the dead.
"The names of all my pals," he says.
"Friends I would go to the dance with at the weekend.
Friends who would invite me to dinner at Christmas.
It felt like my life was being taken away from me, piece by piece." For many years, Charlton has been unable, or unwilling, to talk about Munich, and it is clearly still an ordeal for him to find the words that adequately express his feelings.
At times he stumbles uncharacteristically and at one point he lowers his eyes and his voice is barely audible.
"I find it really, really upsetting, even today," he says.
"But I want to talk about it because I want to tell people exactly how good that team was.
And we were good, all right.
We were almost certainly going to be the first English team to win the European Cup.
I'm convinced England had a great chance of winning the World Cup that year.
And we had players - Duncan Edwards, for example - who would have been playing in 1966." He feels a duty, he says, to educate the current squad.
Not the likes of Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, who are well versed in the club's history, but the foreign players new to Old Trafford.
A few weeks ago, Charlton requested Sir Alex Ferguson's permission to speak to the squad.
His talk lasted for an hour and, at the end, the players were each given a DVD about the Busby Babes.
"I would just hate for people to forget why this anniversary is such a big event," he says.
"It is a big event because we were the best team in the country.
But people don't believe me sometimes when I tell them how good Duncan Edwards was.
Tommy Taylor.
David Pegg.
Eddie Colman.
Billy Whelan.
You look at the old black-and-white footage and you think everything is slow and ponderous but, I tell you, they all had unbelievable talent - and I would hate for anyone to forget that." His life since Munich, he says, has been accompanied by one simple question: why me? Why, he wants to know, was he able to run his hands over his body and realise he had nothing more serious than a bang on the head and a small cut? He has been searching for an answer for 50 years and it is still something he cannot explain - but he will never lose sight of the fact that the miracle of life came at a terrible price.
"Everyone was so happy," he recalls.
"We had qualified for the next round and when we got on the plane there was so much laughter.
But then the plane just went straight along the runway.
You have a general idea how long it takes to take off and I was thinking, 'There's something not quite right here.' There were six or seven inches of slush on the runway.
I bent my head down and braced myself.
We went through the perimeter fence and hit a house.
After that there's a void." "For the people who survived, all we can say is that we were lucky.
It was Matt Busby's family.
And he probably felt the loss more than anyone else because he had brought these players together, he had cajoled everyone's parents to make them sign for Manchester United and then he took them into Europe when he had been told it was against the FA's wishes." Charlton had found Busby lying on the runway and, in those catastrophic seconds, took off his overcoat to lay it across him.
"Manchester United had become his life," he says.
"He always said to me, 'All those lads you see in the morning going into Trafford Park, they come to watch you on a Saturday, they have a boring job and they want you to give them something a little bit special, something they will enjoy.' He said that so many times.
He was always saying, 'Don't be afraid to express yourselves'." Sir Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air crash and went on to become a legendary figure at Old Trafford.
Daniel Taylor spoke to him about the teammates he lost.
For the first time there is a flicker of a smile on his lips.
"He would be so proud of the current team." His own pride is apparent, too, even if it is entwined with pain and regret, and he was instrumental in asking for a minute's silence at the Manchester derby next Sunday, as opposed to a minute's applause.
The debate continues to rage about the wisdom of the decision but it speaks volumes about Charlton's belief in the sport that has provided the best and worst moments in his life that he has every faith in Manchester City's supporters.
"I would be very disappointed," he says, "if they don't behave accordingly but I think they will because I think City respect what Manchester United did at that particular time.
That side, in many ways, were pioneers.
I listen to all the great things people say about the Champions League and I think about how we went into Europe, against so many people's wishes, and what we did when we got there.
We deserve everyone's respect and I think we will get it."
THE LOST BABES: eight wonderful players taken too soon Roger Byrne, aged 28 Had he returned to Manchester alive, Roger Byrne would have discovered that his wife, Joy, was expecting their first child.
Byrne, a Mancunian, was regarded as one of the most accomplished defenders in the country and had played in 33 consecutive England matches.
Billy Whelan, aged 22 A Republic of Ireland international and an impressive finisher, scoring 43 times in 79 league games.
As the plane went out of control, Whelan is said to have leaned across to his teammate Albert Scanlon and uttered the words, "Albert, this is the end, but I'm ready for it." Tommy Taylor, aged 26 A tall, powerful centre-forward, who scored 16 goals in his 19 appearances for England.
Sir Matt Busby signed him five years earlier from Barnsley with a record transfer fee of £29,999.
Busby had not wanted to saddle the Yorkshireman with the tag of being the world's first £30,000 footballer, so he gave the other pound to a tea lady.
Duncan Edwards, aged 21 The star of the United team and, in terms of his style and ability, the Roy Keane of his day.
"The one player who made me feel inferior," according to Sir Bobby Charlton.
"If I had to play for my life and take one man with me, it would be him." Mark Jones, aged 24 The kind of centre-half for whom the word "uncompromising" could have been invented, and widely regarded as one of the best headers of the ball in the game.
He was working as an apprentice bricklayer before United gave him his chance and he was in the team at the age of 17.
Eddie Colman, aged 21 The youngest player to die in Munich, at the age of 21 years and three months.
He was affectionately known as "Snakehips" by the Old Trafford crowd, because of his trademark body swerve to elude defenders.
Geoff Bent, aged 25 Would probably not have been on the plane had Roger Byrne not taken a knock in the previous game against Arsenal.
Bent was called up as cover but did not take any part in the game after Byrne passed a fitness test.
David Pegg, aged 22 One of football's first pin-up boys, he was a stylish, handsome winger whose ability to trouble even the most accomplished opponents had, it was said, compelled Real Madrid to sign a defender specifically to nullify his threat.
GUARDIAN
It's been 50 years since the crash that took away 8 busby babes on feb 6. the article just makes me sniffle, particularly at the point where sir bobby charlton insisted on the importance of not having his team mates forgotten. to the younger generation of man utd supporters like us, i think this is one very good article that will drive the somberness and gravity of the situation then to us.
before reading this article, all i knew was just the basic figures and facts of this heroic tragedy that had befallen old trafford. after reading it, the helplessness, pain and feeling of loss can be greatly empathised. the power of media, the cynic may remark casually, but to the one who cares, it is thanks to the media that memories, be they be happy or painful ones, find an outlet to be relived and told to the world.
when the generation who are able to retell the incident fades to the afterlife in less than 3-4 decades, this tragedy will no doubt, be one that will remain etched on the books/plaques of man utd history. memories will cease to exist, and all that remains for the future generations of man utd supporters is merely something that they can continue to read about; even this piece of currently live narration will only exist as part of history. even as time continues to tick now, i am certain some memory of this important event has already been lost to us forever.
such is the reality and timelessness of time, and that it waits for no one. Labels: football, manchester united, musings
