When I used to hear Muhammad Ali proclaim to the world he was the greatest I used to smile. You see, the greatest of them all was an English footballer named Duncan Edwards.
—Jimmy Murphy (Matt Busby’s assistant manager)
Duncan Edwards
He made his debut for United in 1953 at just 16 years old after coming through the club’s youth academy. He went on to make 151 appearances, scoring 20 goals in five years at Old Trafford.
His international career was just as promising. He made his England debut in 1955 at just 18 years of age, becoming the youngest ever England international until Michael Owen in 1998. In three years, Edwards won 18 caps for his country, scoring five goals.
“Busby Babes”
Manchester United were back as runners-up in 1951, behind Tottenham. This was their third 2nd-place finish in four seasons. The youngsters in the squad began to emerge, notably Roger Byrne and Jackie Blanchflower. Byrne scored 7 goals in the final 6 games of the 1951-52 season, and Manchester United won their first League Title in 51 years. But the club had a poor follow-up season, and finished 8th. Attendance dropped 12%. Busby acquired Tommy Taylor from Barnsley, for the then-record fee of 29,999 pounds. That season, 16-year old Duncan Edwards debuted for the club, the youngest player to ever play in the First Division, at the time.
Finishes of 4th and 5th places followed, in 1954 and ’55. But by the summer of 1955, the young squad had gelled, with Eddie Colman, David Pegg, and Mark Jones, all products of Busby’s youth academy, as regular starters. The team started the 1955-56 season poorly, winning only 3 of the first 8 games. But the young squad found their confidence, and lost only 4 more the rest of the way. They had pretty much sewed it up by Christmas, and they clinched it at Old Trafford on April 7, 1956, when 62,000 fans watched them beat second-place Blackpool. Busby’s team played swift attacking football, with an abilty to clamp down defensively, then spring for a counter-attack.
The team, with an average age of just 22, scored 102 goals that season. Dennis Viollet, Manchester-born, led the squad with 20 goals in this his first full season. United were repeat winners of the League the next season (1957), and almost won the Double: they lost the 1957 FA Cup Final to Aston Villa. Their goalkeeper, Ray Wood, was injured during the game, and in an era of no substitutions, United was forced to use Blanchflower in goal. They lost 1-2.
Dynamic Duo
Matt Busby (right), Jimmy Murphy (left)
Busby did not make wholesale changes with the squad, but several players were re-positioned. His first move was to make former West Bromwich Albion player Jimmy Murphy the assistant manager. Busby had met him during the War, and he saw in Murphy the ideal right-hand man. He also began phasing in young 16 and 17-year olds into the squad. It was this youth policy that led to the later squads being called “the Busby Babes.” Busby also put together a group of forwards that would be called “the famous five.” These were Jimmy Delaney, Stan Pearson, Jack Rowley, Charlie Mitten, and Johnny Morris. United started out strong in the 1946-47 season. They eventually finished second to Liverpool. The following season (1947-48), they were runners-up again, to Arsenal. Their 1947-48 FA Cup run was hindered by the need to find alternate venues (like Everton’s Goodison Park, Huddersfield Town’s Leeds Road, and Aston Villa’s Villa Park), but the team overcame these obstacles. Busby’s mix of established veterans and young local lads went on to win the 1948 FA Cup, 4-2, over Blackpool, at Wembley.
Matt Busby
In 1946, Matt Busby took over a Manchester United club that had not won title since 1911.
Old Trafford Bombed
The Germans bombed Old Trafford during World War II. After the war, Manchester United played their matches at Maine Road, home of manchester City. Old Trafford was rebuilt, and re-opened in August 1949.
Post World War II
Manchester United spent 6 of the 7 next seasons in the Second Division. They made it back up in 1939. But the club, one of the biggest in all of England, had become chronic underachievers. World War II interrupted League play until 1946. Manchester United had hired former Liverpool coach Matt Busby in 1945, and he started the post-War era with some decidedly unorthodox ideas.
First of all, he insisted on being able to choose his own squad, from players he had selected to sign for the club. All this had been done by the board. This stance had led to his departure from Liverpool, but the board at MUFC decided to give him free rein. A more successful club at the time might have not done so, but by 1946, with no silverware since 1911, the board at Manchester United was probably willing to try anything.
Post World War I
This was a heady time for the club, and few would have foreseen that this second league crown would be their last for half a century. The first blow was the departure of manager Ernest Mangnall, across town to rivals Manchester City, in the summer of 1911. United had a huge debt from the building of their new stadium, and were forced to sell off good players. The club began a decline which left them in 18th place at the start of the Great War (WWI), in 1915.
After the war, they slipped further, and were relegated to the Second Division in 1922. Manchester United only stayed in the 2nd tier for three seasons, though. They were promoted back up in 1925. But they remained a mediocre club, and began to fall out of favor with their supporters. By the start of the 1930-31 season, the Supporters’ Club had issued a five-point plan for revitalization of the football club. The board of directors chose to ignore them, and refused to meet with them. With the team in free fall, losing their first 8 games, the Supporters’ Club issued a boycott of games, and by the second half of the season, attendance was below 10,000 for all matches save the Derby. The club was relegated.
Old Trafford
The Bank Street Grounds were notorious for becoming a quagmire during the wet winter months. So in 1909, plans were made to move, and land was purchased in the town of Stretford, in the borough of Trafford, southwest of the Manchester city center. Once again, J.H. Davies came through, with a 60,000 pounds loan.
The stadium was to be called Old Trafford, and built to hold 80,000 (a capacity never reached). It opened on February 19, 1910, before a crowd of 45,000, and with defeat to Liverpool, 3-4. But United would not lose again there until October. The new stadium provided the club the impetus for a title run, and they won the League in their first full season at Old Trafford, 1910-11.
The Outcasts
For years since the formation of the Professional Footballers Union, tensions had mounted as players were unable to get their employers to recognise them as unionists. Things finally came to a head before the 1909-10 season when the League decided to ban, without pay, any player who was a union member.
The move inflamed the players, Manchester United’s especially. They refused to give up union membership. Most clubs turned to amateurs to replace their professional players, but United were unable to sign enough. It was during this period that the famous “Outcasts FC” photograph was taken. Finally, the day before the season was due to begin, the League gave in, removing the suspensions and recognising the union.
