It’s time to up the ante and get a debate going!
Written by John White
Branch Secretary
Carryduff Manchester United Supporters’ Club
The World’s 5th Largest Official MUSC & Northern Ireland’s Biggest MUSC
Manchester United’s starting XI versus Wolves in their recent first away fixture of the 2019 / 2020 season was:
David De Gea 28
Luke Shaw 24
Victor Lindelof 25
Harry Maguire 26
Aaron Wan-Bissaka 21
Daniel James 21
Paul Pogba 26
Scott McTominay 22
Jesse Lingard 26
Marcus Rashford 21
Anthony Martial 23
Average age: 23.9 years
Juan Mata (31) replaced Jesse Lingard in the 81st minute, Mason Greenwood (17) came on for Daniel James in the 89th minute and Andreas Pereira (23) replaced Marcus Rashford in the 89th minute.
Average age: 21.8 years
When we played Aston Villa in the opening game of the 1995-96 season, which was exactly 24 years ago, our team was:
Peter Schmeichel 31
Gary Neville 20
Paul Parker 31
Gary Pallister 30
Denis Irwin 29
Lee Sharpe 24
Paul Scholes 20
Roy Keane 24
Nicky Butt 20
Phil Neville 18
Brian McClair 31
Average age: 27.5 years
David Beckham (20) replaced Phil Neville at half-time and John O’Kane (20) came on for Gary Pallister in the 59th minute. Beckham scored in the 84th minute.
Average age: 24.5 years
The biggest thing that stood out for me from our 1-1 draw with Wolves, apart from the 3.5 year age difference in the sides, and let’s not forget that the 1995-96 side, which I fondly remember gave breath to the now infamous term, “Fergie’s Fledglings,” was the make-up of our side in terms of nationality.
Twenty-four years ago, our starting eleven comprised 7 English born players and with the exception of Schmeichel, 10 of the 11 were from Britain and Ireland. Last night that same figure was 7 of the 11. By the way, Eric was sunbathing himself on the side lines at Villa Park, excluded from playing any part in the game as he was still serving his Carl Douglas (do you remember “Everybody’s Kung Fu Fighting? Of course, you do) 9 months ban for defending his Mother’s name. Who among us would not do likewise?
The following is the team which drew 3-3 away to Red Star Belgrade on 5 February 1958 in the quarter-finals of the European Cup. The following day became the darkest in the history of our great club, The Munich Air Disaster.
Harry Gregg 25
Bill Foulkes 26
Roger Byrne (he died 2 days before his 29th birthday) 28
Eddie Colman (died) 21
Mark Jones (died) 24
Duncan Edwards (died) 21
Kenny Morgans 18
Bobby Charlton 20
Tommy Taylor (died) 26
Dennis Viollet 24
Albert Scanlon 22
Average age: 23.2 years
The above team comprised 9 English players, one Welsh player (Kenny Morgans) and our own Harry Gregg.
Having won the 1st leg 2-1 at Old Trafford Manchester United had progressed to the semi-finals where they would meet the reigning Italian Champions, AC Milan. Their chartered flight had to stop-off at Munich-Riem Airport en route to Manchester for refuelling as a non-stop trip from Belgrade to Manchester was not possible for British European Airways; (BEA) Elizabethan class airplane (called “Lord Burleigh”).
The flight from Belgrade to Munich was delayed for an hour when Johnny Berry could not find his passport. When the plane touched down in Munich the weather conditions were extremely poor with a chill factor wind swirling around the airport. Around 2.00pm the twin-engine airplane was ready for take-off with Captain Kenneth Rayment, second in command at the controls. Captain James Thain had flown the plane from Manchester to Belgrade two days earlier and handed over the controls to Captain Rayment for the flight home.
At 2.31pm Captain Rayment radioed the control tower to inform them that the plane was rolling. However, as the plane made its way down the runway Captain Thain noticed the port pressure gauge fluctuating just as full power had been engaged and a strange sound emanating from the engine during acceleration. Within just 40 seconds of starting off Captain Rayment abandoned take-off.
It was quickly discovered that the problem had been that of boost surge whereby the engines over-accelerated because of the very rich mixture of fuel. Post the disaster flight experts said that this was quite a common problem with the Elizabethan class but the German investigation claimed that iced wings prevented the aircraft from rising.
At 2.34pm air traffic control radioed the plane and gave Captain Rayment permission for BEA Flight No.609 Zulu Uniform to attempt a second take-off but once again the plane came to a halt. After the second aborted attempt to take-off the players and other passengers returned to the airport lounge and the plane was inspected by the airport ground crew. By this time it had started to snow heavily.
Seeing the snow start to fall quite heavy a number of the players thought that they would be stopping off for the night at a nearby hotel thinking conditions were starting to become too bad to fly home. Indeed, Duncan Edwards sent a telegram to his landlady in Manchester which read:
“All flights cancelled, flying tomorrow. Duncan.”
After a further 15 minutes wait in the airport lounge everyone got back onboard the plane with a number of the passengers including Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, Tommy Taylor and Frank Swift opting to move to the rear of the aircraft where they felt it to be a much safer place to be seated. Following discussions between Captain Thain, Captain Rayment and the airport engineer, William Black, 609 Zulu Uniform was on the move once again at 3.01pm.
As the plane sped down the runway the air speed indicator quickly dropped from a reading of 117 knots to 105 knots. The Elizabethan airplane shot off the slush covered runway crashing through a fence before sliding across a road where its port wing struck a nearby house. Upon impact part of the tail and wing were instantly ripped off, the cockpit hit a tree, the starboard side of the fuselage hit a wooden hut housing a truck loaded with fuel and tyres and Lord Burleigh burst into flames. It was 3.03pm.
Twenty of the 44 people onboard the aircraft died instantly in the crash whilst the injured, many of them unconscious, including a seriously injured Matt Busby, were taken to the nearby Rechts de Isar Hospital in Munich. Busby had fractured ribs, a punctured and completely deflated lung and injuries to his legs which led to a member of the hospital’s medical staff informing journalists:
“We do not have much hope of saving Mr Busby.”
For two days his life hung in the balance whilst Matt, a devout Roman Catholic, was given the Last Rites on two separate occasions in hospital. However, it was not until the morning of 7th February 1958, that the world became aware of the true scale and horror of what happened at Munich airport.
Meanwhile, Duncan’s telegram was delivered at approximately 5.00pm, less than two hours after the crash. Matt Busby lay in an oxygen tent, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet suffered a gashed head, Ray Wood suffered a cut face and concussion, Albert Scanlon fractured his skull, Duncan Edwards’ injuries were very serious whilst Johnny Berry and Ken Morgans lay motionless in their hospital beds. Berry broke his jaw, elbow, pelvis, leg and cracked his skull and a surgeon had to remove all of his teeth in order to repair his jaw. Remarkably despite his horrendous injuries Berry survived.
Meanwhile, Belfast’s Jackie Blanchflower suffered horrendous injuries including a fractured pelvis, broken ribs, severe kidney damages, a severed arm and many other fractures to his battered body. Jackie almost missed the trip to Belgrade and was only declared fit the day before the team set off and travelled as back-up to Mark Jones. Eventually Matt Busby’s name was removed from the Danger List whilst the hospital staff under the leadership of Professor George Maurer, the Chief Surgeon, worked tirelessly day and night to save the lives of many of his injured players and passengers in their care.
Fatalities of the Munich Air Disaster
Manchester United players
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards (survived the crash but died in hospital 15 days later)
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam “Billy” Whelan
Manchester United Staff
Walter Crickmer – Club Secretary
Bert Whalley – Chief Coach
Tom Curry – Trainer
Journalists
Alf Clarke – Manchester Evening Chronicle
Don Davies – Manchester Guardian
George Follows – Daily Herald
Tom Jackson – Manchester Evening News
Archie Ledbrooke – Daily Mirror
Henry Rose – Daily Express
Eric Thompson – Daily Mail
Frank Swift – News of the World (former Manchester City & England goalkeeper)
Flight Crew Members
Kenneth Rayment – the British co-pilot (survived the crash but died in hospital 21 days later)
Tommy Cable – Steward on the flight
Others
Bela Miklos – Travel Agent
Willie Satinoff – a personal friend of Matt Busby (racecourse owner and Manchester United fan)
So, who do you think is the best, Busby’s Babes, Fergie’s Fledglings or Ole’s Kids?
Please feel free to leave your view in the comment facility beneath this article.
You know what? And any United fan aged 35 or older (maybe even younger Reds) will understand my reply to my own question. By far, I consider our 1995-96 squad, and let’s not forget it also included other “kids,” such as Terry Cooke, Simon Davies & Ben Thornley, is our best ever compliment of youth since the unforgettable Busby Babes squad of 1957-58.
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Well written article. Very informative .
Thank you