posted Feb 8, 2008

Tom Clare's brilliant tribute brought tears to my eyes. I am older than Tom Clare but my memories are on a par to his, I can still remember the terrible feeling of the blood draining out of me as I heard the terrible news.
What today's younger football spectators are not aware of is that the football professionals of 1958 were not milliomaires, they did not live in large detached houses in posh areas; instead they were just the boys next door, their average earnings were the same as the average earnings of their fans. When they were injured there were no private hospitals for them they were just the same as most people they were treated by the NHS in public wards. I nursed the captain of Aston Villa when he needed treatment on his knee there was no side ward for him, his manager visited him at visiting times on the ward like every other visitor.
Yes, those boys who were killed in 1958 played just as well as Rooney or Lampard do today but we knew them because they lived just down the road.
I have been a fan of Man Utd since I first knew that footballs were meant to be kicked. But I shed most tears for the loss of Frank Swift.
Frank was a giant, his hands were huge and his heart was huge, he was kindness personified.

God bless all who suffered as a result of the crash in Munich.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

As a Liverpool fan I have deepest sympathies for all true United fans for the events of Munich and will be thinking of them this Sunday as I have all week. As a fan of football I know when to leave club feelings aside in times of tragedy and have appreciated the sympathies of other fans in our own dark times. We have all met idiots who goad us with insensitive words masquerading as football fans but we know the truth.
In memory of the fallen of 58.
Youll Never Walk Alone.

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posted Feb 8, 2008

A tribute to Frank swift, similiar in astrology would be Gordon Banks.
Perhaps he was a mentor for Banks
Banks survived his tragic accident though.

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posted Feb 9, 2008

Fifty years after Munich

T’was a snowy day in Munich
February 58
The ice upon the runway
Frozen firm to seal their fate
The pick of youthful talent
Mixed with writers of the press
As the once beautiful game
Resulted there in sheer distress

T’was the third attempt at takeoff
A flight that should not have been
And twixt tragedy and triumph
There appeared no in-between
So many gifted people
Lost their lives on foreign ground
Never to return to loved ones
Never to be homeward bound

And now fifty years later
As the memories remain
For the ones who bore the sorrow
Who shall never be the same
Many do not know how gifted
Those who passed away could be
But their names shall still live on
Revered now throughout history

© Matthew Griffiths 2008

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posted Feb 10, 2008

How dare you Rosler- What on Earth was going through your pea size brain when you made these comments. My dad had just finished work when the news of the crash filtered through. I was born that year and as a die hard United fan he told me how it affected the city, how man and women cried when the news came through. How strangers would console each other and the grief that overcame Manchester and football in general you cannot concieve.

You are an insult to true football fans everywhere Rosler - For your information my dad also recalled how the collection tins were out everywhere and money was sent in for the families of those who died from almost every league club in the country and their supporters, as well as from places as far afield as the USA and Australia.

Yes there have been books and DVD's and so what - Do you think the money raised from the sale of books on the holocaust has gone to jewish people or the money from the sale of DVD's about WW2, Vietnam, The Falklands war etc has gone to the families of those killed?

I see that today City fans respected the minutes silence and replica scarfes from the time were handed out FREE to the supporters of both clubs on entry to the ground. A nice guesture.

Its 50 years since that fateful crash which most fans accept wiped out a team that would have formed the neucleous of the 1962 England side - And who is to say they would not have won it in Sweden with the likes of Edwards, Taylor, Pegg and co.

Hang your head in shame Rosler for being such a cynic and for not having the decency to refrain from making such turgid comment in a thread devoted to rememembering the busby babes.

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posted Mar 22, 2008

Kenny Morgans Is My 2nd Cousin.
He Tells Me About The Crash Everytime I See Him.
Im So Glad He Survived
From Charlotte Hock Im Swansea, Wales.

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posted Mar 22, 2008

Hi Guys,
\
There's a few match going United fans on this thread, does anyone know how the "Who the F * * K are Man United" song starts?

I have only ever heard Boyle sing it a couple of times but I'm pretty sure it starts something like..

"The first English team to win the European Cup"

and then leading up to the chorus it's..

|"....and still they like to sing, Who the F * * K are Man United"....etc.

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posted Apr 4, 2008

I'm a city fan myself and i thinks its absoulutley disgusting how far some football fans up their own backside to realise that just because that the Busy Babes were not part of the same club as what they support...it dosent matter that they died. I mean...They're still people just like you and I? i bought a shirt with "swift" and "58" on the back...to pay my respects. I'm just glad the silence at Old Trafford was respected and that for that period of time...city and united fans could be as one club... "Club Manchester" to remember that horrific and terrible accident that hopefully will not occur to any other club again.

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posted Oct 12, 2008

when bobby charlton say's edwards was the best .you know it's true .many year's ago i picked up bobby in my taxi .from a newcastle night club .the night preston let him go as manager.what a blue preston.regards bobby from the perth geordie.

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