On This Day – 20th January
Football lost one of its all-time greats on this day in 1994, when Sir Matt Busby passed away at the age of 84.
Busby was better known as a manager, but also had a decent playing career. He played 229 matches for Manchester City before moving to Liverpool in the 1935/36 season. After three seasons at Anfiel, the Second World War broke out and the Scot retired as a player.
In October 1945, Busby became manager of Manchester United in the first Football League season after the Second World War. He would remain in charge at Old Trafford until 1969, but returned to the club on a temporary basis in December 1970 following the dismissal of his replacement Wilf McGuinness. Frank O’Farrell took over as Manchester United’s permanent manager in June 1971.
Busby started to put together a young and exciting team in the mid-1950’s and they became known as ‘The Busby Babes’. The team won back to back league titles in 1956 and 1957 and reached the 1957 FA Cup Final, only to lose 2-1 to Aston Villa.
Tragedy struck in February 1958 when the plane carrying the Manchester United team back from a match in Belgrade crashed on its final leg of the journey from Munich. Seven of the team perished and Matt Busby was hospitalised for nine weeks.
The surviving members of the squad reached the FA Cup Final three months later, and despite the whole world willing them on, United lost 2-0.
Five years later, Busby was finally able to get his hands on the famous trophy as his United side beat Leicester City 3-1.
This was followed by two league titles in 1965 and 1967 and a European Cup in 1968 where they beat Benfica 4-1 after extra time in an emotional final at Wembley.
A year later, Busby retired from the manager job at Old Trafford and handed the reins over to Wilf McGuinness. Busby decided to stay on a Old Trafford and became a director.
Busby was knighted in 1972 and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all-time.
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