Manchester United is possibly the most famous sports club in the world, and it will bring its remarkable history full of drama, legend and mystique to Rio Tinto Stadium in an exhibition match against Real Salt Lake on Monday at 8 p.m.
The first soccer club in the world was Sheffield FC, founded in 1857. Manchester United started its life as Newton Heath Football Club in 1878, changing its name to Manchester United in 1902. It is the most successful club in England.
Why does it have a worldwide following? The reasons for the universal interest in Manchester United may lie in its success before a 1958 Munich airplane crash, the mystique surrounding the disaster, and the remarkable success following it. If ever there was a story of a phoenix rising from the ashes in a professional sport, this is it.
Matt Busby became United's manager in 1945 after soccer resumed following World War II. He led the team to an FA Cup victory in 1948, and in 1952 the team won the First Division, the club's first league title in 41 years. The team was nicknamed "The Busby Babes” in 1956 because of the players' average age of 22, reflecting Busby’s faith in his young team. In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite opposition from the Football League. Busby was a pioneer of English club participation in European competitions.
On Feb. 6, 1958, the team was flying back from a European Cup quarterfinal victory against Red Star Belgrade. The aircraft carrying the Manchester United players, officials and journalists, which had stopped in Munich to refuel, crashed after a failed take-off attempt. Twenty of the 44 on the aircraft died at the scene, and three more died at a hospital in Munich.
Of the 23 fatalities, eight were United players. Part of the mystique surrounding this disaster was connected to the deaths of so many young, prestigious and promising football players with enormous talent, Duncan Edwards being just one. At the time of the disaster, he was 21 and had acquired the accolade of being the youngest player ever to play in the Football League First Division and the youngest player to play for England since World War II. He has been called the greatest football player Britain ever saw. One can only imagine what the Busby Babes would have achieved if disaster had not struck on that fateful winter’s day in Munich.
Busby was so badly injured in the crash that he received the last rites twice. He survived but wanted to quit the manager's job until persuaded by his wife to continue in honor of the players who had died. After the crash, Busby successfully built a new side around Munich survivors Harry Gregg, Bill Foulkes and Bobby Charlton. Three other players who survived were so badly injured they never played again.
The crowning event and the pinnacle of Busby’s career came just over 10 years after the Munich crash. United had reached the European Cup final May 29, 1968, and played Benfica of Portugal at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of 92,225 spectators. In the second half of the game, Bobby Charlton scored for United, but 22 minutes later Jaime Graca equalized for Benfica. With the game standing at 1 goal each, it went into extra time. George Best made it 2-1 for United in the 93rd minute, and then Brian Kidd added another goal for United a minute later, scoring on his 19th birthday.
Finally, in the 100th minute of the game, Bobby Charlton, one of two survivors of the Munich crash playing in this game, scored his second and the team's fourth goal to seal the victory for Manchester United, the first English club to win the European Cup.
I watched this incredible game and historic moment as a 14-year-old lad on a black and white television at home in Oldham, Lancashire. On the final whistle, after greeting some of his teammates, I watched as Charlton, the captain of the United team, and Busby embraced. That embrace spoke volumes — they had done it, they had achieved the seemingly impossible, they had done it to honor their dead teammates. This is part of the mystique, the legend and the magic that is Manchester United.
It doesn’t end there. Building on this history was Alex Ferguson, who joined in 1986 and became the most successful Manchester United manager ever. Some sports journalists say he was the most successful professional sports team manager in the world. According to the "Guinness Book of Records," Ferguson served longer as a professional team coach of the same team than anyone else in the world, spending 26 years at the head of Manchester United. Former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan comes in second, with 23 years.
Ferguson was a strict disciplinarian who instilled in his teams a "never-say-die attitude," the key to much of their success, evidenced often dramatically in comeback situations.
The pinnacle of Ferguson's career came at the end of the 1998-99 season, when Manchester United became the first English team to win the treble, the FA Cup, the Premier League Championship and the European Cup, in one season. The European Cup final played in front of 90,245 spectators at Barcelona’s Nou Camp Stadium against Bayern Munich suggests that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
It was late May in 1999, and Bayern Munich led the game 1-0, with Mario Basler’s goal in the sixth minute. After the full 90 minutes, Munich fans were lighting flares to celebrate their success, and Bayern Munich ribbons had already been tied around the trophy in preparation for the victory ceremony. The fourth official indicated an extra three minutes of injury time would be played.
Miraculously, just seconds into the 90th minute of the game, a corner kick from David Beckham came to Dwight Yorke, who headed back to Ryan Giggs, whose shot was poorly struck but went straight to Teddy Sheringham. Sheringham swiped at the ball with his right foot, putting it into the corner of the net for 1-1.
Some Manchester United fans say there was a special aura on that May 26 night, and that they saw the writing in the sky or in the heavens. Sir Matt Busby, regarded as the father figure of Manchester United and pioneer of English football club participation in European Competitions, whose team had been the first English club to win the European Cup, had died in 1994 so was not present on this night of nights — or was he? Ironically, had he been alive he would have celebrated his 90th birthday on the very day of this match having been born on the 26th of May 1909. That vital goal by Sheringham was scored in the 90th minute on Matt Busby’s 90th birthday.
Two minutes later, another corner from Beckham was headed by Sheringham, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stuck out his foot — United’s second and winning goal was in the net. The Bayern Munich players sat in shock and disbelief. Ferguson had done it again and had stamped a never-die attitude on each player. Some sports writers have called this the most dramatic two minutes in sporting history. The magic and legend of Manchester United lives on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjxHp2A5BsUThe power of Manchester United continues to this day.
On May 22, a suicide bomber entered the foyer of the Manchester Arena, as fans came out of an Ariana Grande concert, and detonated a bomb that killed 23 and injured 119 adults and children. Britain’s second-largest city, divided by the blue of the Manchester City Football Club and the red of Manchester United, came together under the banner of “Manchester — a City United."
On May 24, just two days after the terrorist attack, United was due to play in Stockholm against Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa Cup final. There was little enthusiasm for a game of football when events of greater significance occupied minds.
After a discussion about whether it was appropriate to play a game so soon after Manchester’s worst terrorist attack, Jose Mourinho, the United manager, announced the team would play the game in honor of those who died. United went ahead with its preparations, inspired by a greater cause. It won convincingly, 2-0, to lift the Europa Cup.
United's latest victory means it has won more major trophies than any other English club, overtaking Liverpool Football Club. It has claimed its 42nd major trophy, one more than Liverpool.
As United come to Salt Lake City to play Real Salt Lake for the first time in history, understand that Manchester United is no ordinary club. It has a remarkable history full of drama, legend and mystique. It is fitting that Old Trafford, United’s home ground, is referred to as the “Theatre of Dreams,” aptly describing the stage on which some of the world’s greatest players have performed and the most stunning goals have been witnessed. The drama that is Manchester United is complete with disappointing losses and great victories, devastating tragedies and remarkable successes, but the legends continue and the tradition of greatness lives on in the Magic that is Manchester United.