Munich Anniversary

[Gingers Dad]

R.I.P to all who perished.

My dad was as passionate a blue as you could ever meet, he lived and breathed City all his life. Didn’t stop him getting emotional whenever the subject of Munich came up. He described it as like the entire city being hit by a sledgehammer. I think that’s why he could never bring himself to hate United. He didn’t see the ugly behemoth we see today , he only ever saw a collection of bright young lives snuffed out all too early.

One of the very few times he ever really bollocked me was for calling them “Munichs” when I was a teenager. It disgusted him. As I’ve grown it disgusts me as well.

I don’t give a shite who they played for, or how the club treated their families afterwards, today is a day for remembering a collection of lives, young and older, that were taken far too soon, in a Very traumatic devastating manner.

God bless them all, and their families.

A like is not enough sometimes

 

[hateutd]

R.I.P for the dead, respect for all of em.....there are a few other reasons to hate the scums .... enough said.

 

[joenorth]

I didn't mean it to be a negative on city fans,but the songs were sang, I probably sang them myself in those days, just inquisitive into did the fans and the club remember frank swift in the years after the tragedy.

 

[Gingers Dad]

I had a ticket for the Derby in the 77/78 season. The game was a scheduled for 4th February. So basically the the 20th anniversary. The game was postponed and played later in the season.
I was only a kid but I really don't remember a media fuss like the shitstorm they tried to kick up on the 50th anniversary?
I really really don't like Utd but this was a tragedy and they should be able to commemorate it the way they feel appropriate.

 

[Brad mcfc]

R.I.P to those who died.

 

[johnevans]

R.I.P to all who perished.

My dad was as passionate a blue as you could ever meet, he lived and breathed City all his life. Didn’t stop him getting emotional whenever the subject of Munich came up. He described it as like the entire city being hit by a sledgehammer. I think that’s why he could never bring himself to hate United. He didn’t see the ugly behemoth we see today , he only ever saw a collection of bright young lives snuffed out all too early.

One of the very few times he ever really bollocked me was for calling them “Munichs” when I was a teenager. It disgusted him. As I’ve grown it disgusts me as well.

I don’t give a shite who they played for, or how the club treated their families afterwards, today is a day for remembering a collection of lives, young and older, that were taken far too soon, in a Very traumatic devastating manner.

God bless them all, and their families.

Well said..

One of my earliest memories is being hoiked up onto The Old Man's shoulders to see United's 1958 Cup Final team being greeted at the Town Hall in Albert Square. To give him a rest, our neighbour from Hulme (who was a season ticket holder at Old Trafford along with his wife, both of them watching United home and away for many years) also let me sit on his shoulders to see above the crowd. My aunts and uncles were there too, all Blues mixing with their Red friends to honour the team that had defied the odds after that dreadful air disaster.

Because it was the city's disaster as much as anything else. We shouted for Matt Busby because he had been a Blue in the great City side of but 20 years before, along with Frank Swift who had died in the crash. Nearer to home, my mother had been a babysitter as a young woman to Albert Scanlon, who survived the crash. She would have been devastated if he'd been one of those who lost their lives that day.

Growing up in the 60s, the disaster only came back into our consciousness as kids when on February 6th notices would appear in the Manchester Evening News' 'In Memoriam' column. There would always be something from Duncan Edwards' family, together with Roger Byrne's, David Pegg's and Tommy Taylor's families. I recall as a student on the 15th anniversary in 1973 posting a newspaper clipping which had the complete poem 'Flowers Of Manchester' on a university noticeboard. Nobody touched it or desecrated it. Because it was the city's tragedy.

Sadly, United haven't covered themselves with glory in dealing with the tragedy. In the 60s, the treatment of the players and other staff was frankly appalling (forcing players and their families out of club houses, minimal financial support, not even a whiff of a testimonial to generate funds to support those affected and so on and so on). The initial 'strategy' always seemed to be 'benign ignorance' and not to allow themselves to be opened up to legal challenges.. if we don't mention it, it and everyone will go away.. and our supine press/media was complicit in this, never highlighting what was going on, hardly ever mentioning the Munich disaster until February 6th loomed again..

I spoke with Albert Scanlon on a few occasions in the 70s when I was a student and would occasionally meet my parents in town of a Saturday night for a drink with them at Sinclair's Oyster Bar when they would often bump into Albert. He was clearly very upset about the way he and others had been treated by United post-Munich. On the other hand, they had put up a clock at Old Trafford, so that was that, then..

Fast forward to the early 90s. Time had passed, fans from various clubs including our own had long begun the dreadful chanting that referenced the Munich air disaster and football was beginning to gear up for the modern age that we now know, involving not just mega-bucks sponsorships and tv deals but also Stock Market flotations of clubs and the like. United led the UK charge on all of these things. And that's when the Marketing Johnnies started taking over our great game. It isn't unfair, I believe, to state that this was the time when the Munich air disaster was slowly turned into a marketing tool by these people, becoming part of the legend of the club alone, when it became all about United and nothing and no-one else.

And as usual when people at a distance from the thing get their greedy marketing mitts on something like this, they messed it up, culminating in the farce that was the 1998 testimonial on behalf of those who had lost their lives 40 years before. The obscene amount of money paid to secure Eric Cantona's involvement in that game when, yet again, ordinary people were asked to dip their hands in their pockets, was grossly insulting. 'Munich' has become, in the hands of these people, part of the 'branding' to be exploited, that is quite clear..

However, none of United's actions/behaviours justifies anyone chanting vile obscenities regarding the Munich air disaster. When I hear our fellow Blues use this awful event to poke fun at our Red rivals, I despair at their stupidity and crass insensitivity. Like other Blues on here today, I've noticed that it has reduced over recent years (largely, I think, because of the outstanding behaviour of Blues at the 2008 50th commemoration at the OId Trafford derby). I hope it will disappear completely. And when Munich is commemorated in the future, I also hope it will be the city's loss at the heart of it.

 

[Kazzydeyna]

Well said..

One of my earliest memories is being hoiked up onto The Old Man's shoulders to see United's 1958 Cup Final team being greeted at the Town Hall in Albert Square. To give him a rest, our neighbour from Hulme (who was a season ticket holder at Old Trafford along with his wife, both of them watching United home and away for many years) also let me sit on his shoulders to see above the crowd. My aunts and uncles were there too, all Blues mixing with their Red friends to honour the team that had defied the odds after that dreadful air disaster.

Because it was the city's disaster as much as anything else. We shouted for Matt Busby because he had been a Blue in the great City side of but 20 years before, along with Frank Swift who had died in the crash. Nearer to home, my mother had been a babysitter as a young woman to Albert Scanlon, who survived the crash. She would have been devastated if he'd been one of those who lost their lives that day.

Growing up in the 60s, the disaster only came back into our consciousness as kids when on February 6th notices would appear in the Manchester Evening News' 'In Memoriam' column. There would always something from Duncan Edwards' family, together with Roger Byrne's, David Pegg's and Tommy Taylor's families. I recall as a student on the 15th anniversary in 1973 posting a newspaper clipping which had the complete poem 'Flowers Of Manchester' on a university noticeboard. Nobody touched it or desecrated it. Because it was the city's tragedy.

Sadly, United haven't covered themselves with glory in dealing with the tragedy. In the 60s, the treatment of the players and other staff was frankly appalling (forcing players and their families out of club houses, minimal financial support, not even a whiff of a testimonial to generate funds to support those affected and so on and so on). The initial 'strategy' always seemed to be 'benign ignorance' and not to allow themselves to be opened up to legal challenges.. if we don't mention it, it and everyone will go away.. and our supine press/media was complicit in this, never highlighting what was going on, hardly ever mentioning the Munich disaster until February 6th loomed again..

I spoke with Albert Scanlon on a few occasions in the 70s when I was a student and would occasionally meet my parents in town of a Saturday night for a drink with them at Sinclair's Oyster Bar when they would often bump into Albert. He was clearly very upset about the way he and others had been treated by United post-Munich. On the other hand, they had put up a clock at Old Trafford, so that was that, then..

Fast forward to the early 90s. Time had passed, fans from various clubs including our own had long begun the dreadful chanting that referenced the Munich air disaster and football was beginning to gear up for the modern age that we now know, involving not just mega-bucks sponsorships and tv deals but also Stock Market flotations of clubs and the like. United led the UK charge on all of these things. And that's when the Marketing Johnnies started taking over our great game. It isn't unfair, I believe, to state that this was the time when the Munich air disaster was slowly turned into a marketing tool by these people, becoming part of the legend of the club alone, when it became all about United and nothing and no-one else.

And as usual when people at a distance from the thing get their greedy marketing mitts on something like this, they messed it up, culminating in the farce that was the 1998 testimonial on behalf of those who had lost their lives 40 years before. The obscene amount of money paid to secure Eric Cantona's involvement in that game when, yet again, ordinary people were asked to dip their hands in their pockets, was grossly insulting. 'Munich' has become, in the hands of these people, part of the 'branding' to be exploited, that is quite clear..

However, none of United's actions/behaviours justifies anyone chanting vile obscenities regarding the Munich air disaster. When I hear our fellow Blues use this awful event to poke fun at our Red rivals, I despair at their stupidity and crass insensitivity. Like other Blues on here today, I've noticed that it has reduced over recent years (largely, I think, because of the outstanding behaviour of Blues at the 2008 50th commemoration at the OId Trafford derby). I hope it will disappear completely. And when it is commemorated in the future, I also hope it will be the city's loss at the heart of it.

Probably the best post I've read on here for a long time.

 

[Maly]

Well said..

One of my earliest memories is being hoiked up onto The Old Man's shoulders to see United's 1958 Cup Final team being greeted at the Town Hall in Albert Square. To give him a rest, our neighbour from Hulme (who was a season ticket holder at Old Trafford along with his wife, both of them watching United home and away for many years) also let me sit on his shoulders to see above the crowd. My aunts and uncles were there too, all Blues mixing with their Red friends to honour the team that had defied the odds after that dreadful air disaster.

Because it was the city's disaster as much as anything else. We shouted for Matt Busby because he had been a Blue in the great City side of but 20 years before, along with Frank Swift who had died in the crash. Nearer to home, my mother had been a babysitter as a young woman to Albert Scanlon, who survived the crash. She would have been devastated if he'd been one of those who lost their lives that day.

Growing up in the 60s, the disaster only came back into our consciousness as kids when on February 6th notices would appear in the Manchester Evening News' 'In Memoriam' column. There would always something from Duncan Edwards' family, together with Roger Byrne's, David Pegg's and Tommy Taylor's families. I recall as a student on the 15th anniversary in 1973 posting a newspaper clipping which had the complete poem 'Flowers Of Manchester' on a university noticeboard. Nobody touched it or desecrated it. Because it was the city's tragedy.

Sadly, United haven't covered themselves with glory in dealing with the tragedy. In the 60s, the treatment of the players and other staff was frankly appalling (forcing players and their families out of club houses, minimal financial support, not even a whiff of a testimonial to generate funds to support those affected and so on and so on). The initial 'strategy' always seemed to be 'benign ignorance' and not to allow themselves to be opened up to legal challenges.. if we don't mention it, it and everyone will go away.. and our supine press/media was complicit in this, never highlighting what was going on, hardly ever mentioning the Munich disaster until February 6th loomed again..

I spoke with Albert Scanlon on a few occasions in the 70s when I was a student and would occasionally meet my parents in town of a Saturday night for a drink with them at Sinclair's Oyster Bar when they would often bump into Albert. He was clearly very upset about the way he and others had been treated by United post-Munich. On the other hand, they had put up a clock at Old Trafford, so that was that, then..

Fast forward to the early 90s. Time had passed, fans from various clubs including our own had long begun the dreadful chanting that referenced the Munich air disaster and football was beginning to gear up for the modern age that we now know, involving not just mega-bucks sponsorships and tv deals but also Stock Market flotations of clubs and the like. United led the UK charge on all of these things. And that's when the Marketing Johnnies started taking over our great game. It isn't unfair, I believe, to state that this was the time when the Munich air disaster was slowly turned into a marketing tool by these people, becoming part of the legend of the club alone, when it became all about United and nothing and no-one else.

And as usual when people at a distance from the thing get their greedy marketing mitts on something like this, they messed it up, culminating in the farce that was the 1998 testimonial on behalf of those who had lost their lives 40 years before. The obscene amount of money paid to secure Eric Cantona's involvement in that game when, yet again, ordinary people were asked to dip their hands in their pockets, was grossly insulting. 'Munich' has become, in the hands of these people, part of the 'branding' to be exploited, that is quite clear..

However, none of United's actions/behaviours justifies anyone chanting vile obscenities regarding the Munich air disaster. When I hear our fellow Blues use this awful event to poke fun at our Red rivals, I despair at their stupidity and crass insensitivity. Like other Blues on here today, I've noticed that it has reduced over recent years (largely, I think, because of the outstanding behaviour of Blues at the 2008 50th commemoration at the OId Trafford derby). I hope it will disappear completely. And when it is commemorated in the future, I also hope it will be the city's loss at the heart of it.

Fantastic post

 

[Mike N]

That didn’t really prove anything to be honest but great photo nonetheless

After what had been predicted in the media the week before, I think it proved quite a lot actually.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I've posted this before but there's a personal connection for me as one of the casualties was a man called Willie Satinoff, who owned the rainwear company Alligator. My late uncle worked with him for many years and was on the board, even after Willie died. There was a vacancy on the United board at the time and it would have probably gone to Willie, who was a great friend of Matt Busby's.

With Willie's death, the field was clear for Louis Edwards, who was able to surreptiously buy up small shareholdings, even when the board ordered him not to.