1
First, someone who occupies
a rare place in our hearts,
a sportsman who cuts across
the demarcation lines
that separate those people
who love sport and those who hate it.
As a player,
his skills graced the game.
As a manager, his teams adorned it.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Sir Matt Busby.
You're the most famous man
in soccer in this country
and indeed, I suppose, in the world.
You were more than a manager there.
You were the boss, weren't you, really?
- Well, er...
- Come on.
Quite a lot of people said that, yeah.
(DISTANT CHEERING)
(PARKINSON) When you look back,
do you think that
there was any part of it
that caused you to sacrifice,
and when you look back, do you think,
"Well, it really wasn't worth it"?
Oh, yes.
(CROWD CHEERS)
(MATT BUSBY)
We felt in a team.
If we were trailing 2-0,
we always had a feeling
that we'd win 3-2.
(CHEERING)
(ALEX FERGUSON)
Those last-minute goals,
the comebacks,
even the defeats,
are all part of this great
football club of ours.
(ERIC CANTONA)
I felt like a great family.
(PAT CRERAND)
Matt Busby is without doubt
the greatest manager who ever lived.
(DAVID BECKHAM)
I remember walking the corridors
up to the manager's office
at Old Trafford.
The smell of Sir Matt Busby's pipe...
I can smell it now.
(GARY NEVILLE)
The door would always be open.
I look back now and think,
"We should have gone in more and talked
to him more." But you were scared.
This was like a god.
(MATT BUSBY)
My mind goes back over the years,
to the day of my birth
in a small village in Scotland.
I was born in a Pitman's Cottage.
It was a small mining village,
nothing else but mines.
The people themselves
were brought up
in a faith which was football.
Nothing else ever seemed to take place.
Nobody else seemed to talk about
anything else other than football.
- (INTERVIEWER) Was your father a miner?
- He was, yes.
(INTERVIEWER) Was he also a footballer?
Yes, he played in a local junior team
and I understand had a lot of ability.
But the war came on, of course.
Then my father was killed
in the First World War.
I scarcely remember him.
I was the oldest of four.
There were three girls below me.
And my mother,
a very young age, she was.
She had a tremendous influence
on my life
and of course the rest of the family's.
She was a real Scotch type of mother,
who put her foot down at the right time,
and she brought us up with an idea
of having some common sense
and trying to be a citizen.
And if you had a job to do,
to do a job well.
If you're speaking about Matt Busby
and what he was like,
Busby, like any man of his age,
was a product of his time.
(MATT BUSBY) There was quite a lot
of depression in Lanarkshire
with the coal mines
and that type of thing.
I'd been taken away from school.
Before I knew where I was,
I'd gone working in the mines
to try and earn a few
shillings, a few pounds,
to help at home.
The poverty that was in Britain
was shocking.
You were brought up in a mining village
who were never thought of
by governments as anything.
We had tough upbringings
to etch out a living in.
When you think of back then,
the working class
were getting paid a pittance.
Miners were treated like shit,
for use of a better word.
They were treated like slaves.
For working-class people everywhere,
one of the great ways of escaping
the poverty, deprivation,
marginalisation of
a working-class existence was football.
(MATT BUSBY) I started playing
a little football again.
Well, my mother wasn't very keen.
I went on a trial
with Manchester City.
And anyway, when I came back,
in the meantime, they'd influenced me
to sign for them.
(REPORTER 7) Oldest manufacturing
centre in the world,
the cradle of modern industry.
The old city's never stopped growing.
And the more she's grown,
the more it seemed she'd got to grow.
(REPORTER 2) Manchester City, a club
with over half a century of history.
Forty years ago, it became known
by its present name.
Today, Wilfred Wild,
the secretary manager,
receives thousands of pounds
in entrance fees.
(MATT BUSBY) Coming down about
17 and a half, just under 18 year old,
and the first time coming from home,
I knew I was trying to better myself
but the place was strange and for
a time, I wasn't too happy about it.
I had a form of a complex at the time.
I think it was a form
of an inferiority complex.
(PLAYERS SHOUT)
I thought the first team players
were gods.
And during this spell,
I didn't do too well.
It was probably the best part
of a year and a half, kicking around,
and at one time,
I thought about going home.
I was so disappointed,
disillusioned in every way.
We had, uh,
I was in lodgings with
an older player who was
in the first team,
a chap called Phil McCloy
who, when he came in
and saw me with this case,
he says, "What's this you're doing?"
I said,
"Well, I feel as though
I'm getting nowhere here."
He says, "What's the case packed for?"
I said, "I'm going to go home."
"You're going to go home?
What are you going home to?"
And of course
he talked me into staying.
(REPORTER) Busby's sense of judgement
when he's taking a pass
is one of his great assets
and he can trap a ball
with unfailing precision.
- (JOURNALIST) Are you pleased he did?
- I'm delighted he did!
(CHEERING)
(BOMB WHISTLES AND EXPLODES)
(KING GEORGE VI) For the second time
in the lives of most of us,
we are at war.
(REPORTER) The flames of war
eat at the heart of Manchester.
In one of the fiercest raids of
the German Blitzkrieg on Britain,
a storm of bombs wreaked havoc.
Manchester will remember
the horrors of that attack
as long as the heart of the North
continues to beat.
(MATT BUSBY) Many a time I used
to think how miserable life was.
The one thing they did try and knock
into you was the value of leadership.
(KEN RAMSDEN)
Busby had this aura about him.
He was quiet.
I never heard him raise his voice.
I never heard him swear.
He made you want
to do things for him.
(PAT CRERAND) So Matt had a great respect
for human beings in general.
That's why
you ask anybody that met Matt,
Matt treated people terrifically.
He knew everybody
and he made everybody
feeling important.
(MATT BUSBY)
When the war came to an end,
I, like many others,
had to face some facts.
Some hard facts.
I was about 36 years of age.
My days as a player were numbered.
I couldn't live in memories.
Yet I couldn't think of leaving
this wonderful game of football.
So I decided to try my hand
as a manager.
He arrived in Manchester
to speak to the chairman in uniform
because he had still
to be demobbed from the army.
Even though he had
no management experience at all.
So he had a very firm idea
of what he wanted.
(MICHAEL CRICK) I mean, mining
communities are very close knit.
The sense of cooperation,
working together,
that is a form of socialism in action.
That flows
from his working-class background.
(EAMON DUNPHY)
He had a vision of a club,
a family, he thought of it as,
where nobody was bigger than the club
which was one of his mantras, always.
They will absorb the culture
and the club
which is, "We're all family,
we're in this together,
they will behave in a certain way
and they will play in a certain way."
What kind of quality is it
that you look for
in a footballer
that will go into your side?
First of all, I look for ability.
That is essential. Natural ability.
I see natural ability...
I like to see people that can play,
that have got control,
that have got a mind.
I love to see a player with vision,
somebody that can look at a places,
look at a field
and determine what he's going to do.
I love to see a player
playing with heart.
And I also naturally want them
to be of a kind.
He just felt that his duty
was to entertain.
(DENIS LAW) This was just after the war,
when people had been five, six years
in the war
and they wanted something to enjoy.
Men who worked in these factories,
and they're working long hours
and doing dirty jobs
and they're going home
on the bus or on their bikes,
they come in on a Saturday afternoon
to be entertained.
He was a big, handsome, imposing man.
He never looked in any way
stressed or perturbed.
And he beguiled people,
he beguiled Harold Hardman
and the directors of Manchester United.
He was offered a contract
as manager of Manchester United.
This was people being impressed,
seeing Matt as a leader.
Someone in whom they could place trust.
(EAMON DUNPHY)
Somebody who could command respect
of people who wouldn't
normally give respect
to a footballer or indeed
to a working-class person.
(MATT BUSBY)
It was not an easy assignment.
The ground had been blitzed.
They'd an overdraft at the bank.
I had no experience as a manager.
I felt they were taking a great risk
in appointing me.
(REPORTER) Guiding United
is ex-star Matt Busby,
keeping a player's eye
on the first team workout.
(MATT BUSBY) All I had was certain ideas
as to what a manager should do,
faith in those ideas
and faith in the future of the club.
I wanted them to mature
and develop with the club.
I believed in getting to know my players
and not being chairbound in an office.
Matt was the first of,
the phrase was "tracksuit managers".
Before, managers had been, you know,
three-piece suits with a watch,
perhaps, dangling from the pocket.
Matt, literally,
put on a tracksuit and boots,
training with the players.
Well, it's difficult to convey
how revolutionary this was.
(REPORTER) The new soccer season
gets a great send-off
and these supporters of Manchester,
who are typical of crowds
who'll pack grounds
in all parts of the country...
Manchester United
was obviously full, still, of players
who had experienced the war,
who'd come back to play
for Manchester United,
like Johnny Carey, Charlie Mitten,
Johnny Aston.
When he was 18,
me dad ended up in the Royal Marines
so he never saw football again
for another five years.
He finished up in Australia in the war,
with the Marines
and he said he had a lovely suntan,
and he said
he went into Busby's office
and said,
"Look, my name's John Aston."
"Any chance of a game
with the juniors?"
And Busby looked
at him and said,
"Tell you what,
son, you look fit."
"I'll put you in the reserves
on Saturday."
What Matt showed in the early days
was the ability to knit a team.
And it was an absolutely brilliant team.
He just had the gift of empathy.
He could zero in on you
and he knew what buttons to press.
You had to be drawn to him.
He wasn't coming at you.
He was like a big cat.
And you never quite knew
which way he was gonna jump.
(JOHN ASTON JR) They were very confident.
They'd started to play
in a manner that Busby
was trying to get going,
like a freedom of expression
type of game.
Manchester United took people
by surprise, I think,
almost snuck up on them.
We thought, you know,
"These Reds, they can win something."
(CROWD SINGS ABIDE WITH ME")
(COMMENTATOR 1) The all-Lancashire
finalists take the field at Wembley.
Manchester United in dark shirts,
Blackpool in white.
It's the North's big day.
A close duel between
Manchester's Johnny Carey
and Blackpool's Walter Rickett,
number 11,
is highlight number one
in a thrill-packed match.
(CHEERING)
Manchester's Jack Rowley walking
the ball into the net to equalise
provides highlight number three.
(CHEERING)
But now Manchester's attack,
which has scored 95 goals this season,
swings into its best style.
From Johnny Morris'
well-placed free kick,
the fans cheer
Jack Rowley's headed equaliser.
Charlie Mitten, number 11,
starts off United's winning attack
and from Rowley's pass,
Stan Pearson scores the goal
that gives Manchester the Cup.
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR 2)
Great day for Manchester.
United's captain, Johnny Carey,
receives the Cup from the hands
of His Majesty the King.
Careful, Johnny.
Don't drop it now it is yours!
And this is where United
call once again on teamwork.
Carey has the Cup, Mitten the lid
and Pearson the plinth.
United they call them
and united they are.
I'm very pleased to be taking this Cup
back to Manchester again
after a period of 40 years.
(REPORTER) Every man, woman
and child of the cotton capital
seems to be in Albert Square
to cheer the 11 heroes of the hour,
Cup-winning Manchester United.
(CHEERING)
Well, now, Matt was very, very tough.
One of the great characters of that team
was Johnny Morris.
Wonderful talent.
After training, Matt asked him
to do something and he walked off.
That same night, he got a telephone call
from the Press Association
asking for a reaction to his
being placed on the transfer list.
Matt had gone straight
off the training field,
rung the Press Association and said,
"I got a little story for you."
This was not getting rid of a player
who was on the fringes of the team.
This was probably the best player
of his kind in England.
I can tell you easier
what Matt Busby wasn't.
He wasn't Father Christmas.
He wasn't some benevolent figure.
He was somebody with definite ideas
and definite standards.
There was a game at Old Trafford
where Harold Hardman,
the director of United
for more than 50 years,
sat there behind Busby
in the directors' box,
grumbling, I think about Johnny Carey,
and everybody could hear.
And Busby went into the gents
at half-time
and said to Hardman, you know,
"Don't you ever criticise one of my
players or me in public ever again,"
and laid down the law.
Before Matt Busby,
there were no football managers.
Whoever was in charge
of the football
had power only to pick the team
to play the next game.
(MICHAEL CRICK)
He was very much the boss.
The '48 Cup win had sort of
whetted people's appetites
and they thought
that some new era had dawned.
Well, it hadn't quite dawned.
United came runners-up in four
of his first five years in the League.
And by 1952,
the players were getting old.
The feeling was
this was their last chance.
Success in the League came in 1952
and the satisfaction
that Matt felt in '52 was massive.
(EAMON DUNPHY)
And that really established
not just United but Busby
as a major figure in the game.
(DISTANT CHEERING)
(REPORTER) We are going to build new schools
with grounds for the kiddies to play.
Playing fields for football and cricket,
gardens for the old folk.
Here and there in the district,
you will find local shopping centres
and clinics and nurseries,
community centres and schools
close to the houses.
But remember this:
whether we go ahead on plans
like this for the whole city
or whether we muddle along
as we have done,
most of Manchester anyhow will have
to be rebuilt in the next 50 years.
Because Manchester's falling down,
decomposing in front of our very eyes.
Food rationing didn't end till 1954,
so it wasn't happy-go-lucky.
It was a very grey area.
Women didn't wear
bright red or green dresses.
You know, everything seemed quite grey.
And the football colours,
when you saw a football team,
you know, you can imagine
seeing Man United in their red,
that was colour!
(REPORTER) As King Football
kicks off to another great year,
millions thrill to the nation's
favourite Saturday afternoon sport.
Into the limelight again
come the stars of the game.
A lot of people
talk about United being super rich,
but they weren't.
United were very, very poor.
And they knew that they had
a very, very ageing group of players.
So they both determined
to start inventing their own.
Busby himself was
a great believer in youth.
He knew that if you brought people in
when they were teenagers,
you became their father,
and you could mould them
to your way of thinking,
to your way of playing.
And of course, you didn't need
to pay them so much.
You could pay them less
than the maximum wage.
If you did it right, the style of play
that would come through the B team
and the A team and the reserve team,
it would all dove-tail together.
(MATT BUSBY) I believed in youth.
I wanted them to mature
and develop with the club.
A year after I came here,
I brought Jimmy Murphy.
I'm quite sure this was
one of the best signings I made.
(JOHN ASTON JR) Busby was like the
pipe-smoking thinker in team meetings.
If you asked him anything
he would give it
a little bit of thought
before he answered,
whereas Jimmy,
he was a bit more
like a Chicago gangster.
He used to smoke and smoke and smoke
and he'd say,
"Don't be so bloody stupid!"
or, "Yeah, that's a good idea!" You know,
You'd get the instant... instant riposte.
Like all good double acts,
they were a good foil for each other.
(MATT BUSBY)
Very solid, he had ideas.
And I wanted someone to look after
youngsters at the time.
Really, my right arm.
(JOHN ASTON JR) What they were
trying to build, Busby and Murphy,
was not just the best team
but the club itself.
The best club in the world.
(MATT BUSBY) I think this started
when I was at Manchester City
as a boy, 17 year old.
I felt there was myself
and probably two or three more
were more involved
with the club.
We felt for the club.
And I always had this
in the back of my mind,
to tell them they're coming to a club
who would look after them.
And from there, obviously,
you try to build up.
But for a club,
they're gonna play football,
they've got a good opportunity
of playing it here.
And the whole thing is trying to make
the boys happy and enjoy themselves
before they actually get signed on.
He knew that what happens
in the dressing room
will reflect itself on the pitch.
He saw as a player
how older professionals
who'd had bad experiences
became bitter.
They didn't train properly.
They were corrupted.
So there would be, in his club
nobody who was damaged,
nobody who was cynical, no rebels,
nobody whispering
behind the management's back.
(REPORTER) The first question, Matt,
is how do you find these boys?
Well, I'd say, Bill,
I have a scouting system
whose sole object is to go out
looking for young promising schoolboys,
youth club boys,
and indeed any young players
who have the necessary natural ability
to make a future
Manchester United player.
He would do anything to get
a young player he wanted.
If it was Duncan Edwards,
they'd pay the parents
which was illegal at the time.
If it was someone in Ireland,
he'd come himself to Dublin.
(REPORTER)
Ex-England captain Joe Mercer.
He believes in catching 'em young
so that ball control becomes instinctive.
(MATT BUSBY) One day,
I was talking with Joe Mercer.
He had taken these schoolboys on,
doing a bit of coaching with them.
I said, "Joe, we're after a boy..."
I can't remember the name of the boy.
And Joe suddenly says to me,
"The most outstanding player of them all
is Duncan Edwards."
And he says, "What's more,"
he says, "he's Manchester United mad."
(KEN RAMSDEN) Every club in England
wanted to Sign Duncan Edwards.
Busby'd got him.
Duncan Edwards in Dudley
was brought out of bed
during the night to sign a contract
because Mr Busby was frightened
of losing him to Wolves.
I'm an Edwards fanatic.
He was the most complete footballer
I've ever, ever seen.
He had strength, power in both feet.
Hit 40 and 50 yard balls
with consummate ease.
(MATT BUSBY)
Edwards was incomparable.
We used to try and find faults
with all our kids, you know.
I could never find a weakness there.
(JIMMY MURPHY)
Colman, Eddie Colman.
He only weighed about nine stone
wet through, little Eddie.
Tremendous player.
(WILF MCGUINNESS)
He was a cheeky chappy.
You know, he always had an answer
to everything.
And he was a great puller of women.
(LAUGHS)
(EAMON DUNPHY)
I was captain of England Schoolboys
so a lot of clubs were chasing me
when I was 15.
So I decided on United
because of their great youth policy.
I was first starting to play football
and of course, every young player wants
to improve and wants to be better.
People used to tell me that Newcastle
didn't have a good coaching system.
It really was a hard place to live
in those days.
If you didn't work in the mines
or the shipyards, you know,
there wasn't really that much
that you could work at.
So if there was any opportunity,
you know, you went, you travelled.
Busby was very, very clever.
You could only try and sign
two schoolboys.
He signed the players, the best in England,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
But his trick was,
sign the young players
and put them on the ground staff.
You could have 11 on the ground staff.
(JEFF WHITEFOOT)
I did actually go at 15 and a half
to work for Manchester United
in the office.
(MATT BUSBY)
They came, we nurtured them,
we watched them, we looked after them,
they were coached.
(KEN RAMSDEN) Great care was taken
at the digs they were put in.
The landladies were watching
what went on.
People would tell him.
Fans would say, "I saw such-a-body
out late last night," or whatever.
And if he needed to tell you off,
he'd say, "I want you in my office
tomorrow morning at such a time."
So you'd think, "Oh, blimey."
And you'd spend all day and night
worried about it.
"Good manners.
Don't insult people.
"You're doing this,
you're doing that."
And he did guide us.
He was just like a father to us.
(MATT BUSBY) We were sort of
all together type of thing.
You become a sort of family,
it was a family.
The youth team, Jimmy Murphy
always used to say, was the cream.
Forget about the first team
and the FA Cups and all that.
This was the most important thing.
I can remember, I wouldn't go to bed
the night before a youth match
because I'd been brainwashed,
indoctrinated into thinking
that this was the most important match
that you ever played in your whole life.
We won the Youth Cup
every year I played.
First five years of its existence
was won by Manchester United.
If you'd care to come and look
at the boys, you're welcome.
Thank you very much.
Let me see Johnny Berry
take a short corner
which we use very often in the game.
He passes it on to Bill Whelan
who in turn turns it back.
(JOURNALIST) Well, obviously they can't
all play in the first team
but how do you keep them happy
in the second team?
Well, of course, Bill, we have
no first team players at Old Trafford.
They are all possible first team players.
(MATT BUSBY)
We'd had success at that time.
I felt as though
I had to do something to
get young players going.
(REPORTER) Runners-up four times,
then League champions in '52.
And then Matt Busby brought on the Babes
replacing eight
of that championship side
in one fell swoop.
When I was just turned 16,
I was playing for Manchester
United's first team.
(LAUGHS)
Which was quite extraordinary.
(EAMON DUNPHY) Well, I got my debut
as a 17-year-old, you know,
which was to me very special.
And then I found out every other player
at 17 had got promoted
to the first team.
(JIMMY MURPHY JR) Wilf was a good player
but not in the same class as Bobby.
But he made his debut
about nine months before
because my father kept Bobby back
'cos he didn't think
Bobby was tough enough.
My father would have him running around
like an idiot to get out of breath.
All the players used to say, "Until
you actually play in the first division
you don't realise how much you push
yourself through pain barriers,"
which you never do
in reserve team games.
Bobby would say, "I'm knackered, I'm tired."
And my father would say, "Well, you're
not gonna die. Get running again."
My right ankle was swollen up.
It was quite painful.
And I hadn't played in the reserves
for a few weeks.
And he called me up to his room
and said,
"I'm playing you
in the first team tomorrow."
If there's one time I didn't really
want to play, it was that day.
But he said, "Are you all right?
Is your foot all right?"
I said, "Yeah, it's all right."
And suddenly the attention of the whole
country was on Manchester United
because they're playing babies, y'know,
they can't possibly win anything.
(MUSIC: "MANCHESTER UNITED CALYPSO
BY EDRIC CONNOR)
Now, football is a pleasant game
It's played in the sun, played in the rain
And the team that gets me excited?
Manchester United
Manchester
Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes
They deserve to be knighted
If ever they're playing in your town
You must get to that football ground
Take a lesson, come to see
Football taught by Matt Busby
Manchester
Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing Busby Babes
They deserve to be knighted
Luck has a lot to do with it.
Like all good teams,
there was just the right blend.
And every great side have always had this.
(WILF MCGUINNESS) Roger was the captain
so he was a bit above us. (LAUGHS)
(WILF MCGUINNESS) David Pegg,
a Yorkshire lad, did his business.
He was a good dribbler.
He surprised us actually because
we thought, "Yorkshire? Who are they?"
But he was special.
I think he dated me wife.
Before she was me wife! (LAUGHS)
Mr Busby, he wasn't frightened
of spending money.
But he only spent it when he had to.
He paid 30,000 for Tommy Taylor
from Barnsley.
(WILF MCGUINNESS) It was a record fee.
So he had to live with that
round his shoulders.
If he had a bad 'un, we'd say,
"You paid for him?" Y'know! (LAUGHS)
A great, great centre-forward.
We all felt
that we were lucky
to be a Manchester United player.
And let's not kick it into touch,
let's go about it and do it for him.
(COMMENTATOR) Across to Berry it comes.
The right wing, back on defence.
Trying the offside game.
Berry going through with it
by himself.
Across it comes, and oh,
it's made a perfect hit.
(CHEERING)
It's a goal! It's a goal.
We all went out together,
we went to dance halls,
we went on holidays together.
We were very, very fortunate
to all join together.
When Matt was growing up,
he'd had a tough life.
And I think he saw an enthusiasm,
a vigour for life,
for joy, and for fun.
The mid-'50s were the early flowering
of culture and excitement
and leisure.
And Harold MacMillan was saying,
"You've never had it so good."
And the Busby Babes were part
of that flourishing of society,
and the excitement
and the youthfulness of a generation.
The Busby Babes,
the way they played was rock'n'roll.
They weren't shackled by old ideas.
They were inspiring.
(WILF MCGUINNESS) It was a wonderful
place to be at, Manchester United,
in those days. Terrific.
A very distinct memory as a kid.
They used to come to training
on the bus.
Paid players.
Just the odd one would have a car.
They'd go in the pub on a Saturday night,
you know, for a drink.
(KEN RAMSDEN) They were ordinary folk
so the fans related to them.
They saw them in the shop buying their
cigarettes and sweets and newspapers.
They represented what was then...
what was then a
working-class game
and they represented those Mancunians.
He'd say, "Those people have paid money
to come and watch," you know.
He'd give us a right volley.
They were so far ahead,
they were so new, they were so fit.
They were so original.
There was an air about them
of invincibility.
And they played on that.
(CHEERING)
(MATT BUSBY) Nothing is more gratifying
than to spot a star in a barrel
and see him develop year by year
to his predestined place
among the gallery of the immortals.
(REPORTER) Last Christmas was the gayest
and most abundant we have ever known.
More to spend and more to buy.
And young and old alike rejoiced
to see the ration book go.
(MATT BUSBY) When we won
the championship of '56,
I said to our board,
"I'd like us to enter Europe."
Next thing is we apply.
The League Management Committee
sent a letter to the club
saying they didn't like the idea
of us going in.
(KEN RAMSDEN)
Chelsea had won the League in 1955
and they were told it would conflict
with the fixtures, so they backed off.
Well, Mr Busby wasn't gonna be doing
any backing off, thank you.
(MATT BUSBY) I felt very strongly
about it at the time.
This is a new avenue to go into and...
It was not a Scottish game,
it was not an English game,
it was not an Irish game,
it was a world game.
They were warned by the Football League,
"If it interferes with your commitments,
you will be punished severely."
Included the possibility that United
will be put out of the Football League.
So I never doubted it for a moment,
it was right
because the old man said,
"That's the way we've got to go
and if we have to argue with our own
football authorities, so be it."
(MATT BUSBY) We had the meeting again.
We just went on with it.
(BOBBY CHARLTON)
It was a terrific, terrific time.
There was no television. We didn't see
Spanish football or French football
or German football or whatever.
So we... We went and played
all these wonderful teams.
(SPANISH TV COMMENTARY)
(WILF MCGUINNESS)
It was all completely different.
The roar was different.
When somebody's had a shot,
they just... "Whoosh!"
(COMMENTATOR 1)
Then a real blizzard hit United.
(COMMENTATOR 2)
Manchester was set for the semi-final.
(MATT BUSBY) When you go abroad
and play in these competitions,
there's a great responsibility.
You represent yourself,
your club, your country,
and... it's a very trying thing.
(REPORTER) Manchester United go to Madrid
for the European Cup.
English champions already, they now want
to be European champions too.
He wanted Manchester United
to become England's Real Madrid
and that was his dream.
Matt had seen Real Madrid,
how they could attract
crowds of over 100,000
paying much more
than the English customer would pay.
The stadium was the first thing
I noticed going over there.
Tremendous stadium.
I was one of the reserves.
I was terribly pleased that I wasn't playing.
You know, I saw Stfano and I thought,
you know, these things aren't human.
You know, it's not the type of game
that I'd ever been taught before.
(CHEERING)
They beat us 3-1. It could have been
two possibly, you know.
But then we came back.
There was so much atmosphere
and so much tension in the city,
and I suppose in the country, that
by the time we came out to play them
we started to fancy
our chances a little bit
if we could get an early goal.
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR) After 25 minutes,
Kopa takes a pass in the penalty area
and shoots a low one.
So began nine minutes of dramatic,
decisive soccer.
Here's Madrid's second.
Enzo passes, Rial shoots!
- Too easy.
- (CHEERING)
On come the floodlights
for the second half.
Manchester, four goals down in the aggregate,
need a miracle to save them.
Is this it? Pegg centres.
Taylor does the rest.
(CHEERING)
Another Pegg pass and Charlton
scores a beauty. They've equalised!
(CHEERING)
We only had about ten minutes left.
And I can remember somebody fell over
and was wasting time.
And Duncan Edwards picked him up.
He picked him up and didn't throw him
but placed him off the pitch.
(COMMENTATOR) It's a pity
that such behaviour on both sides
should spoil the brilliant football
which gave Real Madrid
their semi-final victory.
Well, there are some memories,
some pleasant memories actually.
We've done a wonderful thing this year.
(MATT BUSBY)
They were young, just maturing.
The year we were beaten by Real Madrid,
the other year,
it was due to inexperience, really.
(CHEERING)
You were going places
where people couldn't go in those days
behind the Iron Curtain.
People brought little stoves with them.
Chocolate, anything to eat,
something they could
knock together quickly.
(HARRY GREGG) Each player would have
maybe a dozen hard-boiled eggs.
Crazy when you think about it.
(BOBBY CHARLTON) And really the food
wasn't too bad at all, really, it was OK.
(REPORTER) Manchester United
have flown to the Yugoslav capital
to play their return match
with Red Star Belgrade,
the champions of Yugoslavia.
United only have to draw to make sure of
a place in the European Cup semi-final,
the round in which
they were beaten last year.
(MATT BUSBY)
We'd travel away
before a match,
and Big Duncan used to say,
"Go on, boys,
we ain't come here for nuffin'!"
N-U-F-F-I-N.
This was always his famous saying
before going out.
And he's sticking his chest out, like...
(EXHALES) "This is what I want to do."
(CHEERING)
(CHEERING)
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR) Manchester United,
the greatest team in post-war football,
won their way through to the semi-final
of the European Cup.
(MATT BUSBY) I thought to myself,
"Matt, you can sit back
because everything that's possible
to be want was there."
After the match, you know,
you were allowed to have a drink.
We used to have a few drinks. Used to have
more than enough, I must be honest.
(ACCORDION MUSIC)
Enjoy the party, enjoy the banquet.
And lads were lads. They had a drink.
(SINGS)
You'd been up all night
whether you drank or not.
We got to the airport
the following morning,
with our sore heads and tired heads.
I only woke up when I heard everybody say,
"Fasten your safety belts."
And we'd come down. We were nearly
on the runway before we knew it
because it was what they call
very low cloud base.
They were under strict instructions
from the Football League
that they would be fined
if they didn't arrive back in time
to play their scheduled League game
and they were grounded
in Munich airport.
We went up the runway once...
and then come back.
And we were still on the plane.
Second time,
we went along the runway.
When we went back
to the starting gate again,
we were told to go into the cafeteria.
And then about ten minutes, half an hour
after that, there was an announcement.
To proceed to the plane
as the fault had been corrected.
This eased everybody's mind now.
And then it was just...
tearing and darkness and daylight.
I woke up and I was in my seat,
still strapped in,
but I was about 20 or 30 yards
from the plane.
Well, I was lucky I got out
because my safety belt was broke.
Just as I got to the outside of the plane,
first person I saw was Billy Foulkes,
Mr Foulkes here.
And when I got out of the plane,
the hoses, the firemen had arrived
so I must have had a blackout.
And the first person I saw when I got out
who looked alive was Mr Busby.
The others, everybody else,
were unconscious.
So I stayed with Mr Busby
and tried to keep him warm, you know,
I was rubbing his hands,
just kept trying to keep him calm
because he seemed to be in really bad shape,
you know.
Here is the news.
So far we know
there are 23 survivors
after Manchester United's air crash
at Munich this afternoon.
Of the crew of six
and 38 passengers on board,
including a baby,
these are the people so far
known to have survived:
of the Manchester United party,
Matt Busby, manager,
and the following players:
Gregg, Wood, Foulkes, J Blanchflower,
Morgans, Berry, Charlton,
Viollet and Scanlon.
(KEN MERRETT)
I was... I'd be about 13
and I remember coming home from school
and watching children's television
and they broke in to the children's programme
to say that there was a report
that Manchester United plane
had crashed at Munich.
And Manchester was just in... in shock.
And the first thing my mother says,
"Oh, God, your father!"
She thought he was on the plane.
Because he should have been.
And I said, "No, he hasn't gone."
"He's in Wales."
We get back from the Welsh match
and I didn't know a dickie bird
about this thing at all.
Our secretary told me and I couldn't
believe it. I cried like a child.
(JOHN ASTON JR) Me dad went down to
Old Trafford to see if he could help out.
Well, we had no details
and then as the details seeped out,
the magnitude of the horror
became apparent, yeah.
(REPORTER) What's your reaction
to the news about Manchester United?
(MAN 1) It's a terrible shock
to everybody concerned,
players, wives, officials, everybody.
There's nothing you can say about it,
is there, really?
(MAN 2) I think it's the biggest tragedy
Manchester's ever had.
My dad went with Mrs Busby,
Sandy Busby,
and a few of the wives.
They all flew out together.
The Busby family were obviously petrified
cos Matt was at death's door, really.
He had the blessings of the dead.
I was walking along in front,
about ten yards in front of me mum,
and I saw this old man
in an oxygen tent.
And he looked grey.
And I thought,
"Oh, that poor so-and-so," you know.
And then it struck me.
It was me dad.
(MONITOR BEEPS)
(MATT BUSBY)
I had tremendous chest injuries.
All my chest was all fractured and...
My lung was pierced,
and legs were broken and...
First moment of something of consciousness,
if you like...
was one of the staff had said
this one was dead.
And momentarily
I could understand that.
But there were all sorts of...
bodies around and...
My wife who was there, I said to her,
"You have to tell me what has happened."
"This is making me worse."
So I went on through the names...
She either nodded her head
or crossed her head like that.
Tommy Taylor.
David Pegg.
Eddie Colman.
Mark Jones.
Billy Whelan.
Geoff Bent.
They're all...
Er...
Tragic loss, tragic loss...
It's...
Duncan was propped up in bed by pillows
when Jimmy went up to the bed.
He turned and he said,
"What time's the kick-off, Jimmy?"
My father phoned Billy Whelan's family
from Munich to say that, sadly,
"Your son's dead
but he will never be forgotten."
(MATT BUSBY) Life was very, very
difficult for quite some time.
I had some strange things happen.
When I was getting a little better,
they put me on one of the tables
to try and get me some fresh air.
I remember...
as they pushed me through the door to...
I screamed and screamed mad
and they brought me back in again.
I had the feeling that
I might have been responsible.
Why did I take the club into Europe?
Why did we go the third time?
And I felt that I wanted to die.
I'd like to say a few words to my mother,
I hope she's OK.
- (JOURNALIST) Yes.
- And taking it well.
She hasn't been down to see me, y'know,
but it's a long way and I'm all right.
I could have been a bit worse off
like some of the others.
When he signed a player,
he made sure that the parents knew
that he was gonna look after them.
And suddenly this had happened.
(WILF MCGUINNESS)
I'd missed this trip because of injury.
It was very upsetting.
It hurts to think about it.
I have a corner of my mind that...
they'll always be there.
(PLANE FLYING PAST)
The night the coffins came home,
there were thousands of people
just standing on the street,
watching the hearses go past.
And most of them crying.
People just sobbing their hearts out.
Grown men, women.
My mum and my aunt
used to wash their shirts.
Ten days later,
they're polishing coffins.
But nobody said, "Can you cope, ladies?"
"Do you want any help
or do you need to talk to somebody?"
Cos there was nobody to talk to.
(JIMMY MURPHY JR)
Directors wanted to drop out of the League
for the rest of the season because, y'know,
"We can't cope with that."
Dad said, "I can do this job."
"No, we'll drop out." "No, I'll do it."
He said, "Jimmy, keep the flag flying."
I had this great empire
that I was to run.
Course, I only had two or three
first-team players left.
When the team sheets came out
United's team sheet
was completely and utterly blank.
We know, Jimmy, that things have been
a bit hectic for you these last few days.
How do you think they're sorting
themselves out now?
Well, these things take time,
Frank, as you know.
We're in a terrible mess, really,
with players and so forth.
(JOURNALIST) Right and obviously,
Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes
have recovered from the experience
of the Munich crash...
Tell me, did you have any doubts
about their selection?
No, not in the slightest. They're both
full of beans, on top of the world.
My father persuaded
Billy and Harry to play.
Cos they weren't so keen cos they'd lost
their mates, which you can understand.
He said to 'em,
"Billy Foulkes, I need a captain
and you're him."
And Billy Foulkes said, "I don't want
to do it and I can't do it."
And Dad said,
"You can do it and you will do it."
And that was it.
And they got off the train
and they're walking along.
"Have you got a quote for us, Jimmy?"
And he said, "Yes. If you don't get out
my way, I'll piss on your shoes."
(CHEERING)
(CAMERAS CLICK)
I had a job,
you know, to keep the tears back
as we're playing.
(COMMENTATOR) Billy Foulkes, number two,
now their captain, won the toss.
The best thing that happened to me
was to get down to Old Trafford,
to kick and fight and argue
and do these things
or I would definitely
have lost it up there.
(COMMENTATOR)
Harry Gregg goes into action.
(CHEERING)
(CHEERING)
One morning, and it was after
we'd played Sheffield Wednesday,
I couldn't find the paper.
And then I found out
why I couldn't find the paper.
It was because Duncan had died.
(RECORDER CLICKS)
(MATT BUSBY) Ladies and gentlemen,
I am speaking from my bed
in the Isar hospital in Munich
Where I have been since the tragic accident
of just over a month ago.
You will be glad, I'm sure, to know
that the remaining players here
and myself
are now considered out of danger.
And I am delighted to hear
of the success and united effort
made by all at Old Trafford.
For it is only
this last two or three days
that I have been able
to be told anything about football.
And I enclose my best Wishes
to everyone.
And finally may I just say,
God bless you all.
(COMMENTATOR)
Matt Busby's reborn Babes.
Sure that disaster cannot quench
their fighting spirit.
It was a very traumatic time
for the club.
I was in a position of responsibility
that I had to take.
My life was never the same.
(JIMMY MURPHY JR)
So when they came back,
they wanted them to get playing
as quickly as possible
and catch up with their matches.
We played West Brom
in the sixth round of the FA Cup.
And we beat them
after a replay at Old Trafford
in the last minutes of extra time.
(COMMENTATOR) Busby's miraculous Babes,
six weeks from a disaster
which stunned the footballing world,
are determined to reach Wembley or bust.
Bobby Charlton
and out to the right wing.
Back again to Charlton who runs in
for the shot and leaves Macedo helpless.
So the astonishing Babes
have done it again!
And it's to be
an all-Lancashire Cup Final.
(MATT BUSBY)
And...
I can feel getting better and better
as time went on.
But...
The crunch was coming back to...
to England.
I'd overcome the biggest obstacle.
And, er...
Well,...
it was a slow,
slow, slow process.
(CLEARS THROATS)
It was the start.
(REPORTER) Wembley's Empire Stadium
is certainly a very powerful magnet
on the great day.
A hundred thousand or so were there
and they fairly cheered Matt Busby,
who'd recovered sufficiently
to be present,
as his Manchester United men came out
beside their white-shirted opponents
Bolton Wanderers.
Then Bobby Charlton sets the ball rolling
and the match of the season is under way.
(MATT BUSBY)
Well... I was bent a little.
I was terrified to come and look
at the ground and feel the people.
I forced myself to do it.
I forced myself, I had to do it.
(COMMENTATOR)
Less than three minutes have passed
when Bryan Edwards puts in a perfect cross
and Nat Lofthouse does the rest.
It's a goal!
Fizzer from Charlton, comes back
off the post into Hopkinson's arms.
But two minutes later, the hard shot
from Stevens is held by Gregg
and Lofthouse puts him
and the ball into the net.
Bolton Wanderers have certainly
earned congratulations
for their fourth Wembley win,
while Manchester United
deserve the highest praise
for reaching Wembley against all odds.
When he came back, he was on crutches.
And you'd go and meet him at the door
and he'd go upstairs through
the directors' door, up the stairs,
and he would give you his crutches
while he forced himself to walk
down the passage using the wall.
I'll never forget the first time
we all met him again.
We were all assembled
in the dressing room
and he looked at us all,
tears came in his eyes
and he just walked out.
We understood what...
We knew what he was going through.
He just was looking at faces
that weren't there.
I was told,
"Don't upset yourself,
get out and play for them,"
and that sort of thing.
They wanted that.
They wanted us
to remember them on the field.
(MATT BUSBY)
My first reaction was
never to have anything
to do with football again.
My wife said, uh,
"Well, the lads that have died
would want you to carry on."
And it... it struck a note.
And from there,
I started thinking that way.
(COMMENTATOR)
And there's the cheers of the crowd
as Matt Busby returns
once again to Old Trafford
and takes his dutiful seat,
the manager's seat.
(CHEERING)
And everyone knows
how much he's been looking forward
to getting back to Old Trafford
to see his team in action.
(MATT BUSBY) And...
it was a good job I went back
and forced myself to go back
because I become occupied
and I got this obsession again...
that Manchester United
were going to the top.
(COMMENTATOR)
A crowd of well over 30,000.
Matt Busby looking on as critically as ever
to see how his team is performing.
(REPORTER) And next the cameras
go out to the Cliff training ground
and here we meet
the new Manchester United,
the youngest of the Busby Babes,
the reserve men whom fate
has suddenly made first team men.
(MATT BUSBY)
We got so many problems
in trying to create
a new Manchester United.
It was a very harassing time.
You couldn't wait for young people
to build your young team again.
It meant actually that I could try
to enter the transfer market
and try and buy one or two players
that I felt
would help us through
this particular period.
My father joined United just after the war.
Matt was a tracksuit manager.
When I played, you never saw Matt.
I joined in 1960
and there were five years post-Munich
when the training ground
was a kind of sterile place.
Busby was notable by his absence.
No, when I say, with the situation of Denis,
Denis is the...
the stumbling block
at the present time. If he's...
(EAMON DUNPHY)
I remember Noel saying to me,
"Is this it?"
I said, "What do you mean?"
He said, "Is this
the great Manchester United?"
Well, I was 12th man
for the first team.
On the coach,
a piece of paper was passed down.
(CHEERING)
It was a cartoon of Busby
with the words "Bollock Chops".
It was a shock to me but it was the way
the senior players were thinking.
Someone like Bobby Charlton
would resent
some of the people who came in.
But the Manchester United dream
was dying, if not dead.
There was a tremendous turnover
of players coming in, going out,
shuffling right, left and centre.
(MATT BUSBY) Well,
I wanted Denis Law as a boy.
He was at Huddersfield at the time and...
I went to Andy Beattie
who was the manager then and said,
"Look, I'll give you 10,000
for this young blond elf."
"No, Matt," he said,
"we think we've got something."
And Andy Beattie was right
because they had something.
I bumped into
Mr Busby in those days.
And he said to me, he said,
"How's things going in Torino or whatever?"
You know, I said,
"Well, really, not good, really."
"It's...
The football's rubbish, really."
(MATT BUSBY)
I eventually bought him from Torino.
They were offering 115,000 for him.
That was cheap at the price.
(LAUGHS)
For all these magnificent goals,
a magnificent player.
It was cheap at the price.
(CHEERING)
He used to rise so majestically
and he'd stay there
and head these balls so well.
Ah, and he was so courageous, you know,
no matter who they were or what they were,
how big they were.
Sometimes the big ones
would maybe clatter him.
"I can't promise you I won't kick 'em back."
I said, "All right, all right,
but keep out of trouble as well."
(COMMENTATOR)
That fair-haired genius, Denis Law.
(PAT CRERAND) The first time
I ever met Matt Busby was '61 or '62.
We thought, "God almighty,
that's Matt Busby."
(COMMENTATOR) His instinctive eye for talent
brought Pat Crerand to Old Trafford.
I came just beginning of February '63 and
the team weren't doing
particularly well.
(MATT BUSBY) We'd signed Pat Crerand
and we'd signed Law that year.
Played at Leicester one time
and Law scored a hat-trick.
But we lost 4-3.
However way we played, we just couldn't win.
There was a nine-week period
where we had snow and frost
and there were no games played.
And trying to catch up on all the fixtures,
we just couldn't get it right.
We were drifting down
and not seeming to get the results.
(MATT BUSBY) The men were coming in
after the match and saying,
"What have we got to do
to win a match?"
(COMMENTATOR)
See the Saints get the game going.
Top star of Southampton, Terry Paine,
soon shows sparkling form on the right.
Early on, he's on the warpath.
(BOBBY CHARLTON)
That year, we had almost been relegated.
We finished about sixth or seventh
from the bottom.
And the Cup,
it was like a release, the Cup.
(COMMENTATOR) A well-placed centre,
Denis Law just manages to connect.
- Goal!
- (CHEERING)
It's all over.
Manchester United 1, Southampton 0.
It's United versus Leicester City
in the final.
(REPORTER) Inside the stadium, 100,000 fans
ready to raise that new roof.
With the arrival of Her Majesty,
the preliminaries reach their climax.
- The gladiators entering the arena.
- (CHEERING)
He did say, Matt Busby,
that it would take five years for the club
to be really established
as a real football power again.
We were outsiders and it suited us
with the quality of players we had.
The day of a big game,
they would come through.
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR) He shoots,
it goes to Herd and it's in the net!
(CHEERING)
(CHEERING)
The fulfilment
of an English footballer's ambition.
The Cup and a Cup medal.
It's a moment of triumph
for their manager Matt Busby.
Proof that he has
most successfully rebuilt United.
(CHEERING)
(PAT CRERAND) The milk companies
that sponsored the Cup Final...
We had plenty bottles of milk
they had in the dressing room.
No champagne.
Milk, we were drinking!
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(JOURNALIST) Mr Busby, third time lucky,
what do you feel about it?
(MATT BUSBY) Well, I think
it's a wonderful thing for myself,
for the club, the players,
and everything else because
these boys have got it in them,
and of course they've shown it today
and I'm very, very pleased indeed.
(PHOTOGRAPHER 7) Matt! Matt! Matt! Matt!
Hold it up!
(PHOTOGRAPHER 2)
Up high! Smile. Come on, smile!
(CHEERING)
How one game can change a football team!
The Cup was a big, big affair.
It was a massive affair worldwide in '63.
It changed Manchester United.
So that gave us a lift
to think we could do anything.
Very pleased to meet you
and welcome to Old Trafford.
I'm Matt Busby,
the manager of Manchester United.
All you boys follow me, I'll take you
down to the dressing room. Right?
(REPORTER) Manchester United
last year confirmed the old saying,
"Lousy in the League, lucky in the Cup."
But Denis Law for one
has other ideas for this year.
(MATT BUSBY)
It was the start of a season.
These two boys
had come over from Belfast.
And watching them playing
and carrying on,
I come back with the opinion
that there was someone there
who had extraordinary talent.
But he was still a boy at 15 years of age.
(GEORGE BEST)
Played for Cregagh Boys Club.
And Manchester United decided me for trials.
And at first when I went over,
I only stayed a couple of days,
and I was homesick and came back home.
But my father,
he had a talk with Matt Busby
and he decided
to give me another chance.
(COMMENTATOR)
To McCreadie.
(CHEERING)
(MATT BUSBY) My, his approach to the ball,
it was uncanny.
He had obviously
this tremendous balance, for a boy.
When I brought him into the side,
17 year old.
George was like Edwards.
Best didn't need
coaching at all.
(GEORGE BEST) Amazingly, I find it quite easy
to play in the First Division.
Y'know, I don't have to train hard.
Y'know, I don't have to work at anything,
it must be just natural ability.
(COMMENTATOR)
Wriggling out space.
What a fine set!
Sir Matt had always advocated
that you went forward,
you were good players,
make sure that you perform to your best
and don't be afraid to express yourself.
(COMMENTATOR) Manchester United have now
won six League games on the trot.
They're in the form to go through,
get into Europe for the first time
since the 1957-58 season.
(BOBBY CHARLTON) And because of that,
George felt that he could beat
six or seven people if he wanted.
(CHEERING)
Denis could try acrobatic
overhead kicks and things like that.
I could maybe try to shoot
from distances that was really stupid.
(LAUGHS)
I was in the middle of the park
with Bobby Charlton.
Nobby was defending
along with Billy Foulkes
and Shay Brennan and Tony Dunne.
They were two attacking full-backs.
We just clicked.
It was a great attacking team,
it was always going forward.
(COMMENTATOR) Here we are on the last
Saturday of the Football League season
and still, any one of three teams
can win the First Division Championship.
(KEN RAMSDEN) So after European games,
in the early '60s,
teams would often stay over
and we would go after the match
to the Midland dressed up
a dinner, a dinner... a cabaret.
And at two o'clock in the morning,
we'd be doing the conga around the corridor
and who would lead the conga?
Mr and Mrs Busby. Brilliant.
(REPORTER) Be it Old Trafford, the home
of League champions Manchester United.
There, Matt Busby is really the boss.
He's the only manager
in the Football League
to have held his job for 20 years
and he's made United England's
most successful post-war club.
As a manager, what is his approach?
Today I regard football as big business.
Many years ago, a few years ago,
there was a certain amount
of sport in it.
One might say there's sport there just now,
but not to the extent...
It is business and you've got to produce,
and results count.
Because after all, end of a season,
football clubs must show
profit of some kind.
In the early '60s, Sir Matt brought
a successful businessman into the club.
Louis Edwards worked
in the meat industry in Manchester.
Big United fan,
and a friend of Matt Busby's.
Louis brought with him a business acumen
that was non-existent then.
(REPORTER) The reminders of his first
great team are all around him.
The young Charlton
is now a great player.
Billy Foulkes is as firm
and reliable as ever.
Harry Gregg, older and wiser,
still the first-choice goalkeeper.
Pat Crerand and also Denis Law
epitomise a somewhat different policy now.
These then were the foundations on which
Busby built his second football team.
He's put them in the setting
of a new 300,000 stand
and a ground that's had
a million pounds spent on it
in the 20 years of his managership.
He has rebuilt not only a club
but a reputation.
But practical rewards
from a satisfied board of directors
have been a one-ninth share
in Manchester United
and a seat on the board when he feels
that he's ready to take it.
(KEN RAMSDEN) United were
the first club in the country
to introduce private boxes
at the stadium.
And that was a business decision
taken jointly by Sir Matt
and Louis Edwards.
They saw that there was
a market for this.
But the will was then that,
between them, they had mates
who could buy all the boxes anyway.
(REPORTER) For Busby and United,
the wheel has turned full circle
and again they're in the European Cup.
In their first leg quarter-final match
against Benfica,
their fluid, freewheeling game
brought them a 3-2 victory.
It was a triumph
for Busby the tactician.
(CHEERING)
(MATT BUSBY) I think generally
we are a better side.
If our boys play as they can play,
- I feel we'll beat them.
- (JOURNALIST) You have to beat them, Matt.
I'm wondering whether there's
anything left really for you to prove.
I still want Manchester United
to be the best team in Europe.
And the only way they can be the best team
in Europe is by winning the European Cup.
(PAT CRERAND) You know the fans
wanted to win, but it was for him.
He was that popular with the players.
And of course
they didn't want to let him down.
Just had that bit of magic that got you to...
You wanted to win for him
more than anything else.
(COMMENTATOR) Denis Law
and the rest of Matt Busby's men
had only one thought: attack.
After seven minutes,
the ball went to George Best.
- Goal!
- (CHEERING)
Here comes Best again!
What a player this boy is!
He's got another!
(CHEERING)
What a player!
(MUSIC: BELFAST BOY BY DON FARDON)
And your feet
play tricks like a juggler
As you weave to the sound
of your name
Georgie, Georgie
They call you the Belfast Boy
Georgie, Georgie
They call you the Belfast Boy
(COMMENTATOR) He's already a hero
throughout the world of football.
Like Matthews and Pel and Eusbio,
this is a name that will put 10,000
on the gate wherever he plays.
(MATT BUSBY) I think maturity
in the next two or three years
will make him probably
the most complete player.
(GEORGE BEST) I realise, you know,
I know sometimes I go a bit beyond,
you know, what I should... my limits.
Because at the moment,
training and football
is not a strain to me.
Y'know, I enjoy training.
But I think maybe three, four years...
You can't burn a candle at both ends.
(LAUGHS)
Which I admit I have done.
Georgie, Georgie
They call you the Belfast Boy
Georgie, Georgie
They call you the Belfast Joy
And they say Georgie, Georgie,
keep your feet on the ground
Georgie, Georgie,
when you listen to the sound
Georgie, Georgie, put...
(CAR DOOR SLAMS)
(JOURNALIST) Do you think
that present-day footballers
are very much overpaid?
It seems to be sort of out of all proportion.
Well, I really think every man
should be paid according to his ability.
I must say that I've never objected
to paying very big wages
to a lot of the Manchester United players
because they had the ability
to do something
and the ability to win something
and the ability to pull crowds.
With the abolition of the maximum wage
in the early '60s,
players could have earned
a lot more at other clubs.
(JOHN ASTON JR) The only player,
Bobby Charlton told me once...
He said, "The boss called me. He said,
'Do you want a rise, Bobby?"'
And never heard of that before.
I know that Denis Law went for a rise.
He didn't get it.
And why did he do it?
Upbringing, man of his age...
"You're worth 25 a week.
You don't get 25 a week
till I think you're worth 25 a week."
And he was... he was tight.
United managed to hold down
the wage bills at Old Trafford.
Players like George Best
and Bobby Charlton and Denis Law
were playing for the prestige
and the glory and the reputation.
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR) It's a goal!
Oh, a beautiful goal!
Are United going to lose their
semi-final of the Champions Cup?
(JOURNALIST) You have lost
to one or two rather moderate sides.
I'm thinking of Partizan last year.
(MATT BUSBY) Well, last year,
I thought we were sure to win it,
beaten Benfica
and played so magnificently.
I rather think it give us
a false impression.
And the semi-final we played Partizan,
I think we rather took the view
that we'd just got
to go on the field and play
and pick up the semi-final
and go into the final.
I think it was... this I think
was the reason why we lost.
You are reputed of course to be looking
for one or two players now,
to improve and sort of develop
your squad a bit. Is that right?
Well, of course, we bought
Alex Stepney, the goalkeeper.
We seemed to be losing a lot of goals
and I think he's tightened up
the defence considerably.
I mean, I'm asking really,
will you ever really win the great, uh...?
(COMMENTATOR) Oh, a good bit of football
by Aston to Crerand.
- To Sadler, is this number four? Yes!
- (CHEERING)
This is another great day
in the history of Manchester United.
(CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR)
And now the Stretford End is up.
(JOHN ASTON JR) Winning the League
was obviously fantastic.
It put us in the European Cup.
It was probably Matt's last chance ever
to win the European Cup.
(COMMENTATOR)
To Kidd, a beautiful move, this.
Three players in the middle.
Burns... Great save!
- (CHEERING)
- And it's there! Aston the scorer!
Johnny Aston, the son of a former
Manchester United international,
gets the vital goal.
And Manchester United
are through into the next round.
Aston...
Again, the queue at the far post
for the cross if he can get it back.
It went well for him.
- Best!
- (CHEERING)
We won 1-0 at Old Trafford
in the first leg. We went to Madrid.
We've gone out there thinking,
"Well, if we can get to 0-0 at half-time,
we've got a chance."
- (CHEERING)
- (COMMENTATOR) It's a goal!
One minute's gone in this match,
the crowd erupts.
Oh! Gento goes absolutely clear.
Brennan never made contact.
And it's the second goal,
and poor Shay Brennan!
- (CHEERING)
- Own goal! It's an own goal!
What an astonishing thing!
There was no danger.
Gento trying to blast it through...
And another goal!
The half-time score, 3-1 to Real Madrid
and 3-2 they lead on aggregate.
(ALEX STEPNEY) We went in that dressing room,
"What you doing?
You're supposed to be out there
attacking teams, you've done it all..."
Laughing!
He says... (SCOFFS)
"Semi-final...
Go out and enjoy yourselves!"
"You've let me down,
you've let the supporters down,
you've let the club down."
(COMMENTATOR)
The match is so tense,
it's produced such an atmosphere,
you could almost touch it.
Best.
- (CHEERING)
- Oh!
And it's Sadler and it counts.
Everybody can't believe it!
It looked for a moment as if he might
have handled it, but the goal's given
and Manchester United are very much
back in this European Cup.
Best has made the space well.
Shoots... Foulkes, he scores!
Bill Foulkes,
the man who's played right through
Manchester United's
European Cup campaign!
Foulkes, of all people,
poaching on the edge of the box!
And what a good goal it was, too!
Set up by George Best
and Manchester United could be
on the way to the final!
(JOHN ASTON JR)
No other memory of him scoring a goal
and then he actually side-footed
the ball into the goal.
I can't remember him
side-footing anything, you know.
(COMMENTATOR)
They've done it! Yes, they've done it!
Manchester United have gone
into the final of the European Cup.
And Bobby Charlton's fallen right over.
He's lying flat.
I'm not quite sure if he's fainted
or what or whether he's crying
but Bobby Charlton is
face down on the pitch.
What a moment this is for Matt Busby
and Manchester United.
And Bobby Charlton
who's played right so far
through all of Manchester United's
European Cup matches,
overcome right at the last moment.
(JOURNALIST) Bobby,
you've won every honour of the game
but it's not come easily to you.
Now I remember a long time ago,
sitting in the Wembley dressing room
alongside you,
it was 1958, just after Munich,
and you were crying that day.
Do you remember?
You sat in the dressing room
and you'd got a loser's medal again
and I remember you saying to me,
"Oh, well, y'know,
this is another loser's medal,"
kind of thing.
And I suddenly had a feeling that it was
gonna happen to you again in a sense.
- Did you feel that?
- No.
I've got over that now.
I expect to lose sometimes
but I shall be more disappointed
if we lose the next one.
- Yes.
- You know, but we'll give them a run.
The pair of you have been right through
the United campaign ever since, you know...
(HARRY GREGG) But I felt I always had
something driving me on.
Pushed myself a lot further.
'Cos I felt I had to win that European Cup.
(BOBBY CHARLTON) We all said,
"We must win the European Cup
because that's what the lads
died trying to achieve."
(COMMENTATOR) And there's Coluna,
and Manchester United on the far side.
(BOBBY CHARLTON)
Maybe the hottest and most humid day
that I've ever known in England.
The sweat was pumping out of us.
(COMMENTATOR) Alex Stepney, Brian Kidd,
and a happy 19th birthday to him.
The unmistakeable figure of George Best.
And John Aston, his proud father
is here to watch him today.
Bill Foulkes,
who's played in every European Cup
campaign for Manchester United.
The only player to have done so.
One of the greatest servants Manchester
United are ever likely to have.
Pat Crerand.
A lot of people say
he's a one-pace player
but he's an immaculate
passer of the ball.
(CHEERING)
Thirteenth European Cup final
and there is Matt Busby.
And how most people in this stadium,
and I'm sure in the television audience,
are praying for him at this moment.
I've never known such tension
in Wembley Stadium before.
This is a tremendous,
emotional occasion.
Game under way and it's Manchester United
kicking off in the dark shirts,
the dark blue shirts,
attacking the goal on your left.
(CHEERING)
Aston again leaving Adolfo miles behind.
Watch Kidd on the far post!
Now Sadler!
For Aston, what a good ball, too!
Fine try by Johnny Aston there.
Matt Busby must be wondering whether
that was an important one went away.
For Sadler...
Charlton...
- It's there! Bobby Charlton!
- (CHEERING)
Bobby Charlton makes it 1-nothing!
That's his 20th goal
in the European Cup competition.
Eusbio and now Graa!
It's 1-1!
Graa, Jaime Graa.
Simes breaking for Benfica.
And Eusbio going through the middle...
What a tremendous save!
- Stepney!
- Wonderful keeping by Stepney there!
He came right out
and narrowed that angle.
The only way it could go in
was over the top!
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
And the whistle goes
for the end of 90 minutes.
The second time in the history
of the European Cup
that there has been extra time.
We now are going
to the first period of 15 minutes.
Now Best. Oh, he's got a great chance!
- (CHEERING)
- Oh, he must!
- He has!
- (CHEERING)
- Georgie Best has done it!
- (CHEERING)
Two minutes of extra time gone
and Georgie Best makes it 2-1.
And that was a tremendous save! Kidd!
- (CHEERING)
- Kidd it is, number eight!
It's Charlton in the middle,
so too is Aston.
Charlton... Another!
- (CHEERING)
- He's got another!
Is it all over? No.
Yes, it is! It's all over!
Manchester United have done it!
Where, oh, where is the man
everyone thinks of?
Matt Busby, tremendous moment
for this great man.
The man that they would have for
prime minister, president and everything.
When teams win something,
you go to the nearest player.
I don't think one of us, not one of us,
went to our nearest player.
We all went to Bill Foulkes,
to Bobby Charlton and Matt Busby.
It was never rehearsed.
(COMMENTATOR)
We've waited a long, long time for this.
Manchester United
are the European Champions.
(CHEERING)
Well done, Manchester United.
(MATT BUSBY)
That night at Wembley
was a crowning glory
for us all.
It was a night of achievement.
It was the object,
the exercise from the start.
And with the tragedy...
there was joy that night.
(CHEERING)
(MATT BUSBY) We've got here the boys
who've done us proud last night.
The boys who have won honour for the club.
They've won honour for Manchester,
they've won honour for England.
I'm very proud to be
the manager of these lads
who have done such a wonderful job.
(CHEERING)
Finally, up the Reds!
- Up the Reds!
- (CHEERING)
(REPORTER)
So, as Sir Matt receives his accolade,
doubters will still ask,
since he's already known and revered
by every football fan in the country,
what does the tap on the shoulder
and the use of a "sir" before his name
really add up to?
(JOURNALIST) How did your mother react
when this boy from the pitman's cottage
became Sir Matt Busby?
(MATT BUSBY) I know it made her
a very proud woman.
She sent a telegram:
"Dear Sir Matt Boss." (LAUGHS)
- Which is...
- That's sweet!
- She must have been very, very thrilled.
- Oh, yeah.
- (MATT BUSBY) Good morning, everyone.
- Morning.
"Sir Matt has informed the board
that he wishes to relinquish
the position of team manager
at the end of the present season.
The chairman and directors have tried
to persuade him to carry on
and it was only with great reluctance
that his request has been accepted."
(MAN)
One, take one.
(JOURNALIST) This is a job
you really wanted, isn't it?
Er... Well, yes.
It's something you dream about.
I've dreamt about now and again.
(WILF MCGUINNESS)
I was so proud that he chose me.
And I'll always be proud of that,
you can't take that away,
that I was the one he chose.
(JOURNALIST) Sir Matt, you appear
to have given Wilf McGuinness
all the responsibilities of team manager
without the actual title.
Is there a reason for this?
I've listened to his observations at matches
and half-time match, and so on.
And I thought, "Well,
that's exactly the way I felt about it."
We were all amazed that Wilf McGuinness
got the job in actual fact.
I think Wilf might have been surprised
as well.
(JOURNALIST) Will you stress
to the present players
- that he has full authority?
- (MATT BUSBY) Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
(JOURNALIST) What would be your reaction
should he drop George Best?
If he feels he's dropped George Best,
that's Wilf McGuinness' business.
He dropped Bobby, he dropped Denis,
he dropped me, he dropped George,
he dropped Paddy, he dropped everybody,
to make a point.
He was infantile in his approach.
And he had this... if you got caught
with your hands in your pockets,
you had to do ten press-ups.
It was cold, raining, muddy.
We were all in tracksuits.
And Bobby in his suit,
he's got his hands in his pocket.
And Wilf said, "Oh, Bobby,
you know the rules, ten press-ups."
And there was silence.
(CHUCKLES)
And he did them.
He did them.
I think Wilf got sacked the day after.
At last night's meeting,
when young Wilf's job
of team manager was relinquished,
the directors asked me if I'd go in
and take over for the time being.
The club is the thing
and in view of that,
I just come in as a part-timer.
We won the European Cup in 1968.
Everything since that seems
to have been an anti-climax.
Who do you blame? I...
I would think it stems from the fact
that United were on top for so long
that unless you're in a position
to recognise it
and recognise that you need change,
that you're gonna fail.
I was 22.
I wasn't going to reach my peak
for another seven or eight years.
And I listened to everyone
talking about how this is it,
we've achieved
what we set out to achieve.
And it seemed like they were talking
as if it was all over.
I was only starting, which hurt me,
y'know, because Manchester United
had been my whole life.
(MATT BUSBY) When I came out,
I was going to enjoy a peaceful life
and enjoy watching Manchester United play
but it hasn't been that way.
(JOURNALIST) How much of a crisis is
Manchester United in at the moment?
(MATT BUSBY) Well, everyone that's
struggling at the bottom of the League
has a crisis on their hands.
(JOURNALIST) Do you feel the board
can accept any blame at all?
(MATT BUSBY)
I don't think so.
(DISTANT CHEERING)
(COMMENTATOR)
Lee.
- Pulled across for Law!
- (CHEERING)
Denis has done it!
But no elation there at all
from Denis Law.
So that presumably
is the end of the game.
And the end of Manchester United's
36 years unbroken run
in the First Division.
(JOURNALIST)
Was he very impossible to replace?
(BOBBY CHARLTON) I don't think anybody's
impossible to replace really.
The person who takes over will have
to be just equally as good, I'm afraid.
(JOURNALIST) This must be an inhibiting
effect on those who try to succeed you.
(MATT BUSBY) I can't understand that.
Applications are invited
from managers with experience
and proven ability.
(BOBBY CHARLTON) It was always there,
you know, this overpowering
bearing on the place, y'know,
that you could never get away from.
Until Alex.
(JOURNALIST 1) Success is positively demanded
at Old Trafford
and the fact that it is now 20 seasons
since Manchester United
won the championship
has ultimately cost Ron Atkinson his job.
(JOURNALIST 2) The Scot becomes the sixth
to try to follow Sir Matt Busby.
He's Lanarkshire. I'm from Govan.
There's a difference.
(CHEERING)
We were 17, 18 when the Busby Babe
comparisons started to come out.
(COMMENTATOR)
It's the chance of a lifetime.
A treble chance,
the likes of which no English team
has had before or may ever get again.
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
(CHEERING)
Sir Alex instilled into us
what Sir Matt had in his teams.
Entertaining football,
getting the fans off their feet
with that working-class mentality
that even if you were having a bad game,
you would always put a shift in.
(COMMENTATOR) Three added minutes.
Can Manchester United score?
They always score.
- The big goalie's coming up.
- Peter Schmeichel is forward.
Can he score another in Europe?
- He's got one in Europe already.
- Beckham.
In towards Schmeichel.
It's come for Dwight Yorke!
Clear. Giggs with a shot!
Sheringham!
(CHEERING)
Is this their moment?
(CHEERING)
Beckham.
Into Sheringham.
And Solskjaer has got it!
Manchester United
are the champions of Europe again
and nobody will ever win a European Cup final
more dramatically than this.
Oh, it'll all be rushing back to him now.
(MATT BUSBY)
Feel a sense of romance.
Wonder. Mystery. A sense of beauty.
And a sense of poetry.
Because on such occasions,
the game is larger than life.
There's something of the timeless,
magical quality of legend.