Busby’s Man United: From Munich Tragedy to European Glory
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast.
In this final chapter of our series, we complete the journey that began with Gary Neville reflecting on the legacy of the Busby Babes. We explored who they were before the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, the tragic day itself, and now, we turn to the aftermath: How Manchester United rose again.
Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper take you through the incredible story of resilience and redemption. After recovering from his own life-threatening injuries, Sir Matt Busby rebuilt his beloved club, guiding them from devastation to glory. With the emergence of new stars like George Best and the leadership of Bobby Charlton, United’s revival culminated in their crowning moment in 1968, when they became the first English club to lift the European Cup - just a decade after their darkest day.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Although we mourn our dead and grief for our wounded, we believe that the great days are not done for us. |
| 0:13.5 | The sympathy and encouragement of the football world, and particularly of our supporters, will justify and inspire us. |
| 0:20.7 | The road back may be long and awkward, |
| 0:23.5 | but with the memory of those who died at Munich of their stern achievements |
| 0:26.6 | and the wonderful sportsmanship ever with us, |
| 0:30.0 | Manchester United will rise again. |
| 0:33.5 | Welcome back to It Was What It Was with me, Rob Draper and with Jonathan Wilson. |
| 0:38.4 | We're coming to an end to a conclusion of our series on the Munich Air Disaster. |
| 0:43.8 | And those are the words of Harold Hardman, the Manchester United Chairman. |
| 0:48.3 | In the program for the FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, |
| 0:53.2 | astonishingly 10 days after the crash, |
| 0:55.5 | astonishing in the fact that they were actually having to play a game at that point. |
| 0:59.6 | And those words actually extraordinarily prophetic. |
| 1:03.0 | I mean, the sort of thing that you say when a disaster happens, |
| 1:06.9 | but he could not have realised, I don't think, how correct he's going to be proved and how |
| 1:11.7 | the memory of Munich is going to inspire Manchester United and also have an impact on the football |
| 1:18.2 | world across the globe. Jonathan, in the first two parts, you've taken us through the run-up to |
| 1:25.2 | the tragedy, the actual awful details of the tragedy. |
| 1:28.9 | And we should also say that Gary Neville introduced this series, |
| 1:33.1 | and that is an episode well worth listening to, I'm talking about the impact of the disaster on the club itself and those who came after. |
| 1:41.5 | But Jonathan, just now the crash has actually happened, which is where we finished |
| 1:46.6 | in episode two and part two. What happens in the aftermath as people come home and begin |
... |
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