Sir Matt Busby remembered

[rondwisan]

How Matt Busby arrived at Manchester United
telegraph.co.uk, Robert Philip - 1:36am GMT 01/02/2008


Four decades into the future, Alex Ferguson would be moved to describe Old Trafford as the "Theatre of Dreams" as he gazed round in wonderment following his appointment as manager of Manchester United, but when Matt Busby turned up for work on his first day on Oct 22, 1945, the once-magnificent stadium lay before him as a Second World War bomb site.

It was the latest masterpiece of architect Archibald Leitch, who had previously designed Hampden, Ibrox and Parkhead, and when the 80,000-capacity marvel opened in 1910 one smitten scribe on The Sporting Chronicle hailed it as "the most handsomest, the most spacious, and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled anywhere in the world".

During a visit by the Luftwaffe on the night of March 11, 1941, however, Old Trafford took several direct hits as a result of a raid aimed at the nearby Vickers munitions factory and the Ford Motor Company, where the Rolls-Royce Spitfire engines were assembled. It was a scene of utter devastation that met the eyes of the recently demobbed Company Sgt Major Alexander Matthew Busby, of the Ninth Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment.


Amid the ruins: workers tackle the job of rebuilding Old Trafford after Second World War bombing

The spectacular main grandstand lay in ruins, what was left of the vast, sweeping terracing was overgrown with weeds, a thorny 6ft high bush had sprouted in the middle of the scorched pitch, a couple of threadbare Nissen huts served as dressing rooms and offices, and the 'training pitch' was a levelled-off area of rubble behind the Stretford End; the 'Theatre of Dreams' was a landscape of nightmares.

Even before being visited by Herman Goering's bombers, United, champions in 1908 and 1911 and FA Cup winners in 1909, had fallen on lean times. In the years leading up to the outbreak of war, their league record read: 1930 - 17th; 1931 - relegated (a 'crowd' of 3,969 watching the last home game of the season against Middlesbrough); 1932-35 - division two; 1936 - promoted; 1937 - relegated; 1938 - promoted; 1939 - 14th. The most popular team on earth? United were not even the most popular team in Manchester, where arch rivals City could justifiably claim to be the bigger attraction. Indeed, if you had stopped the average Mancunian in the street to ask directions to Old Trafford, in all pro****lity you would have found yourself watching cricket.

That United were still enjoying any form of existence, however parlous, was due to the passion of two men, director/sometime chief scout/sometime manager/perennial 'Mr Fixit' Louis Rocca, and chairman James W Gibson, who had amassed a vast personal fortune through the manufacture of army uniforms.

Rocca, an Italian immigrant ice-cream tycoon, had already played a significant role in the club's history during a board meeting in 1902 called to decide on a change of name from the original Newton Heath. Manchester Central was rejected because it conjured up images of railway stations and steam trains, while Manchester Celtic was thrown out as sounding too Scots/Irish. "Gentlemen," as legend records Rocca's flash of divine inspiration, "why don't we call ourselves Manchester United?"

Come the desperate second division days of winter 1932 when, with bankruptcy looming and a crowd of less than 5,000 scattered around Old Trafford to witness once-mighty United's 1-0 defeat by bottom of the table Bristol City, it was Rocca who convinced club secretary Walter Crickmer to call upon the kindly Gibson at his Cheshire mansion to plead for deliverance from extinction.

During their summit, it was agreed that Gibson, who would become club president and chairman of a new board of directors, would inject an immediate £2,000 (about £90,000 at 2008 values) to guarantee the wages of players and staff, while guaranteeing a further £40,000 (£1.8 million) to pay off debts brought about by the Great Depression.

Although Gibson's arrival at Old Trafford would have little impact on the pitch, where United embarked upon a yo-yo period alternating between the first and second divisions, his far-sightedness would have repercussions long after he died of a heart attack in 1951 (his widow, Lillian, would continue to be the largest shareholder until her own death in 1971).

With little money available to buy players, Gibson launched the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club - a precursor of today's academies - to nurture local talent. As testimony to Gibson's initiative, when the first of the three great United sides Busby would build during his 25 years as manager won the FA Cup in 1948, four of the brilliant forward line - Johnny Morris, Jack Rowley, Stan Person and Charlie Mitten - had been raised on the cobbled streets surrounding Old Trafford.

As shrewd in business as he was genuinely concerned for the fans' welfare, Gibson's next intervention was a stroke of marketing genius, persuading the Midland Railway - who operated express trains from Manchester Central (now the site of the city's famous international convention centre) to London St Pancras - to make an unscheduled stop at the tiny Old Trafford station on match days, thereby depositing supporters from outlying areas within a five-minute walk of the previously inaccessible stadium.

Gibson, whose memory is commemorated on plaques in the players' tunnel and above the railway bridge in Sir Matt Busby Way (formerly Warwick Road North) was also responsible for cajoling the Government during the last months of the war into agreeing financial support for the 10 clubs whose stadiums were in need of rebuilding work because of bomb damage.

A licence was duly granted in November 1944, but, football being understandably low on the priorities of new Prime Minister Clement Attlee, it was not until March 1948 that the War Damage Commission released the designated funds. The 'new' Old Trafford would not be ready to open its gates for the first time in 10 years until Aug 24, 1949, and so, with league football scheduled to resume at the start of the 1946-47 season, Gibson signed a contract with Manchester City to rent Maine Road for the not-inconsiderable charge of £5,000 a season, plus 10 per cent of all United's 'home' gate receipts.

As United prepared to embark upon a new era for club and country, only one outstanding issue remained to be resolved: the position of team manager, jointly filled in the months preceding war by the omnipresent Rocca in tandem with the willing but equally under-qualified Walter Crickmer. Having come to trust Rocca implicitly on all matters football, Gibson handed his lieutenant the responsibility of finding the right man to inspire United to greatness.

Rocca had been thwarted in his pursuit of Matt Busby once before, in 1930, when the then 20-year-old Manchester City reserve had been placed on the transfer list with an asking price of just £150, a seemingly paltry fee but a sum far beyond the means of United in those pre-James Gibson days; this time Rocca was not to be denied, whatever the cost.

Wise beyond his 36 years but with no managerial experience whatsoever - although he was still registered as a player-coach with Liverpool, whom he had joined in 1936 - the uncompromising Busby demanded unheard-of powers over the appointment of coaches and scouts, the buying and selling of players, tactics and training in an era when the directors' rule was as all-encompassing as the Roman Senate.

Neither Gibson nor Rocca flinched; Manchester United had found their man and if Busby wanted to be the Emperor of Old Trafford, then so be it.

"He will build up the team and put it where it belongs," proclaimed Walter Crickmer. "At the top."

[rondwisan]

Tuesday 26 May 2009 would have been the 100th birthday of the late, great Sir Matt Busby.

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ManUtd.com - 25/05/2009 07:10
Sir Matt remembered



One of English football's greatest-ever managers was born 100 years ago this Tuesday (26 May) in the Scottish village of Orbiston.

A former Manchester City and Liverpool player, Matt Busby accepted the position of United manager on 19 February 1945, and then joined the club full-time on his demobilisation from the armed forces in October 1945.

Together with his loyal assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, Busby created a team good enough to win the FA Cup in 1948 and to challenge for the League Championship. After finishing runners-up four times, Busby's men won the title in 1952.

Far from being blinded by their success, Busby and Murphy had the foresight to plan ahead and prepare for the day when their first great team would need replacing. The club's scouting system was expanded and reorganised, soon yielding a young team that won the title again in 1956 and 1957 and reached the FA Cup final in 1957. This young team was christened the 'Busby Babes.'

Busby trailblazed the way for English clubs by entering the European Cup in 1956/57 - initially against the wishes of the Football League. United reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual winners Real Madrid.

The following season, 1957/58, bristled with promise and United were still challenging in all three competitions by February when disaster struck. On 6 February 1958, the aeroplane bringing the team home from a European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade crashed after refuelling in Munich. Twenty-three people were killed, including eight of Busby's players and three club officials.

Busby almost lost his life as well - he was twice given the last rites while lying gravely ill in a German hospital. Fortunately, he survived and returned to Manchester 71 days after the crash. Taking up the managerial reigns again in August 1958, Busby began to rebuild United, bringing in some big money purchases to add to his homegrown talent. The new group of players reached the FA Cup final in 1963 and beat Leicester City 3-1 to claim the club's first trophy after Munich.

League titles followed in 1965 and 1967, giving Busby the chance to conquer Europe in the following seasons. In 1965/66, United reached the semi-finals, just as they had done in 1956/57 and 1957/58. But in 1967/68 they went further, to the final at Wembley where they faced Portuguese side Benfica.

On another night of great emotion, United triumphed 4-1 after extra-time to win the European Cup. It was a fitting tribute to the players and staff killed and injured 10 years before and was Busby's crowning achievement as United manager. Busby retired at the end of the following season, but stayed on as general manager while Wilf McGuinness became the man in charge of the team on a day-to-day basis. The new arrangement lasted little more than a year - on 28 December 1970, Busby was invited by the Directors to return to his old job and replace McGuinness until the end of the season.

A respected figure throughout his career, Busby was awarded the CBE in 1958. Ten years later, was knighted following United's European Cup triumph. In 1993 Warwick Road North, the road which runs past Old Trafford, was renamed Sir Matt Busby Way in honour of the man described as 'Mr Manchester United'.

When, after a short illness, Sir Matt died on 20 January 1994, thousands of people lined the streets of Manchester and similar numbers of shirts, wreaths, pictures and scarves were laid in tribute at Old Trafford. A bronze statue of Sir Matt was unveiled at the stadium on 27 April 1996, as a permanent memorial to the man who epitomised the club.

Five years after Busby's death, United won the European Cup for the first time since 1968. Poignantly, the date of that triumph for Sir Alex Ferguson's side, 26 May 1999, would have been Matt's 90th birthday.

[Ridwanox]

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[troy andreas]

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