The Busby Babes

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The Start of the Manchester United Renaissance
In 1945, just after World War II had ended Manchester United were looking for a new manager to lead them from the darkness; the man who ‘ticked all the boxes’ was former Man City Captain and war veteran Matt Busby.

So began a remarkable quarter of a century for the reds in which triumph and tragedy brought themselves to the club. This bittersweet period in the history of Manchester United changed the shape of - not only Mancunian football - but football right across the globe.

During Sir Matt Busby’s tenure at Old Trafford three fantastic teams were built, five League Championships, two FA Cups, six FA Youth Cups and the European Cup were all won and all this while playing a brand of football which would become synonymous with the club.

When Busby took over the reigns at Man Utd they were £15,000 in debt and had to play their home games at rivals Manchester City’s Maine road stadium, as Old Trafford had been decimated by two direct hits by German bombs, not to mention some of the players were still away in the services. So to say that he had a tall order would’ve been a huge understatement to say the least.

The Busby Babes – The First Great Team is born
Straight away Busby showed his single mindedness in his pursuit in making Manchester United great; When the Chairman, James Gibson offered him a three year contract Sir Matt demanded a five year one on the grounds that he wanted time to create a team that would not only challenge for titles in the short term, but who would throw down the gauntlet for many years to come.

Unusually – for the day – Sir Matt adopted a hands-on approach to management; he put on his tracksuit and went out on the training field with the players. This was far from the norm, as captain, Johnny Carey testified, he declared:

‘When I joined United, Scott Duncan (former United manager 1932-37), with spats and a red rose in his buttonhole, typified a football manager. But here was the new boss playing with his team in training, showing what he wanted and how to do it. He was ahead of his time.’

The Busby Babes – Manchester United’s greatest ever signing?
Soon after he took over, Busby arguably made the greatest signing in the history of Manchester United when he brought the ex-West Bromwich Albion and Wales player, Jimmy Murphy to the club as assistant manager. The manager’s new right-hand man would be involved in the cultivation of the best young players to have played the game, including Bobby Charlton, George Best, Eddie Colman, Nobby Styles, Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan, Tommy Taylor, Dennis Viollet and the great . Exciting times now lay ahead.

When the legendry pair took control of United the team was languishing in 16th place, by the end of that season the team had risen to a more than respectful fourth with a team the read: Crompton, Hamlett, Chilton, Aston, Whalley, Cockburn, Delaney,Pearson, Rowley, Buckle, Wrigglesworth.

The 1946-47 season saw football return to a national league format instead of the war time regional leagues. Manchester United were now gathering momentum with Jack Rowley's 26 goals helping fire the club to a second place finish in Division 1, just one point behind Champions Liverpool.

Blackpool – FA Cup final 1948

GK 1. Joe Robinson

RB 2. Eddie Shimwell

LB 3. John Crosland

RH 4. Harry Johnston

CH 5. Eric Hayward

LH 6. Hugh Kelly

OR 7. Stan Mathews

IR 8. Alex Munro

CF 9. Stan Mortenson

IL 10. George Dick

OL 11. Walter Rickets

Man Utd – FA Cup final 1948

GK 1. Jack Crompton

RB2. Johnny Carey

LB 3. John Aston

RH 4. John Anderson

CH 5. Allenby Chilton

LH 6. Henry Cockburn

OR 7. Jimmy Delaney

IR 8. Johnny Morris

CF 9. Jack Rowley

IL 10. Stan Pearson

OL 11. Charlie Mitten

The Busby Babes – Sir Matt Busby’s first trophy
The 1947-48 season started off pretty poorly for Manchester United, they stuttered and stumbled to just two wins from their first twelve games, which would cost them the league title – they again finished second in the League, seven points behind eventual winners Arsenal.

Although the League season was a relative successful it was in the FA Cup that the Busby Babes would come into their own. They dominated the competition right from the outset; they scored an amazing 18 goals in five games before reaching the final, knocking out Aston Villa, Liverpool, Charlton Athletic, Preston North End and Derby, before taking on Blackpool in the final.

The final took place at Wembley Stadium, London on 24 April 1948. In an open match – played in front of a crowd of nearly 100,000 it was Blackpool who drew first blood through Eddie Shimwell’s 12th minute penalty which was converted after Stan Mortenson was felled by Manchester United’s centre-half Allenby Chilton. However this lead wouldn’t last long 16 minutes later there was a mix-up in the area between ‘Pool goalkeeper Joe Robinson and centre-half Eric Hayward, which was capitalised on by the prowling Jack Rowley, who had the easy task of tapping the ball into an empty net. The first half was pretty frenetic to say the least; just seven more minutes had elapsed when Stan Mortenson’s rocket beat Jack Crompton in the Manchester United goal.

Blackpool led until the 69th minute when The Reds immense pressure finally told. United were awarded a free-kick. It was taken by Johnny Morris who floated in a superb ball which was met by Jack Rowley's powerful header. The game was now 2-2 and was now end-to-end stuff with both teams – what seemed like – taking turns in attacking the other. It was on one of these sorties by Blackpool that led to United’s third.Crompton pulled off a brilliant save from Mortenson, The Reds goalkeeper then turned defence into attack by clearing the ball quickly to John Anderson, who then found Stan Pearson who hit a blinder from 25 yards which cannoned of the up-right and into the back of the Blackpool net. United were now in the ascendancy and three minutes later Anderson’s deflected long range effort wrong footed Robinson, putting The Reds 4-2 up. That quick-fire double knocked the stuffing right out of Manchester United’s Wembley opponents and the game finished with that scoreline.

Although the club had just won the F.A. Cup for the first time in 39 years, Busby's attention swiftly turned to bringing the League title back to Old Trafford. The club were certainly heading in the right direction and after finishing runners-up in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951, they went into the 1951-52 season in buoyant mood and vital title challenging experience behind them.

Jack Rowley kicked off the 1951-52 season in magnificant form scoring hat-tricks in United's first two games of the season against West Bromwich Albion and Middlesborough respectively. Despite Rowley and Pearson being on fire United went into December 1951 playing catch up to Londoners Spurs and Arsenal, but after going on an a 20 week unbeaten run, winning ten out of sixteen during that period The Reds were in the thick of it for one final title push. However after back-to-back defeats by Huddersfield Town, then by one time leaders Portsmouth, the players had to dig deep if they wanted to see the League title return to Old Trafford for the first time in over forty years.

After dropping more points in a 1-1 draw against Burnley at Turf Moor, Busby and Murphy's legendary motivational skills were put to the test. Whatever was said to the players did the trick, Man Utd won 4 out of their last 5 matches, scoring a breathtaking 21 goals and taking the League title from Spurs in the process.

The emergence of the Busby Babes

After winning the Championship in 1951-52, Matt Busby kept faith with his aging team, but it soon became evident that most of the players had passed their peak, losing six of their first eleven matches, changes were clearly needed. However Busby being Busby he had a plan B stuffed firmly up his sleeve. Although admitidly he probably thought the team's so called demise would not be as quick as it turned out to be.

Matt Busby was always keen to create a team based on youngsters he and his coaches (Burt Whalley and Tom Curry) had schooled in the (new) ways of Manchester United. After building the foundations for an innovative football accademy, Jimmy Murphy and his lieutenant Joe Armstrong began to sign up some of the best youngsters in the British Isles with Northern Ireland and Ireland proving particularly good hunting grounds, thanks to local scouts Bob Harper and Bob Bishop (Belfast) and Billy Beehan (Dublin).

The plans put in place by Busby began to bear fruit. United dominated English football at youth level and won the F.A. Cup five times in a row from it's inauguration in 1952. This domination began to feed the first team by the end of the 1952-53 season with the likes of David Pegg, John Doherty, Bill Foulkes, Jeff Whitefoot, Danny Blanchflower and Duncan Edwards beginning to break into the first team.

Busby was not just intent on relying on bringing through youngsters; he spent money and big money on occassions, to keep Manchester United forward. One of those big money signings was Tommy Taylor who Busby signed from Barnsley for a fee of £29,999 in March 1953. Despite the bad start to the season, United's new acquisition helped the team to an eighth place finish.

The following season the future and in fact the history of Manchester United would change for ever when United took on Kilmarnock in in a friendly match in October 1953. The manager decided to play six of his Busby Babes in the match, which United won duly won 3-0.

After the victory Busby began to toy with the idea of playing all of his Babes in a League match, up to that point he had just played a couple in games here and there, so this idea was maverick to say the least. In the next First Division game against Huddersfield Town on 31 October 1953, Matt Busby added Edwards, Blanchflower and Viollet to a team that already included youngsters Wood, Foulkes, Byrne, Whitefoot and Taylor. United subsequently drew the 0-0.

Despite the faith shown by the manager in his own Busby Babes, they could only finish fourth in the 1953-54 season and the following year - with even more youngsters like Albert Scanlon, man mountain Mark Jones and willow the wisp Liam Whelan brought in for the occassional game - The Reds could only muster a 5th place finish in Division.One.

However in the 1955-56 season the Busby Babes began to gel and won the League by a staggering 11 points (16 points with three points for a win), leaving runners-up Blackpool in their wake, with a team that had an average age of 22. The future was looking very bright for Manchester United with the academy churning out youngster after youngster.

The following year Manchester United won the League for the second consecutive season, finishing a comfortable eight points clear of second placed Tottenham Hotspur and scoring over 100 goals. That season also saw the emergence of arguably the greatest English born player to have played the game in the form of Bobby Charlton, who went on to score ten goals in 14 appearances that campaign.

The 1956-57 season was not only notable for winning the Championship by Easter or by the emergence of Bobby Charlton, The Reds also went on excellent run in the F.A. Cup and European Cup reaching the final and semi-finals respectively. In the F.A. Cup the Busby Babes took on Aston Villa in the final at Wembley. Hoping to win the double for the first time in the clubs history United went into the game in confdent mood, however just six minutes into the match Aston Villa's Peter McParland charged into goalkeeper Ray Wood after he had caught the ball. Such was the ferocity of the challenge Wood and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Poor Wood was carried off with a shattered cheekbone. With no substitutions allowed in those days Danny Blachflower took over in goal, McParland - the villain in the piece - went on to score two second-half goals in a 2-1 victory and the rest they say is history.

The 1957-58 season saw the Busby Babes setting out to bring home a unprecedented treble in the form of the League, F.A. Cup and European Cup, but all the euphoria and excitement was cut short in February 1958 on the snow and ice of a Munich runway.

The Munich air disaster

Busby Babes - Always remembered, never forgotten This page was Created 3.04pm, 06 February 2008

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