Munich Remembered - 6th February 1958

wr8_utd · 5th February 2011, 21:05

It's the 6th already here so...

RIP The Busby Babes.

Shame we could not put in a performance to make them proud.

Feeky_Magee · 5th February 2011, 21:07

phelans shorts · 5th February 2011, 21:09

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 the aircraft, the skipper Captain Thain,
Three times they 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 Coleman 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.

Sw33t · 5th February 2011, 21:25

Did you know Duncan Edwards, Dad, I mean really really know?
It’s just you’ve kept so many cuttings from all those years ago.
And were the babes the greatest, the greatest ever team?
Or just enshrined here in this history, just a bygone boyhood dream.
Now I know you idolised them, Dad, you gave each one their own page,
the pictures are well faded now, but I suppose that comes with age
Dad, did Tommy Taylor really head a ball against the bar,
which Harry Gregg collected, it had rebounded back so far?
And was Duncan Edwards really, the greatest of them all,
with silken skills and feathery touch, thirteen stone and six foot tall?
Now there’s a contradiction surely Dad, but I’m going to let it pass,
but Billy Whelan must have played once, without first going to Mass.
And was Harry Gregg a goalkeeper supreme?
Were Eddie Coleman’s hazy runs like red blurs on swards of green?
And Dad can you explain to me how it ever came to pass,
that Roger Byrne, just five foot nine, covered every blade of glass?
Or how David Pegg whose swerving runs, like a scorpion you said,
always struck the ball with venom, yet left no one for dead?
Or how it was that big Mark Jones could soar into the sky,
yet still patrol his area, so that nobody got by?

Then there’s the team of Sixty Eight, and Dad I’d like to know,
how George Best was always missing, yet played five hundred games or so?
And how was it Bobby Charlton, who played so many vital roles,
could be both a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals?
Or how Denis Law had chipped a ball from forty yards or more,
it came back off the crossbar, and yet Law was there to score?
What use was it that Pat Crerand could split defences with one pass,
when the ball only ever landed on a sixpence on the grass?
And was Stepney’s save at Wembley, the best you’ve ever seen,
or was it just that it resulted in the fulfilment of a dream?
So now to Matt Busby, or Sir Matt as he’s now known,
from a mining town in Scotland, yet still one of our own?
Then finally there’s the Munich clock, the disaster time still shown.
why do people say that they never intended coming home?

The boy looked up with pleading eyes, and his father gently said.
There’s a lifetime of old memories in the scrapbook you’ve just read.
And of course there is some fiction, most fact, some strange yet true,
that’s what makes players into legends, now I’ve passed them on to you.
Those pictures may be faded son, but I can see them all so clear,
as if it were just yesterday, and I hold each memory dear.
Now I’ve passed this scrapbook on to you, to treasure for all time,
And you too will find your heroes and build to them a shrine,
and you’ll add your bits of fiction, but don’t worry son that’s fine,
to make legends of your heroes and then place them alongside mine.
And you’ll understand in years to come, as you watch great United teams,
why it is we call Old Trafford, The Theatre of Dreams.

RIP. Never forgotten.

Feeky_Magee · 6th February 2011, 00:01

To the Babes.

decorativeed · 6th February 2011, 00:22

Shame we couldn't do them justice today. Funnily enough, Wolves were our title rivals back in 1958 and the season following the disaster.

Maciek · 6th February 2011, 00:22

Spoiler

RedLars · 6th February 2011, 00:28

My next drink is to them.

RIP, Flowers of Manchester.

Feeky_Magee · 6th February 2011, 00:44

Sultan · 6th February 2011, 00:44

They are a big reason why United are such a massive club.

That's their legacy.

phelans shorts · 6th February 2011, 00:45

This really does put the Wolves game into perspective.

Sw33t · 6th February 2011, 00:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maciek

Spoiler

That picture was my wallpaper for so long. Great shot.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be at work, but I will have a minutes silence on my own, regardless of what every other cock is doing.

Waltraute · 6th February 2011, 01:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by decorativeed

Shame we couldn't do them justice today. Funnily enough, Wolves were our title rivals back in 1958 and the season following the disaster.

That was in my thoughts too -- that Wolves were our title rivals back then and the next league game after the disaster in '58 would have been at against Wolves at home.

The fact we didn't do them justice saddened me less than the fact we didn't play with black armbands.

RIP The Flowers of Manchester and the other victims of the Munich disaster. Every drink is to them and every thought is with them and their families on this day.

decorativeed · 6th February 2011, 01:14

We played with black armbands on Tuesday, presumably that was in memory of Munich. I thought the closest match to the 6th would be when the team would wear them, but maybe they only do it on the closest home match.

77 · 6th February 2011, 01:18

RIP to the Babes

fishfingers15 · 6th February 2011, 01:25

Rest in Peace babes.

fishfingers15 · 6th February 2011, 01:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maciek

Spoiler

City fans were a credit that day. Ironically, we didn't win that day as well.

Waltraute · 6th February 2011, 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by decorativeed

We played with black armbands on Tuesday, presumably that was in memory of Munich. I thought the closest match to the 6th would be when the team would wear them, but maybe they only do it on the closest home match.

I know the club only honours Munich on the home game closest to the 6th, and I won't go on about it. I just had a hope they'd do it today, the match being against Wolves and all.

Hopefully every player carried thoughts of the departed in their hearts, armbands or no armbands.

Neutral · 6th February 2011, 03:24

Forever and Ever,
We'll follow the boys,
Of Man United,
The Busby Babes,
For we made a promise,
To defend our faith,
In Man 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,
That 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.

Forever Young and Never Forgotten

RIP

Redrage · 6th February 2011, 07:41

Lest we forget.

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.

Forever in our hearts.

Tribec · 6th February 2011, 08:19

I wish I was someone who could write poetry, because every year I sit down for minutes before posting in this thread, trying to think of something to write. Yet every year as I struggle for words to befit those that died, I end up with tears in my eyees.

So stay safe where ever you may be all those that died that day, for the United family where ever we may be have you in our thoughts today, and forever more.

RIP

ste_michaels · 6th February 2011, 08:54

R.I.P

We will never forget...

Boothy · 6th February 2011, 09:10

So keep the faith and never fear, We'll keep the Red Flag flying here.

We'll never die.

stubie1234 · 6th February 2011, 09:20

R.I.P.

Never to be forgotten

mariachi-19 · 6th February 2011, 09:28

gambit28 · 6th February 2011, 09:32

R.I.P.
In our hearts and minds always.

Boothy · 6th February 2011, 10:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by marchi-91

I get goosebumps everytime I see videos from this day.

kf · 6th February 2011, 10:14

westlife4ever · 6th February 2011, 10:37

Lest me forget. R.I.P.

Sparky_Hughes · 6th February 2011, 12:12

As a club, everything we do is in memory of you all.

God bless and RIP

Crumpsall Red · 6th February 2011, 12:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by marchi-91

Shit, that always brings a tear to my eye. God bless the babes, you will always be remembered. You are always in our hearts.

Plan M · 6th February 2011, 12:24

We'll never die, we'll never die

R.I.P Babes

Lailiani · 6th February 2011, 12:25

RIP Busby Babes, gone but not forgotten

Chrisjn_ · 6th February 2011, 12:45

R.I.P the busby babes.

Maajid · 6th February 2011, 12:58

R.I.P the Babes.

Man Utd Mrs · 6th February 2011, 13:47

Always in our thoughts.
Forever in our hearts.
R.I.P.

denistheking · 6th February 2011, 13:50

Remembered today and always

Forever in your debt

RIP The Babes.

SteveJ · 6th February 2011, 14:03

Nice to see some decent comments from rival supporters:

Munich Air Disaster, 53 years ago today.

Feeky_Magee · 6th February 2011, 14:22

Would be nice to have a caf minute's silence at 15:03, perhaps a message could be displayed on the homepage.

phelans shorts · 6th February 2011, 14:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feeky_Magee

Would be nice to have a caf minute's silence at 15:03, perhaps a message could be displayed on the homepage.

yeah, could one of the admin put the site down for a minute?

5th February 2011, 21:05	#1 (permalink)
wr8_utd 1st wr8_muppetry Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 25,310	Munich Remembered - 6th February 1958 It's the 6th already here so... RIP The Busby Babes. Shame we could not put in a performance to make them proud.

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5th February 2011, 21:07	#2 (permalink)
Feeky_Magee First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: “They are the original colours of Manchester United and the fans wear them because they love this club. They have their reasons for doing it and we don’t think that they’re crazy. They’d like things to change.” Posts: 6,149

5th February 2011, 21:09	#3 (permalink)
phelans shorts First Team Regular Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Gaz. Is a Mewling Quim. Posts: 19,521	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 the aircraft, the skipper Captain Thain, Three times they 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 Coleman 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.

5th February 2011, 21:25	#4 (permalink)
Sw33t First Team Sub Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: If I hadn't seen such riches... Posts: 9,466	Did you know Duncan Edwards, Dad, I mean really really know? It’s just you’ve kept so many cuttings from all those years ago. And were the babes the greatest, the greatest ever team? Or just enshrined here in this history, just a bygone boyhood dream. Now I know you idolised them, Dad, you gave each one their own page, the pictures are well faded now, but I suppose that comes with age Dad, did Tommy Taylor really head a ball against the bar, which Harry Gregg collected, it had rebounded back so far? And was Duncan Edwards really, the greatest of them all, with silken skills and feathery touch, thirteen stone and six foot tall? Now there’s a contradiction surely Dad, but I’m going to let it pass, but Billy Whelan must have played once, without first going to Mass. And was Harry Gregg a goalkeeper supreme? Were Eddie Coleman’s hazy runs like red blurs on swards of green? And Dad can you explain to me how it ever came to pass, that Roger Byrne, just five foot nine, covered every blade of glass? Or how David Pegg whose swerving runs, like a scorpion you said, always struck the ball with venom, yet left no one for dead? Or how it was that big Mark Jones could soar into the sky, yet still patrol his area, so that nobody got by? Then there’s the team of Sixty Eight, and Dad I’d like to know, how George Best was always missing, yet played five hundred games or so? And how was it Bobby Charlton, who played so many vital roles, could be both a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals? Or how Denis Law had chipped a ball from forty yards or more, it came back off the crossbar, and yet Law was there to score? What use was it that Pat Crerand could split defences with one pass, when the ball only ever landed on a sixpence on the grass? And was Stepney’s save at Wembley, the best you’ve ever seen, or was it just that it resulted in the fulfilment of a dream? So now to Matt Busby, or Sir Matt as he’s now known, from a mining town in Scotland, yet still one of our own? Then finally there’s the Munich clock, the disaster time still shown. why do people say that they never intended coming home? The boy looked up with pleading eyes, and his father gently said. There’s a lifetime of old memories in the scrapbook you’ve just read. And of course there is some fiction, most fact, some strange yet true, that’s what makes players into legends, now I’ve passed them on to you. Those pictures may be faded son, but I can see them all so clear, as if it were just yesterday, and I hold each memory dear. Now I’ve passed this scrapbook on to you, to treasure for all time, And you too will find your heroes and build to them a shrine, and you’ll add your bits of fiction, but don’t worry son that’s fine, to make legends of your heroes and then place them alongside mine. And you’ll understand in years to come, as you watch great United teams, why it is we call Old Trafford, The Theatre of Dreams. RIP. Never forgotten.

6th February 2011, 00:01	#5 (permalink)
Feeky_Magee First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: “They are the original colours of Manchester United and the fans wear them because they love this club. They have their reasons for doing it and we don’t think that they’re crazy. They’d like things to change.” Posts: 6,149	To the Babes.

6th February 2011, 00:22	#6 (permalink)
decorativeed First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chorlton Posts: 6,190	Shame we couldn't do them justice today. Funnily enough, Wolves were our title rivals back in 1958 and the season following the disaster.

6th February 2011, 00:22	#7 (permalink)
Maciek Spit and Polish Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 'Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in your own field. It's a fact, right? And it never really works out that way. It’s probably the same cow and not as good as your own cow.' Posts: 9,135	Spoiler

6th February 2011, 00:28	#8 (permalink)
RedLars Reserve Team Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Tromsø, Norway Posts: 2,341	My next drink is to them. RIP, Flowers of Manchester.

6th February 2011, 00:44	#9 (permalink)
Feeky_Magee First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: “They are the original colours of Manchester United and the fans wear them because they love this club. They have their reasons for doing it and we don’t think that they’re crazy. They’d like things to change.” Posts: 6,149

6th February 2011, 00:44	#10 (permalink)
Sultan السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing Posts: 31,452	They are a big reason why United are such a massive club. That's their legacy.

6th February 2011, 00:45	#11 (permalink)
phelans shorts First Team Regular Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Gaz. Is a Mewling Quim. Posts: 19,521	This really does put the Wolves game into perspective.

6th February 2011, 08:54	#22 (permalink)
ste_michaels Lard arse Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: "My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that" - Sir Alex Ferguson. Posts: 3,812	R.I.P We will never forget...

6th February 2011, 01:14	#14 (permalink)
decorativeed First Team Sub Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chorlton Posts: 6,190	We played with black armbands on Tuesday, presumably that was in memory of Munich. I thought the closest match to the 6th would be when the team would wear them, but maybe they only do it on the closest home match.

6th February 2011, 01:18	#15 (permalink)
77 First Team Regular Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: http://youtu.be/BGVSTsgcCvw Posts: 15,178	RIP to the Babes

6th February 2011, 01:25	#16 (permalink)
fishfingers15 First Team Sub Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Nani Are you ok? Are you ok? Are you ok Nani? Posts: 5,101	Rest in Peace babes.

6th February 2011, 03:24	#19 (permalink)
Neutral BTV Join Date: May 2010 Location: DC/Canberra/Dhaka Posts: 6,447	Forever and Ever, We'll follow the boys, Of Man United, The Busby Babes, For we made a promise, To defend our faith, In Man 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, That 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. Forever Young and Never Forgotten RIP

6th February 2011, 07:41	#20 (permalink)
Redrage Reserve Team Player Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mars Posts: 3,960	Lest we forget. 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. Forever in our hearts.

6th February 2011, 08:19	#21 (permalink)
Tribec Reserve Team Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Out and Proud of it.... I'm a Red and I'm from Salford. Posts: 2,948	I wish I was someone who could write poetry, because every year I sit down for minutes before posting in this thread, trying to think of something to write. Yet every year as I struggle for words to befit those that died, I end up with tears in my eyees. So stay safe where ever you may be all those that died that day, for the United family where ever we may be have you in our thoughts today, and forever more. RIP

6th February 2011, 09:10	#23 (permalink)
Boothy First Team Sub Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: W3102 Posts: 9,425	So keep the faith and never fear, We'll keep the Red Flag flying here. We'll never die.

6th February 2011, 09:20	#24 (permalink)
stubie1234 First Team Sub Join Date: May 2009 Location: a font of misplaced rage Posts: 6,825	R.I.P. Never to be forgotten

6th February 2011, 09:28	#25 (permalink)
mariachi-19 First Team Regular Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster Posts: 12,594

6th February 2011, 09:32	#26 (permalink)
gambit28 Desperately wants to be a Muppet Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Asagan and SagatX destroyed, now worship COX! Posts: 24,714	R.I.P. In our hearts and minds always.

6th February 2011, 10:14	#28 (permalink)
kf First Team Sub Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 6,203

6th February 2011, 10:37	#29 (permalink)
westlife4ever Reserve Team Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: HK Posts: 692	Lest me forget. R.I.P.

6th February 2011, 12:12	#30 (permalink)
Sparky_Hughes Reserve Team Player Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: knee deep in the despair of others and loving it Posts: 4,501	As a club, everything we do is in memory of you all. God bless and RIP

6th February 2011, 12:24	#32 (permalink)
Plan M First Team Regular Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: ★ ★ ★ Posts: 10,062	We'll never die, we'll never die R.I.P Babes

6th February 2011, 12:25	#33 (permalink)
Lailiani (Sadly not) Banned Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: He plays on the left, he plays on the right, that boy Nani makes England look shite! Posts: 3,835	RIP Busby Babes, gone but not forgotten

6th February 2011, 12:45	#34 (permalink)
Chrisjn_ First Team Sub Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 6,600	R.I.P the busby babes.

6th February 2011, 12:58	#35 (permalink)
Maajid Formerly Mad Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: 127.0.0.1 Posts: 5,310	R.I.P the Babes.

6th February 2011, 13:47	#36 (permalink)
Man Utd Mrs Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: M.U.M. knows best. Posts: 24,194	Always in our thoughts. Forever in our hearts. R.I.P.

6th February 2011, 13:50	#37 (permalink)
denistheking Trainee Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 88	Remembered today and always Forever in your debt RIP The Babes.

6th February 2011, 14:03	#38 (permalink)
SteveJ Nicest fella on the Caf and Newbie of the Year 2011 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The Divided Kingdom Posts: 11,926	Nice to see some decent comments from rival supporters: Munich Air Disaster, 53 years ago today.