46 Years Ago

45 Years Ago

"Forever and ever,
We'll follow the boys,
Of Manchester United,
The Busby Babes,
For we made a promise,
To defend our faith,
In Manchester United,
The Busby Babes,
We've all sworn allegiance,
To fight till we die,
To stand by United,
And the red flag we fly,
There'll be no surrender,
We'll fight to the last,
To defeat all before us,
As we did in the past,
For we're Stretford Enders,
With United we grew,
To the famous Red Devils,
We're loyal and true,
To part-time supporters,
We'll never descend,
We'll never forsake you,
We'll be here to the end,
For we all remember,
That '58 day,
And the plane that once stood on,
The Munich runway,
As it tried to take off,
For the third fatal time,
The immortal young Babes were,
Cut down in their prime,
In the cold snow of Munich,
They laid down their lives,
But they live on forever,
In our hearts and our minds,
Their names are now legend,
For the whole world to see,
Why this club's a religion,
Spelt M.U.F.C,
So bow down before them,
And lift up your eyes,
For Old Trafford's glory,
Will always survive..."

http://www.munich58.co.uk/home.asp

 

The Flowers of Manchester


One cold and bitter Thursday in Munich, Germany,
Eight great football stalwarts conceded victory,
Eight men will never play again, who met destruction there,
The Flowers of English football, the Flowers of Manchester.

Matt Busby's boys were flying, returning from Belgrade,
This great United family, all masters of their trade.
The pilot of this aircraft, the skipper Captian Thain,
Three times he tried to take off and twice turned back again.

The third time down the runway, disaster followed close,
There was slush upon that runway and the aircraft never rose.
It ploughed into the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned,
And eight of that team were killed when the blazing wreckage burned.

Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor who were capped for England's side,
And Ireland's Billy Whelan and England's Geoff Bent died.
Mark Jones and Eddie Colman and David Pegg also,
They all lost their lives as it ploughed on through the snow.

Big Duncan, he went too, with an injury to his brain,
And Ireland's brave Jack Blanchflower will never play again.
The great Matt Busby lay there, the father of this team,
Three long months passed by before he saw his team again.

The trainer, coach and secretary and a member of the crew,
Eight great sporting journalists who with United flew,
And one of them was Big Swifty who we will ne'er forget,
The finest English keeper that ever graced a net.

Oh England's finest football team it's record truly great,
It's proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate,
Eight men will never play again, who met destruction there,
The Flowers of English Football, the Flowers of Manchester


45 YEARS AGO


There is a plaque at Man United,
It's underneath the old main stand,
It bears the name of Duncan Edwards,
He was the finest in the land.

But he died on Munich's runway,
Without a tear, without a sound,
His strong body battered and broke,
As he lay helpless on the ground.

From Salford hailed Eddie Colman,
He'd been a Red for all his life,
For the team he'd played for and supported,
Our dear Eddie Colman died.

The oldest babe was Roger Byrne,
He was the captain of the team,
He gave his life for Man United,
With his best friend Liam Whelan.

The Barnsley boy was Tommy Taylor,
He cost nearly thirty thousand pounds,
He gave his life for Man United,
As the plane sleighed on the ground.

But one man survived the aircrash,
And he lived to tell the tale,
Of the boys who played in Red,
For they did not know how to fail.

So we'll drink a toast to Matt Busby,
And we'll drink one to that team,
They were acclaimed the whole world over,
They were the finest ever seen

 

R.I.P.

Roger Byrne

Geoff Bent

Eddie Colman

Duncan Edwards

Mark Jones

David Pegg

Tommy Taylor

Billy Whelan

Walter Crickmer (Club secretary)

Bert Whalley (Chief Coach)

Tom Curry (Trainer)

Alf Clarke (Journalist – Manchester Evening Chronicle)

Don Davies (Journalist – Manchester Guardian)

George Fellows (Journalist – Daily Herald)

Tom Jackson (Journalist – Manchester Evening News)

Archie Ledbrooke (Journalist – Daily Mirror)

Henry Rose (Journalist – Daily Express)

Frank Swift (Journalist – News of the World)

Eric Thompson (Journalist – Daily Mail)

Willie Satinoff (Supporter)

Capt. Kenneth Rayment (Co-pilot)

Bela Miklos (Travel Agent)

Tom Cable (Passenger)

 

46 Years Ago

 

Between that and standing under the statue of Sir Matt Busby, it can really give you the willies...