While researching this weeks’ book review I happened to come across this article written on the 50th anniversary of Munich. It tells the story of a son who never knew his father because Manchester United skipper Roger Byrne lost his life in that tragedy, just days before his widow Joy discovered she was pregnant with their first child. It gave an opportunity for Roger Junior to recount his memories of growing up in those difficult times. Although this is a three year old article written in February 1958 for the Daily Mirror by journalist Julie McCaffrey, it loses none of the touching emotions experienced by the Byrne close knit family during those dark days.

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There is a house in Brookfield Avenue in Poynton, Cheshire, that forms a direct link between the team that appeared for Manchester United at Wembley in 1968 and the team Sir Alex Ferguson will send out against Barcelona. A house that was once the home of Jimmy Murphy and was the setting for one of the most important meetings in the history of the club. As Ferguson reveals for the first time, it was there that he saw Murphy soon after becoming United’s manager in 1986. There that he was given one of the best pieces of advice he has ever received.

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Up until Liverpool met Merseyside neighbors Everton in the tragic 1989 Hillsborough FA Cup Final, the most emotional event ever held at Wembley Stadium was without doubt the Manchester United clash with Bolton Wanderers in the 1958 Final – for very obvious reasons. Greg Struthers of The Sunday Times remembered the occasion fifty years later.

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According to Sir Alex Ferguson, the reason that Dimitar Berbatov struggled to settle into Old Trafford in his first two seasons was purely because of the size of his club record transfer fee. “When we buy a player for a lot of money there is more focus on him” he said  ”if they have an odd bad game there is a criticism which other players may not get”. It’s a factor which was well understood by Sir Matt Busby when he agreed to pay Barnsley the odd amount of £29,999  for centre forward Tommy Taylor way back in in March 1953, a fee agreed so that Taylor would not be burdened with the label of a £30,000 player and the story goes that a tea lady was the beneficiary of the extra pound!

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Tuesday nights European Champions League first round clash with Glasgow Rangers at Old Trafford is the second so called ‘Battle of Britain’ in the last seven years. The two sides met at Ibrox on October22, 2003 where United took the three points with a Phil Neville goal after just five minutes. The English champions did not have everything their own way however as Rangers threw everything at United and were considered unlucky not to at least get a share of the points.

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In the eyes of most football fans, Manchester United’s Premier League visit to Fulham on Sunday is by no means a blockbuster yet there was a time 52 years ago when two meetings between the clubs had the whole nation gripped by their drama. “The Cottagers” were a second division club which finished the 1957-58 season in fifth position while United was still struggling with the tragedy which had decimated their team just six weeks earlier. Yet they produced 12 goals between them in two pulsating FA Cup semi final meetings.
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