IN PROFILE: Sir Matt Busby (1909-1994)

Feb 8 2008 By Richard Mooney

A life marred by tragedy and made pure by success

FIFTY years on from the Munich air disaster and we still remember the Manchester United legend that was Sir Alexander Matthew Busby, CBE.

Born on the 26^th May 1909 in the small mining village of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Matt came from the same area of west central Scotland that the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jock Stein and Bill Shankly were from.

His early childhood was wrought with tragedy thanks to World War One; all his uncles and his father were killed during this time.

Ironically Busby started out his playing career at Manchester Utd rivals, Man City, at the age of 19. He made 226 appearances for City, scoring 14 goals and winning an FA Cup winner’s medal in 1934. He made his first international appearance for Scotland in March 1933 in a 3-2 British Championship to Wales in Cardiff.

In March 1936 he moved to the west coast to join Liverpool in an £8,000 deal, that’s the equivalent of about £16,000,000 today. He was at Liverpool for 4 years, making 118 appearances and scoring 3 goals.

As soon as World War Two began, Busby’s playing career predominantly came to an end. Like many footballers of his time, Busby signed up for national service with the King’s Liverpool regiment.

During the course of the war Busby continued playing, but on an unofficial basis. Throughout this time he made appearances for Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Hibs, Reading, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and Brentford.

After the war Busby became manager of Manchester Utd in 1946 and in his first season they finished runners up in the league. This side continued to be runners up until 1952 when they won the championship.  By this time however the team was beginning to show its age and Busby needed a new younger set of players.

Expected to replace the older footballers with expensive high profile players, Busby instead brought in a set of immensely talented 16-18 year olds. This bunch of youngsters would later become known as the ‘Busby Babes’ and would go onto to become one of the finest set of home grown players Britain has ever seen. They won the league in 1956 and 1957, and were runners up to Aston Villa in the 1957 FA Cup final.

The team went into the 1958 season full of hopes for a dream treble of the European Cup, FA Cup and League title. However on February 1958,  on the way home from a European tie against Red Star Belgrade, the team’s plane crashed at Munich Airport killing 23 people. Seven of which were players.

After the crash Busby re-built the team around Munich survivors Harry Gregg, Bill Foulkes and Bobby Charlton. It took some time, but by 1964 Busby had done it again and created a team full of inspiring young talent and it was during this time he came across a Northern Irish boy by the name of George Best.

It is often said that Alex Ferguson’s Manchester Utd is possibly the greatest footballing side in the world, but it would have been nothing without Busby’s foundations. They won the FA Cup in 1963 and the league championship in 1965 and 1967. The greatest success of his career came in 1968 when his team won the European Cup.

Busby retired a year later in 1969, but remained as a director. Although he briefly managed for a spell in 1970 following the sacking of Wilf McGuiness. He then returned to directorial duties for 11 years until 1982 when he was made club president.

He was awarded the CBE in 1958 and knighted in 1968 following the European cup victory.

In January 1994 Sir Matthew Alexander Busby died of cancer at the age of 84. He was buried at the Southern Cemetery in Manchester.