Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

Duncan Edwards was clearly the star player. From everything I have heard he would have gone on to be one of the greatest England players. The others were also top players of their time. Remember this was a young team that was going for its third successive League title.

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

[QUOTE= The majority are the ones that let it happen and thus condone it with their inaction......... I remember going to the Leeds v Man Utd Youth Cup Final at Old Trafford in 1993. It was mainly youngsters in the crowd, but the majority element of Leeds "support" duly stood up throughout the match making aeroplane impersonations.

[/QUOTE] So I trust you stood up and said something to them to get them to stop, or did you just tut, .....thereby by 'condone" it ?

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

Twenty minutes to go - we can talk later Insel. I have persuaded three of the Saudi guys to stop work for a minute's silence - they weren't aware of the full history but we will have a quiet room at four minutes past.

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

I am not a typical football fan but it is very very sad.

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

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 runaway disaster followed close,
There was slush upon that runaway and the aircraft never rose,
It ploughed into the marshy ground, it broke, it overturned.
And eight of the team were killed as 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 his team
Three long months passed by before he saw his team again.

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

Oh, England's finest football team its record truly great,
its 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

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

and now after all this time a witness has come forward to say that he walked on the wing after the crash and it was ice free,
at the time a german crash investigator stated it was caused due to a build of of ice on the wings that made the plane crash.
it has also now transpired that the affore mentioned german did not arrive at the scene for some six hour's, so ice would have formed whilst it was on the ground.
so justice at last for the pilot.
and a very sad day for football i agree.

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

What the hell are you talking about?

The famous picture of the wreckage was taken less than one hour after the crash............. and there's an almost complete white-out.

Ice? Probably. Blinding snow storm? Without a doubt - the pilot couldn't see past the nose of the plane.

"Justice at last"? Wasn't aware of anything ever said that implicated the pilot. Have I missed something?

Insel?

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle754520.ece

and no I don't read the sun!

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

A rather cynical view I saw on a football board this afternoon, but in my opinion, there is a lot of truth in it.....

Quote

"Without Munich 58 Manchester United would not be the club they are now...Fact !

They have cynically milked this for years and will continue to do so. If they're so bothered about it then why not have there own remembrance service allowing just fans in, without TV coverage, without corporate sponsors, just fans? I appreciate the vast majority of them would have to travel many miles to Manchester, that's if they could be bothered.

I find this all a bit to rich coming from the club that become the richess,most popular and most recognized in the world and a club that built it's foundations to become a footballing brand on the back of the Munich tragedy.

We all know that if you go to the club superstore at Old Trafford they are more than likely selling a 50th year anniversary DVD box set. "MUNICH.THE DAY THE CLOCK STOPPED.£19.99 inc P@P"

Now you are thinking i might be a bit out of line saying that. But ManU being the Brand that they are, you would'nt put it past them. Common courtesy dictate's i pay my respect's to the people who died in that crash

But maybe more than 8 players died at the end of that runway.

The monster that is the Brand was born out of this, and that is the biggest tradegy of all.

Unquote

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

thats absolute bollox!
if the club was out to make money from it they would be selling the shirts they are wearing on Sunday!

just some bitter arsehole!

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

Dont you think though there is a degree of truth that the "attraction for Man Utd" today was born out of the tragedy ?

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

said the totally not jealous of Man U's success hammers fan...

MM, xx

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

Not jealous at all, could think of nothing worse than supporting them !! However, in the same way some older football fans who supported other teams, developed a soft spot for West Ham as a result of the World Cup victory (Moore, Peters, and Hurst etc) in 1966, so too did the Munich tragedy "globalise" the name of Manchester United at that time and widen their appeal whether it be in England or around the world and more people became aware of them. I accept this was further enhanced through the likes of George Best and the like, but it must have started somewhere.

I cant imagine there were too many Man Utd fans living outside Manchester pre Munich 1958..... ?

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

omg...this just went right over my head, lol...sorry, i'm sure it is a very serious and valid point...but as you ae aware, just knowing the team names is a result for me...

MM, xx

Re: Lest we forget - 6 February 1958
 

Certain people have a fascination with death particularly in macabre circumstances.......hence the massive interest to date, in say JFK-and the rising number of 'followers' of Diana-11 years after the event.
Munich is an historical event inextricably linked with Man U as is Hillsborough and the Ibrox Disaster in Scotland.The advent of Man U's appeal preceded the Munich incident.............
Life is cheap it seems, however it takes a real stone faced cynic not to be touched by the immediateness with which so many young lives were snuffed out.Yes it has been brought to the forefront of our minds because of who they were and yes 50 0dd anonymous faces perish somewhere everyday in accidental/not so accidental circumstances.
Would you prefer that the Man U members were forgotten too?
If nothing else it should serve as a reminder-life is good and this ain't no rehearsal.

*When did Man U overtake Real Madrid as richest club?