Manchester United Legends : Sir Matt Busby

Filed under: Manchester United Football Club

Sir Matt Busby, a name renowned in United folklore, is the man credited with making the name Manchester United world famous. It is on his legendary foundations that Sir Alex Ferguson was able to build the fantastic footballing outfit of the present and if were not for Busby, things would have been a whole lot different right now.

His playing career started at United’s bitter rivals Manchester City from 1929 to 1936 and for Liverpool from 1936 to 1939. His playing career was cut short by the outbreak of war, in which he served in the Army Physical Training Corps. In 1945 at the young age of 36, he was offered a job on the coaching staff at Anfield. Luckily he turned it down and accepted the post as manager of Manchester United. It was a daunting task as the club were in disarray. Old Trafford had been heavily damaged in the blitz of World War 2 and the team was poor, 14th in Division One and had achieved little success in the previous 15 years.

Busby set about changing that. The Scotsman believed in attacking free-flowing football, he wanted his teams to not only be successful but to excite the crowd as well. This approach would form the basis of United’s playing style through to the present day. The team played at Maine Road for his first 3 years as Old Trafford had been bombed out in the war. While the stadium was being rebuilt so was the team for in 1947 a large youth policy was organised and the scouting system was expanded and reorganised. By skilful planning and wise buying Busby created a team that made it to the 1948 FA Cup Final and defeated Blackpool 4-2.

Following the 1952 season’s success Busby felt his team had lost its edge, the fire and flair had gone. To remedy this he made a drastic and famous decision by replacing most of his first team players with bright exciting young players: the legendary Busby Babes were born. Unfortunately, the dreaded disaster struck soon and after returning home from a European game against Red Star Belgrade in 1958 the team plane crashed on a Munich airfield killing many of the aircraft’s passengers, including eight of the players and severely injuring Busby. The team that were champions of England for the past two season had been almost entirely wiped out.

Busby, although, recovered from his injuries and set about creating the third great and greatest of all sides. The one that would do what his babes never did. Again his youth policy was established and United uncovered the talents of Stiles, Brennan, Kidd and the genial George Best. Together with Munich survivor Bobby Charlton, signings Crerand and Denis Law, United were soon back at the top winning the FA Cup in 1963 and two League titles in 1965 and 67. Playing as the babes before, with style, genius, flair and attacking brilliance, the 60s United of Charlton, Best and Law captured a whole new legion of fans and the imagination of football fans the world over.

The 1967 win gave Busby probably one last crack at his “holy grail” and on May 29th 1968, the greatest of his three United sides won the European Cup defeating Benfica 4-1. The entire nation was behind United on that night, people wanted them to win it for those lost in Munich. This was Busby’s greatest achievement, the first English side to win the trophy, so exorcising the ghosts of Munich, now Manchester United had become a national institution.

Busby was knighted in 1968 and having achieved his goal, retired from Manchester United as manager in 1969. Sir Matt was always going to be a hard act to follow. His immediate successors were always in his shadow and simply could not live up to the high standards he set. On the 20th January 1994 Busby died aged 85, but he lived long enough to see the red empire he created in safe hands. He had taken great pleasure in presiding over Ferguson’s revival in which United played with the style and flair he had loved in his own teams. United were the best in the land once again and 5 years later, on his birthday in 1999 they would better his achievement of 1968 and win the Treble of European Cup, FA Cup and Premier League title!