UNITED IN GRIEF
IN an echo of the Munich air disaster sixty years ago, snow fell at Old Trafford yesterday as Manchester United stars past and present gathered to remember the victims.
On February 6, 1958, eight of Sir Matt Busby’s promising youngsters died when their plane crashed on the ice-packed runway of Munich-Riem Airport.
From that doomed team of wouldbe champions, only Sir Bobby Charlton, now 80, and goalkeeper Harry Gregg, 85, still survive.
Yesterday over 5,000 fans, the playing staff and ex-stars including Denis Law, 77, sang hymns, heard psalms and chorused along to the moving poem The Flowers Of Manchester.
At 3.04pm – the time of the disaster – all eyes were drawn to Sir Bobby’s haunted expression as the names of his lost team-mates echoed throughout the East Stand.
Behind him, sporting a black Man United baseball cap, Northern Irishman Gregg wiped away tears with a handkerchief.
United club chaplain Rev John Boyers told the crowd: “We are gathered here at Old Trafford and linked to so many people in varied locations. There are many thousands throughout this city, around our nation and in countries across the world who join in solemn remembrance of the tragedy on a slush-covered runway.
“When Munich happened a wave of grief and anguish swept though the nation and in Manchester united all, United and City supporters alike. It mattered not if you were Red or Blue, they stood together, wept together and mourned together.”
Former manager Sir Alex Ferguson and United director Michael Edelson both gave readings from the Bible while club executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward read “We Will Remember Them”.
The trio all wore matching commemorative ties featuring names of those who perished in Munich.
United manager Jose Mourinho joined club captain Michael Carrick to lay wreaths at the end of the service. Events commemorating the
60th anniversary were also held in Munich and Belgrade.
The Babes were flying back from a European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade when they landed at Munich to refuel.
Captain James Thain aborted two take-offs but when he tried a third time at 3.04pm, disaster struck.
Twenty-three of the 44 on British European Airways Flight 609 were killed or later succumbed to their injuries. They included Busby Babes Geoff Bent, 25, Roger Byrne, 28, Eddie Colman, 21, Duncan Edwards, 21, Mark Jones, 24, David Pegg, 22, Tommy Taylor, 26, and Billy Whelan, 22.
Eight newspaper journalists, Alf Clarke, Donny Davies, George Follows, Tom Jackson, Archie Ledbrooke, Frank Swift, Eric Thompson and Daily Express reporter Henry Rose, also died.
‘The city stood together, wept together and mourned together’
THE snow that drifted across Old Trafford yesterday was a poignant reminder of that fateful day in Munich 60 years ago.
That times have changed was underlined by the rows and rows of beaming solar lamps they use at Old Trafford these days to stimulate grass growth in winter.
But the memories of the Flowers of Manchester – as the eight players that perished were called in the song that commemorates them – will always remain alive.
More than 4,500 packed into the lower East Stand to pay tribute on the 60th anniversary of a disaster that enshrines United’s history.
Sir Bobby Charlton and Harry Gregg, the only survivors of the players involved in the tragedy that touched the footballing world, wiped away a tear as they remembered the team-mates who perished when BEA Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off on that Munich runway as United returned from a European Cup quarter-final tie in Belgrade.
They were locked in their own thoughts as the names of Roger Byrne, Geoff Bent, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Liam Whelan were read out.
It is easy to forget that had he lived, Edwards – described by those who remember him as the best they had seen – would have been young enough to have been a part of England’s World Cup-winning team in 1966 and United’s European Cup triumph two years later.
Charlton, 80, played in both. Sat alongside wife Norma, he removed his customary fur hat despite the freezing temperatures soon after the ceremony started.
Gregg, 85, a hero in the immediate aftermath of the crash, wore a United baseball cap on his first visit back to Old Trafford for 35 years. Jose Mourinho, his coaching staff and his team were all in attendance. Many of the players, dressed in club blazers, had not bothered with overcoats but seemed so wrapped up in the solemn occasion that they were oblivious to the cold.
Mourinho looked moved as the names of the 23 victims were read out. Apart from the eight players, the death toll also included three members of staff, eight journalists – including the Daily Express’s Henry Rose – the co-pilot, a cabin steward, travel agent and a supporter. Sir Alex Ferguson and Mourinho sat either side of executive vicechairman Ed Woodward.
Ferguson and long-serving club director Mike Edelson made readings from the Bible while Woodward recited the poem For the Fallen and folk singer and United fan Pete Martin sang a moving rendition of The Flowers of Manchester.
It is fitting that United’s youth team will today play a UEFA Under-19 Champions League game in Belgrade from where the fateful flight took off for its journey home before the refuelling stop in Munich. Sir Matt Busby’s twin passions were European football and the development of youth.
A minute’s silence was observed at the exact time of the crash – 3.04pm – before a moving ceremony, conducted by United’s club chaplain John Boyers, ended with Mourinho and club captain Michael Carrick laying wreaths and the singing of the football hymn Abide with Me.
Carrick, United’s current longest-serving player, sat next to fellow Geordie Charlton and said: “It was a beautiful service – powerful and emotional. It was emotional sitting next to Sir Bobby and trying to come to terms with what he’s been through and what was going through his mind. It was tough but a pleasure to be part of it.
“My dad had told me about the disaster but it wasn’t until I came to the club that I had that feeling of what it means to everyone here.”
Harold Hardman, United’s chairman at the time, had vowed: “We will rise again.”
The spectacular way the club has done that over six decades is perhaps the best tribute to those who died.