Just thought I'd resurrect these eloquent posts by
@laserblue from a few years ago that highlight what a despicable organisation they are
I finally got around to reading ‘The Lost Babes’ by Jeff Connor. The evictions of badly injured survivors of Munich is well known but there are plenty of other examples of despicable behaviour toward the victims and their families. It should be borne in mind that Connor is a United fan. This would be such a long post that I’ve split it into two parts. The second part will follow shortly.
1) When Connor approached the club about his planned book he was told by secretary Ken Ramsden that if he wanted to interview
any club employee,
past or present, he would need to obtain permission from then chief executive Peter Kenyon. All of his many calls and emails to Kenyon went unanswered. Connor went ahead anyway with one of the Munich families saying to him “This is a story that should be told.”
2) On 6 February 2003, the 45th anniversary of the tragedy, he went to Old Trafford and stood with a group of about 30 fans underneath the memorial plaque where they had laid wreaths and flowers. No representative of the club was in attendance and there was no wreath from the club. After the little ceremony Connor went to the Red Café for a bite to eat. When he returned all the wreaths and flowers had been removed.
3) Dennis Viollet was a Munich survivor who joined United in 1949 and played for them until 1962 when he moved to Stoke. In 1959-60 he scored 32 goals in 36 1st division games, a season scoring record that still stands today. In total he scored 179 goals in 293 games. When Viollet was dying of cancer in the US some of his friends asked the club to donate a signed match ball that they could raffle to raise funds for his crippling medical bills. The club refused. Despite his 13 years of service (9 as a first team player) United didn’t give him a testimonial. He only played 5 years at Stoke but they did. Viollet died in March 1999.
4) Jimmy Murphy was Busby’s first and some say best signing who joined United in 1945. His responsibility was to scout and coach young talent and he is often credited with being the real creator of the Busby Babes. His reputation was high enough for coaching offers to be made by Brazil, Arsenal and Juventus but he declined them to stay at United. He wasn’t at Munich because he was also part time manager of Wales who were playing a World Cup qualifier on the night of the Red Star Belgrade match. After Busby retired his title was changed from assistant manager to chief scout and he was gradually marginalised until he was evicted from his office and the club refused to continue paying his taxi and phone bills.
5) When Albert Scanlon arrived back from hospital in Munich the taxi driver who picked him up offered to drive him anywhere he wanted any time at no charge. A month later some dickhead club official, believing the club were paying for the taxi, told him he’d have to stop using it. Busby moved him on to Newcastle but promised he’d be “financially all right” and that he’d fix all the financial things for him. Five years later Scanlon approached Busby outside Old Trafford but Busby blanked him.
6) Jackie Blanchflower suffered horrific injuries at Munich. His right arm was severely fractured and almost severed, his pelvis was crushed and he suffered serious kidney damage which shortened his life. A few months later, despite his wife being heavily pregnant, they were evicted from their club house. As a sop Louis Edwards offered him a job loading meat pies on to his lorries which he declined. The club later cancelled his complimentary season ticket. He died just two weeks after the 40th anniversary benefit match in 1998.
7) Johnny Berry suffered a fractured skull, a broken jaw (which required all his teeth to be removed) a broken pelvis and a broken elbow. He was in a coma for two months and his survival was touch and go. He, his wife and young son were also evicted from their club house and he was fired by letter.
8) In 1986 David Pegg’s sister was shocked to see a large headshot of him as the centrepiece in a glossy newspaper insert advertising the new club museum. When she complained to the club secretary that she hadn’t been asked for permission or even informed about it she was told the club held the copyright of the photo and didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission.
Part two. Incredibly, if anything, it's worse than part one.
9) Many of the families donated shirts, medals and other memorabilia to the club museum but when they wanted to see them again they were told they’d have to pay the entrance fee to the museum.
10) The club had underinsured the players for just over half the £200,000 they were valued at. When the reduced insurance payout was received the club only distributed half to the families of the lost players and kept the other half itself.
11) In 1997 UEFA invited the survivors to the Champions League final between Juventus and Dortmund. At a press conference Bobby Charlton, a club director since 1984, said “Every day of my life I think of the crash and the lads who died there”. Harry Gregg’s response was “Aye I thought. ‘If that’s what you believe then why the fuck have you done nothing for some of the others all this time?’”
12) The United board weren’t enthusiastic about the suggestion from ex-players to hold a 40th anniversary benefit match and only agreed on the basis that it would be combined with, and play second fiddle to, a farewell match for Cantona. Harry Gregg was outraged. “The opposition was supposed to be Red Star, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. No one else was mentioned and Joe Public bought tickets on the strength of that. Then I read in the paper that Eric Cantona was coming. Diabolical.” The match was played between a United XI and a European XI. “As many had feared, it turned into the Eric Cantona show.”
13) Three weeks after the match the testimonial committee received an invoice from Cantona’s agent for £90,055.01 (yes, an extra penny) to cover Cantona’s ‘expenses’. These expenses covered the hire of a private jet to ferry in Cantona and his entourage of family and friends and included a bill from the Mottram Hall Hotel for £15,869.94. Cantona stayed 3 nights but his entourage stayed for up to 5 nights. The club paid this invoice, not from their bulging coffers, but from the benefit match proceeds.
14) 51 Capodimonte figures were presented to those who played in the game and others involved. They cost £5,560 and the cost was again taken out of the match proceeds. The club also took out £15,000 to cover the cost of ticket refunds for the originally scheduled match 5 months earlier despite the match having been postponed by the club. They also took a ‘refund’ of £15,018 to cover the cost of printing programmes, posters and stationery for the match. In 1998 United’s turnover was £87.9 million, the biggest in world football. Not only didn’t they put a penny into the benefit fund but they took £125,633.01 out of it.
15) The survivors and dependants each received £47,283.89, barely half what was given to pay for multi- millionaire Cantona’s extravagance. The whole idea was to give some financial support to the survivors and families of the victims and it was questioned why Bobby Charlton and Busby’s two children should receive a share. The independently wealthy Charlton could have put his share back in the pot but he didn’t. In addition, by 1998 Eddie Colman had no surviving family and it was felt his share should also go back in the pot but the committee arbitrarily decided to give it to an unrelated charity.
But tell a rag any of this and most of them simply call bullshit because it doesn’t fit in with the cosy narrative they’ve been spoon fed for the last 60 years. Vile club.
