Source: Daily_Mail
Matt Busby miracle: Manchester United's remarkable rise from the ashes of Munich
David Meek, the doyen of Manchester United football writing, has covered the club for more than 50 years, ever since the traumatic time after the Munich air crash of 1958.[LNB]Here, with United closing in on their fourth European Cup, he reflects on the remarkable period that led to the club's first triumph in Europe just 10 years after the tragedy.[LNB]The Munich air disaster of 1958 savaged not only Manchester United but journalism, with eight of the country's leading football writers losing their lives on that slush-bound Munich runway as the plane crashed on its third attempt to take off after a refuelling stop.[LNB] I was one of the young reporters drafted in by the various newspapers to take over coverage of the tragedy and United's struggle for survival.[LNB] 1958: Bobby Charlton lies in a Munich hospital bed (above left) after the plane carrying United back from a game in Belgrade crashes during a stopover in Germany, killing 23. Wearing the phoenix on their shirts, United reach the FA Cup final but are beaten 2-0 by Bolton, with Nat Lofthouse bundling in the second (below)[LNB] [LNB] [LNB] So I was in at the start of what I came to realise was one of the most remarkable and inspiring stories in sport: how United triumphed in a battle for survival to become the first English club to win the European Cup. That amazing victory at Wembley came in 1968, just 10 years after the club had been robbed of their future, the Busby Babes, the club secretary and key training staff.[LNB] United's phoenix rising from the ashes became a bird that would go on to fly so high that the club became a brand recognised all over the world.[LNB] The men at the helm at Old Trafford 50 years ago have never, in my view, been given sufficient credit for their remarkable achievement.[LNB] It was certainly a bleak outlook as Jimmy Murphy, Matt Busby's assistant who had missed the trip to Germany because he was involved in an international match as the manager of Wales, picked up the pieces. He coaxed survivors Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg back into action, signed a couple of players in Ernie Taylor and Stan Crowther, and then made men out of boys from the junior teams.[LNB] Busby himself lay at death's door, twice receiving the last rites, and it was months before he could resume work. [LNB]Jimmy, helped by the return to the club of goalkeeper Jack Crompton as trainer, took this ragtag and bobtail of a team to the final of the FA Cup, where they lost 2-0 to Bolton. [LNB] The following season was unbelievable, with Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet and Albert Scanlon recovering from their Munich injuries to play again, reinforced by the signing of Albert Quixall, the golden boy of his day, from Sheffield Wednesday, and the arrival of an England amateur international, schoolteacher Warren Bradley from Bishop Auckland.[LNB] It was an unlikely combination but much to everyone's surprise United prospered to finish runners-up to Wolves in the First Division. Charlton scored 29 goals, his best ever season's tally.[LNB] 1963: United captain Noel Cantwell leads celebrations after a 3-1 FA Cup final win over Leicester at Wembley[LNB] The following year they finished ninth but they never forgot their style. They were a team built for scoring goals in true Busby tradition, with Viollet establishing a United record of 32 league goals, a record that still stands.[LNB] In those early days after Munich it was almost painful to watch the newly built side trying to match the dash and daring of the Busby Babes. They played on the emotion that flowed from the crowd, and brave though they were, I felt Busby was somehow asking the impossible.[LNB] I am sure he must have had similar doubts, but he never showed it as, one by one, he fitted what he always hoped would be the last piece of the jigsaw to complete a real team.[LNB] United were too erratic to win the league, though, and Busby was still ambitious. He turned to the transfer market, buying the strength of Maurice Setters and the scoring ability of David Herd from Arsenal.[LNB] Soon came his real coup, bringing Denis Law home from Torino for a then record ?115,000. Then he signed Pat Crerand to make the team tick and, after bringing in Noel Cantwell from West Ham to become his captain, United made their first real mark, beating Leicester to win the 1963 FA Cup final. That first trophy came just five years after Munich.[LNB] Youngsters such as Johnny Giles and Nobby Stiles were beginning to come through from a resurrected youth policy and slowly but surely United were on their way back to the top.[LNB] George Best broke through and suddenly we had the triumvirate of Charlton, Law and Best, three European Footballers of the Year all playing in the same team at the same time. Local reporter and fans alike, we didn't know how lucky and privileged we were, as I am reminded when I look at their bronze statues standing guard outside Old Trafford these days.[LNB] I felt now that I was watching not ghosts but players in their own right. We had moved on from the crash, with the magical Best winning a cult following as the first footballer pop star, Charlton bewitching me with his graceful Corinthian game in counter- balance to the fiery devilish play of Law, the demon king. It was exciting, heady stuff.[LNB] 1967: Crerand and George Best go up for a header with Arsenal's Frank McLintock and John Radford (main picture) in a season United won the league (below)[LNB] Manchester United manager Matt Busby holds the First Division championship trophy aloft[LNB] On a personal level, as the Manchester Evening News reporter covering United, I felt I had served my apprenticeship and could now look Busby in the eye without seeing the pain of him realising that so many of his old friends from the press had also lost their lives along with his beloved Babes.[LNB] It was just a matter of time now. Two championships followed - 1965 and 1967 - and then came triumph against Benfica at Wembley in 1968.[LNB] This, I felt, was the climax to the Munich story and there was sadness as well as joy as United emerged 4-1 victors in extra time.[LNB] Charlton had been in at the beginning of the quest for the European grail and Busby used to say that when he felt moments of despair he would see Bobby and feel there was still hope. [LNB] Foulkes, the other crash survivor in the final, told me afterwards: 'I had come the whole way with the boss, trying to make Manchester United the champions of Europe.[LNB] 'I thought the destruction of our team at Munich would have been the end of it, but he patiently put together another side.[LNB] 'I'm proud to have been part of it, and for those of us who lost our friends coming home from a European Cup tie in 1958, our victory seemed the right tribute to their memory.'[LNB] When I watch Sir Alex Ferguson's team take on Barcelona at Wembley on May 28, my mind will go back to the tough 10 years after the Munich accident, when Manchester United first gave notice that they had a future in European football. [LNB]WATCH THE VIDEO[LNB][LNB] This time it's for real! Chelsea and Man United gear up for title deciderMartin Samuel: Give us an occasion that does justice to Wembley '68All the latest Manchester United news, features and opinion[LNB] [LNB]
