Munich 63 years on – The other side

[HarryVardon]

It is 63 years ago today since the Munich air disaster. I remember it well. It is one of the few days in my life that I really cried. I had been watching all United’s home matches for the previous 5 years (I lived about 2 miles from Old Trafford and my school was only 200-300 yards away). I used to go there at lunch times to get autographs of the players. I had the autographs of all players and Matt Busby several times. The worst day of my life came a couple of weeks later when Duncan Edwards died. He was my idol and still the best footballer I have ever seen. Anyway, in later years I learnt many things about the disaster that disgusted me. The disaster itself was partly caused by the chairman of the football league (Alan Hardacre) who insisted that the United team had to be back in Manchester by Friday morning otherwise they would receive a heavy fine and have points deducted. He was totally against English teams playing in Europe and was out to get revenge. Without this threat the plane would not have taken off in such bad weather but waited for the following day. About a week after the disaster the FA forced them to play an FA Cup match. 8 players died, 2 never played again and several others were still in hospital. United had no team for this match, the team sheet in the program was just blank. They somehow got a team together, even rushing through transfers on the day of the match. They managed to win the match due to the massive emotion of the 65,000 crowd (which included me). Many years later I heard how badly the Munich players were treated by the United board. Two players who never played again (Johnny Berry & Jackie Blanchflower) received hardly any compensation and were kicked out of their club houses as soon as it became known that they would not play again. Several of the players killed were married and some had children. They were also living in club houses. Several weeks after the disaster the widows and children were also kicked out of their houses without any compensation. Even survivors that did play again were badly treated by the club and Billy Foulkes (for one) carried on the fight against the club for fair treatment. It should not be forgotten that, at this time, the club directors were only there for money. Football was very lucrative at a big club. United always had 65,000 paying customers for every home match and even averaged 30,000 for reserve matches. It is even said that they had 2 or 3,000 everyday in close season watching the floodlights being built. In those days, players were paid a maximum of 20 pounds a week with a maximum bonus of 4 pounds for winning. Almost all the money that the club received from entrance fees, TV rights, program sales, food sales, etc. went into the pockets of the directors. Many of the things that happened around that time should make Manchester United (as a club) ashamed of its actions.