60 years on - A sad, sad day

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HarryVardon
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60 years on - A sad, sad day

Post by HarryVardon »

Today, 60 years have passed since the Munich air disaster. I was a sad, sad day in my life. It became even sadder 2 weeks later when big Duncan died. The first match I attended at Old Trafford was the championship decider against Blackpool in 1953/54. Blackpool had all their stars playing (Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortenson, Ernie Taylor, etc.) but Manchester United had Duncan Edwards. As far as age was concerned he was just a young boy. As far as football was concerned he was a giant of a man. Her dominated that game as he dominated many more. After that match I attended most home matches and a few away matches. Manchester United really were something special in those days, they were just getting better and better. More and more youngsters were coming through to the first team. In those days the first team consisted of 11 players, there were no substitutes. Managers were forced to pick their best team, you couldn't try someone out for 30 minutes. If someone got injured you carried on with 10 men. Munich cost United a full team. Besides the 8 players killed 2 never played again (Blanchflower & Berry) and several others never managed to reach the same level again due to their injuries. Not only did this affect Manchester United but it affected the England team. They may have won the world cup in Sweden in 1958 or Chile in 1962. Duncan Edwards would have been captain and Bobby Moore would probably not have been selected. Eddie Coleman and David Pegg would have been at their peak then. Tommy Taylor and Rodger Byrne might have played a cameo but would have both been over 30 by 1966. I was lucky enough to see Duncan Edwards play many, many times and even had his autograph several times. It was easy to get in those days by just waiting at the bus stop near Old Trafford, most players came by bus or walked to the ground for training. My school was about 200 yards from Old Trafford.
Happy memories tinged with a lot of sadness!!!
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