Sir Matt Busby (1909–1994): Munich, the Babes and Wembley 1968

Each major claim carries one of three labels. established means supported by primary records, official bodies or several independent reliable sources. shared means the core fact is sound but sources disagree on details, dates or interpretation. traditional means widely repeated but not traceable to a primary or independent source.

Busby's honours and the facts of Munich are fully documented. Accounts of his private conversations and motives come from memoirs and biographies and are treated with more caution.

A mining village

established Matt Busby was born on 26 May 1909 at Orbiston, a mining village near Bellshill in Lanarkshire. His father was a miner who was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Arras on 23 April 1917, when Matt was seven. The family was poor and Catholic, and Matt worked as a pit boy before football offered an escape.

shared He considered emigrating to the United States with his mother before Manchester City signed him in 1928. The family story is told in his autobiographies.

The player

established Busby joined Manchester City in 1928 and became a skilful, intelligent wing-half, winning the FA Cup in 1934. He moved to Liverpool in 1936 and won one official Scotland cap, in 1933, plus wartime internationals. During the Second World War he served as an army physical training instructor and played wartime football.

Rebuilding United

established In October 1945 Busby became manager of Manchester United. The club was in debt, and Old Trafford had been bombed in 1941; United played their home games at City's Maine Road. Busby insisted on control over team selection and training, which was unusual at the time, and appointed his friend Jimmy Murphy as assistant.

established His first great team won the FA Cup in 1948 and the League in 1952. Then, rather than buy established players, Busby and Murphy built a team of teenagers from the club's youth system. The "Busby Babes", including Duncan Edwards, Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor, won the League in 1956 and 1957.

established In 1956 Busby took United into the new European Cup, against the wishes of Football League officials who had kept Chelsea out the previous year. United reached the semi-finals in 1957.

Munich, 6 February 1958

established Returning from a European Cup quarter-final against Red Star Belgrade, the team's chartered plane stopped to refuel at Munich. On its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway, it crashed. Twenty-three people died, including eight players: seven at the scene and Duncan Edwards fifteen days later. Journalists, club staff and crew were also killed. Busby suffered multiple injuries and was given the last rites twice.

established While Busby recovered, Jimmy Murphy, who had missed the trip because he was managing Wales, kept the club going and took a makeshift team to the 1958 FA Cup final. Busby returned to the manager's job later that year, deeply affected and reportedly considering quitting.

Scotland, 1958

established In January 1958 the Scottish FA appointed Busby as the national team's part-time manager, with the World Cup in Sweden ahead. Munich, a month later, ended any chance of him taking the team there; the trainer Dawson Walker was put in charge of preparations, and Scotland went out in the first round in Sweden without a manager. Busby, still frail, returned to pick the side for two Home Internationals in the autumn. For the first, against Wales in Cardiff on 18 October 1958, he named an all-Anglo forward line that included the 18-year-old Huddersfield player Denis Law, against criticism in Scotland, and made the 23-year-old Dave Mackay captain. Scotland won 3–0 and Law scored.

The third team and Wembley

established Busby built a third great side around the Munich survivor Bobby Charlton, the Scot Denis Law and the young Belfast winger George Best. He had wanted Law since seeing him score twice against United's youth team, and paid Torino £115,000 for him in July 1962; he then told Law, an all-round inside-forward, not to come back over the halfway line, turning him into the most dangerous penalty-box forward in the country. It won the FA Cup in 1963 and the League in 1965 and 1967. On 29 May 1968, at Wembley, United beat Benfica 4–1 after extra time to win the European Cup, ten years after Munich. Busby was knighted the same year.

Later years and legacy

established Busby stepped down as manager in 1969, returned briefly as interim manager in 1970–71 and became a club director and later president. He was made a papal knight in 1972. He died in Cheadle on 20 January 1994, aged 84. The road outside Old Trafford is named Sir Matt Busby Way, and his statue stands at the stadium.

shared Busby is often credited with inventing the modern idea of the manager with full control of a club's football, and with making youth development a philosophy rather than a necessity. Both are fair as descriptions of his influence, though other managers of his era worked in similar ways.

• Busby's father was killed at Arras in 1917, when Matt was seven.
• He played for Manchester City and Liverpool before managing Manchester United.
• He won only one official Scotland cap.
• He was given the last rites twice after Munich.
• United's 1968 European Cup came exactly ten years after Munich.
• He took United into Europe against the wishes of Football League officials.

• Myth: all the Munich dead were players. Twenty-three people died, of whom eight were players. The rest were journalists, club staff, crew and others.
• Myth: Busby won the European Cup with the Busby Babes. The Babes were destroyed at Munich in 1958. The European Cup was won ten years later by his rebuilt team, built around Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best.
• Myth: Busby won many Scotland caps. He won one official cap, in 1933.
• Myth: United were the first British winners of the European Cup. United were the first English club to win it, in 1968. Celtic had won it in 1967.